In recent grid codes for wind power integration, wind turbines are required to stay connected during grid faults even when the grid voltage drops down to zero; and also to inject reactive current in proportion to the voltage drop. However, a physical fact, instability of grid-connected converters during current injection to very low (close to zero) voltage faults, has been omitted, i.e., failed to be noticed in the previous wind power studies and grid code revisions. In this paper, the instability of grid side converters of wind turbines defined as loss of synchronism (LOS), where the wind turbines lose synchronism with the grid fundamental frequency (e.g., 50 Hz) during very deep voltage sags, is explored with its theory, analyzed and a novel stability solution based on PLL frequency is proposed; and both are verified with power system simulations and by experiments on a grid-connected converter setup.
As wind power penetration level increases, power system operators are challenged by the penetration impacts to maintain reliability and stability of power system. Therefore, grid codes are being published and continuously updated by transmission system operators of the countries. In this paper, recent grid codes, which are prepared specially for the large wind power plants, are analyzed and compared. Also, harmonization of different grid codes in a common manner and future trends are assessed.
17 May 2016 in IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy
This paper presents a coordinated voltage control scheme (CVCS) for a cluster of offshore wind power plants connected to a voltage-source converter-based high-voltage direct current system. The primary control point of the proposed voltage control scheme is the introduced Pilot bus, which is having the highest short-circuit capacity in the offshore AC grid. The developed CVCS comprehends an optimization algorithm, aiming for minimum active power losses in the offshore grid, to generate voltage reference to the Pilot bus. During the steady-state operation, the Pilot bus voltage is controlled by dispatching reactive power references to each wind turbine (WT) in the wind power plant cluster based on their available reactive power margin and network sensitivity-based participation factors, which are derived from the dV/dQ sensitivity of a WT bus w.r.t. the Pilot bus. This method leads to the minimization of the risk of undesired effects, particularly overvoltage at the terminals of the WT located far away from the AC collector substation, by dispatching lower reactive power references compared with the ones nearer to the substation. In addition, this paper proposes a control strategy for improved voltage ride through capability of WTs for faults in the offshore grid, thus leading to improved dynamic voltage profile in the offshore AC grid.
22 March 2016 in IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion
Generic electrical simulation models of wind power generation have been developed as standards, such as the IEC 61400-27-1, to be used by wind industry, system operators, and academia for power system stability studies. In this paper, the IEC type 3 wind turbine model with wind turbine level voltage controller and with wind power plant level power factor controller is validated based on field measurements from a 52-MW wind power plant. In addition to the validation of the IEC type 3 wind turbine and wind power plant controller models, a comparison of the validation approaches, which are the full grid and play-back simulation, is provided together with a survey of the existing validation studies and recommendations for future modeling and validation tasks. The implemented IEC models are tuned to match the measurements accurately and the validated values for the control parameters of the reference wind power plant model are given.
1 September 2013 in IET Renewable Power Generation
As more renewable energy sources, especially more wind turbines (WTs) are installed in the power system; grid codes for wind power integration are being generated to sustain stable power system operation with non‐synchronous generation. Common to most of the grid codes, wind power plants (WPPs) are requested to stay connected and inject positive‐sequence reactive current in order to boost positive‐sequence grid voltage during short‐circuit grid faults, irrespective of the fault type; symmetrical or asymmetrical. However, as shown in this study, when WPPs inject pure positive‐sequence reactive current in case of asymmetrical faults, as a conventional method (CM) in accordance with the grid code requirement, positive‐sequence grid voltage is boosted, but also higher negative sequence voltage in the grid and higher overvoltages at the non‐faulty phases occur. In this study, an alternative injection method, where WTs are injecting both positive and negative sequence currents during asymmetrical faults, providing improved grid support, is given and compared with the CM. In addition, effect of coupling between positive, negative and zero sequences when WPPs are injecting currents during asymmetrical faults, is investigated, which was not considered in the wind power impact studies before.
24 June 2020 in IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy
Before diode rectifier (DR) technology for connecting offshore wind farms (OWFs) to HVdc is deployed, in-depth studies are needed to assess the actual capabilities of DR-connected OWFs to contribute to the secure operation of the networks linked to them. This study assesses the capability of such an OWF to provide communication-less frequency support (CLFS) to an onshore ac network. It is shown that the HVdc link's offshore terminal direct voltage can be estimated from measurements at the OWF's point of connection with the DR platform. Two different methods are proposed for implementing CLFS in the OWF active power controls. In Method 1, the estimated offshore terminal direct voltage is used for estimating the onshore frequency deviation. In Method 2, the actual offshore terminal direct voltage measurement is used instead. Unique features of the provision of CLFS from OWFs connected to HVdc via DRs are highlighted, and the dynamic and static performance of the CLFS control scheme is compared to that of the communication-based frequency support scheme. To assess the impact of parameter estimation errors on the provision of CLFS, a parametric sensitivity study is presented as well, and recommendations are given to increase accuracy.