[1] https://www.energy-storage.news/news/australian-transmission... (Australian transmission operator’s commercial arm to tender for 300MW unsubsidised battery project)
[2] https://www.nrel.gov/news/features/2020/renewables-rescue-st... (Renewables Rescue Stability as the Grid Loses Spin)
[3] https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/73207.pdf (NREL: Highly Accurate Method for Real-Time Active Power Reserve Estimation for Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants)
> The operators of four large scale solar farms in north Queensland have found that “tuning” their inverter settings has enabled them to solve “system strength” issues at a fraction of the cost of the current default mechanism – spinning machines.
> Ian Christmas, head of engineering at Edify Enegy, told a Clean Energy Council large scale solar forum last week that the inverter tuning at four key solar farms – Whitsunday, Daydream, Hayman, and Hamilton – would address recently declared system strength issues in that part of the grid at one twenty-fifth of the cost of installing a synchronous condenser.
> He also said it could be done in a fraction of the time – around four months compared to fourteen months or longer for the alternative. “It’s significant enough (in terms of price and time) that it is a no brainer,” Christmas said.
> That a cheaper solution has been found for system strength is significant, because it highlights how new technologies are proving that they can provide many of the services previously thought only possible through spinning machines, such as those used in coal, gas and hydro plants.
A heavy rotating mass will continue spinning no matter what until mechanical losses (or external forces) stop it.