Workshop for Pacific Islands Grid Stability held in Vanuatu

As part of the IRENA Islands Initiative, IRENA in collaboration with the Pacific Power Association (PPA) held a workshop, “Assessment of grid stability for increased renewable energy integration in the Pacific” on 15 July in Vanuatu in the margins of the 21st Annual PPA Conference. Over 35 technical experts and Pacific utility executives gathered to discuss ways to introduce higher shares of renewables, such as solar and wind, into island grids while retaining grid stability.

In recent years Pacific utilities have been integrating higher shares of renewables into their grids, in a bid to diversify their energy mix and reduce their dependency on fossil fuels. To enable islands’ confidence to meet their desired level of renewable energy penetration, tailor-made strategies and technology solutions are required. A key first step in producing these is the assessment of grid stability using dynamic modelling of island grids which considers factors such as age, and the control systems of diesel generators. Also to ensure that power quality is maintained, grid operators require specific operational knowledge for these increasingly hybrid systems.  

IRENA and the PPA convened the workshop to assist utilities to identify strategies and technology solutions that can help ensure grid stability, with increasing level of renewable energy inputs. The workshop involved presentations, case studies and discussions on topics such as renewable energy integration challenges in the Pacific islands, storage systems for integration, and grid assessments and modelling. The IRENA-PPA collaborative study on grid assessment was presented and discussed.

More information on the workshop is available here