Impact of Communication Time Delay in a 5G Network on Frequency Regulation Performance of a High Renewable Energy Penetrated Power System

The fifth-generation (5G) communication technology development makes it possible for distributed resources to participate in power system frequency regulation. This article models the whole-chain communication time delay of distributed frequency regulation resources participating in automatic generation control (AGC) via a 5G network. The whole-chain communication time delay consists of time delay in the radio access network, backhaul network, and transmission and core networks. We integrate the time-delay model into the power system frequency regulation model to reveal its impact on frequency regulation performance. In addition, we analyze the feasibility of the distributed variable renewable energy (VRE) participating in AGC and calculate the capabilities needed for different VRE penetrations. Finally, we provide a case study on the HRP-38 system. The results show that the communication time delay will substantially impact the frequency regulation performance when the VRE penetration is above 40%. In addition, distributed VRE may be a promising AGC resource. Distributed VRE that accounts for approximately 5% of the total installed VRE capacity is needed to participate in AGC via a 5G network, which could maintain the frequency performance of the power system with above 65% VRE penetrated at a normal level.