GFM controls can provide grid-stabilizing characteristics that support the reliable operation of a power system under increasing levels of IBRs. GFM controls can be implemented on any type of IBR including new solar photovoltaic and wind plants, with some limitations. But battery energy storage is particularly low-hanging fruit for the implementation of GFM controls. Since batteries already have the needed energy buffer on the DC side, this makes the enhancement purely software-based, minimizing much more costly hardware-based improvements and/or the moderate level of curtailment that may be needed for other IBR technologies equipped with GFM functionality. Enabling GFM in transmission-connected battery energy storage systems allows for system-wide enhancement of stability margins as these resources are interconnected.

The table below is an expanded version of one that originally appeared in a September 2023 white paper from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) titled “Grid Forming Functional Specifications for BPS-Connected Battery Energy Storage Systems,” which summarized existing GFM projects and projects that are under construction. Note that this table is focused on large interconnected or larger island systems and does not include information about smaller island GFM projects or stand-alone applications (for example, GFM IBRs or devices supporting isolated microgrids).

GFM Projects Deployed or Under Construction

BESS = battery energy storage system; HECO = Hawaii Electric Company; KIUC = Kauai Island Electric Cooperative; NESO = National Energy System Operator (Great Britain)

This table is work in progress, and blank cells represent information that we have not identified yet. If you have knowledge of any of the missing information, or if you know of additional projects that should be listed, please let us know by sending an email to julia@esig.energy.

For additional information on multiple projects, see these publications and webinars:

Grid-Forming IBR Projects in the Planning Stages

On December 17, 2022, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced $176 million in conditional co-funding of eight large-scale GFM batteries across Australia with a total project value of $2.7 billion and capacity of 2 GW / 4.2 GWh. Each battery will be equipped with GFM inverter technology, allowing the batteries to provide essential system stability services traditionally provided by synchronous generation such as coal and gas. All the batteries are expected to be operational by 2025. These projects are funded under ARENA’s Large-Scale Battery Storage Funding Round and will provide a 10-fold increase in installed GFM capacity in Australia. The funding is intended to help overcome current commercial and regulatory barriers to the large-scale deployment of grid-forming technology.
The developers and projects that ARENA has selected for support are:

• AGL: A new 250 MW / 500 MWh battery in Liddell, New South Wales
• FRV: A new 250 MW / 550 MWh battery in Gnarwarre, Victoria
• Neoen: A retrofit of the 300 MW / 450 MWh Victorian Big Battery in Moorabool, Victoria, to enable GFM capability
• Neoen: A new 200 MW / 400 MWh battery in Hopeland, Queensland
• Neoen: A new 200 MW / 400 MWh battery in Blyth, South Australia
• Origin: A new 300 MW / 900 MWh battery in Mortlake, Victoria
• Risen: A new 200 MW / 400 MWh battery in Bungama, South Australia
• TagEnergy: A new 300 MW / 600 MWh battery in Mount Fox, Queensland

Provision of GFM Capabilities by E-STATCOMs

Alongside GFM IBRs, static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) with advanced controls can be tailored to provide GFM capabilities. In addition to the functions provided by conventional STATCOMs, STATCOMs with advanced controls can rapidly inject or absorb active power through the dynamic control of supercapacitors. The term E-STATCOM was coined by Siemens Energy and Hitachi Energy in the article “STATCOM Technology Evolution for Tomorrow’s Grid” in the IEEE Power and Energy Society Power and Energy Magazine (March/April 2023). Similar to GFM IBRs, E-STATCOMs make use of voltage source converter (VSC) technology. By holding the VSC’s internal frequency constant, an E-STATCOM can instantaneously and inherently support the grid during disturbances. The introduction of supercapacitors allows an E-STATCOM to not only provide reactive power compensation, but also inherently support the grid with its stored energy in cases of frequency imbalances. More information about this technology is available on Hitachi Energy’s website (where this technology is referred to as SVC Light Enhanced®) and on Siemens Energy’s website (where the technology is referred to as SVC Plus®).

In December 2020, the four German transmission system operators published a position paper, “Need to Develop Grid-Forming STATCOM Systems.” The paper identified the need for 23 to 28 GVAR of controllable reactive power compensation and emphasized the need for GFM as an integral part of this solution to also compensate for an inertia deficit (as inertia may potentially become a concern in Germany in the event of system split in the Central European power system).

In 2022, one of the German transmission system operators, TenneT, procured a ±300 MVAR E-STATCOM as the first pilot project aimed at gaining experience with this technology. Some of the essential specifications for the pilot included: (1) a requirement for high inertia contribution without oversizing with respect to required reactive power in order to keep the project economically viable, (2) allowable aging of the super capacitors for expected load cycles over the project lifetime, and (3) high reliability.