Eli5: how will a power grid that is mostly powered by many non synchronous renewable generators (solar and wind etc) remain stable, when the stability of the grid is currently reliant on the collective inertia of the large scale base load generators of fossil fuel and nuclear power plants?
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There’s a component called a Grid-Forming Inverter, which can be used instead of conventional inverters to connect solar and wind to the grid. A GFI allows non-rotational generating sources to form a stable grid, such as in the event of a blackout due to plant disruption.
Normal inverters are usually grid-following, which means they need a stable sine wave grid voltage to synchronize to. The use of GFI’s means we can start and maintain a stable grid without conventional rotational generators.
These kind of setups work best on small-scale grids at the moment, such as in Hawaii or in Texas, but their development is still ongoing.
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