Distributed Energy Resources-Based Frequency Control Ancillary Services for National Electricity Market System

This industry-oriented paper presents a novel methodology that utilises distributed energy resources (DER) to serve as providers of frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) within the framework of the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) system. Addressing pertinent industrial challenges and research gaps regarding the consideration of DERs for FCAS provision, the paper introduces a novel coordination technique designed to facilitate harmonious interaction among various DER types and between DERs and non-DERs FCAS sources. Furthermore, it tackles the issue of services regionalisation within the NEM's FCAS framework by proposing a strategy for optimally allocating FCAS across different power regions within the NEM. The methodology is developed based on a mathematical model that simulates the NEM and adheres to the National Electricity Rules (NERs) defined for the NEM. The numerical results confirm that the proposed method effectively maintains system dynamic performance within acceptable grid code standards, while utilising DERs as the primary source to support FCAS.