Synchronous Versus Inverter-Based Connection

Traditional plants connect through spinning synchronous machines; the burner connects through inverters, which changes how it supports the grid.

Two ways to connect

A conventional thermal or hydro plant connects through a large spinning generator synchronized to grid frequency. Its rotating mass provides inertia that resists frequency change and supplies large fault current naturally. An inverter-based resource connects through power electronics that convert DC-like power to AC; it has no inherent rotating mass and must provide grid services through control.

The burner (MetroVolt) is inverter-based because direct energy conversion yields a DC-like output. This is a fundamental difference from a steam plant and shapes the grid services it can and cannot provide natively.

What changes

An inverter-based unit does not supply physical inertia unless its controls emulate it (synthetic inertia), and it must be engineered to deliver adequate fault current and to remain stable on weak grids. In exchange it offers fast, precise, programmable control of active and reactive power that synchronous machines cannot match.

Honest framing

As grids shift toward inverter-based resources overall, the burner fits that direction but inherits its challenges. MetroVolt's inverter behaviour, including synthetic inertia and fault-current capability, is a design objective not yet demonstrated on hardware.