PFAPillar 03 · System Security

Probabilistic Frequency Assessment.

How many hours fall below the inertia floor, and which zones cause them?

PFA takes a market dispatch, works out system inertia hour by hour and checks it against the inertia, frequency-response and RoCoF limits over several years. Then it shows where on the network the shortfall sits.

Why it matters nowInertia is falling just as single connections get bigger: a gigawatt data centre or interconnector is a gigawatt loss risk. PFA checks the system rides through the worst credible loss.

Example study

A year of inertia, hour by hour.

Total system inertia across the year against the statutory inertia limit and RoCoF floor. Every hour beneath the line is a security exposure to be priced and located.

Figures from an example run on a test network.

797 h/yrHours below limit
80 GVA·sMin system inertia
0.43 Hz/sWorst-case RoCoF
410 MWFRCR shortfall
Total system inertia · stochastic profile · Net-Zero scenario
What it tells you

A handful of zones account for most of the hours below the floor. PFA flags the best synchronous condenser and grid-forming sites, ranked by electrical distance to the deficit.

Try PFA on your own network.