Identification of Technical Limits of Mini Run-of-River Hydro Power Plants During Frequency Containment Reserve Provision

As an effect of Germany’s energy transition, the amount of Decentralized Energy Resources (DERs) is increasing not only worldwide, but especially in Europe. For stable power grid operation, renewable DERs should as well be considered for ancillary services, such as Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR). Previous works assume a potential headwater level flexibility of mini Run-of-River (RoR) Hydro Power Plants, which could be used for that. This paper investigates the limits of mini RoR Hydro Power Plants as FCR providers with a simulation and a field test experiment. The goal is to identify, which technical characteristics could have a limiting effect on FCR provision and thus indicate which modelling aspects are needed for the assessment of FCR provision capability. The results show, that continuous FCR provision over multiple hours is possible, while the requirements for response time and accuracy in an operational step response test can not entirely be fulfilled for some types of small-scale RoR Hydro Power Plants.