Development of an Optimized Curtailment Scheme through Real-Time Simulation

Jeong-Hwan Kim,Sungwoo Kang,Iseul Nam,Seungmin Jung

doi:10.3390/en15031074

Abstract

When a lot of surplus power occurs in wind power system, an output limit is implemented to directly or indirectly curtail the output to maintain a balance between the supply and demand of the power system. The curtailment process of a large-scale wind farm causes loss of power and mechanical loads. Resultantly, imbalanced curtailments often occur, resulting in unilateral burdens for the owners of wind farms. Considering the curtailment issue, the study for minimizing system loss of power plants is required in terms of operational efficiency. This paper proposes an algorithm to achieve flexible control during the actual power curtailment process in a wind farm, considering the wake effect. Here, the Monte Carlo method was adopted to calculate the curtailment weight in wind farms by using power loss terms. In addition, an equivalent model of a real wind farm was implemented and simulated through real simulation computer-aided design (RSCAD) software. This paper verified the effectiveness of the proposed method by applying the curtailment communication signal to a real-time digital simulator (RTDS). The results showed a reduction in the computational loading of individual wind turbine curtailment values with the decline of the total effective power loss.

Highlights

The development of renewable energy systems has been receiving a lot of attention due to the crisis caused by climate change and the resultant carbon neutrality
The point of common coupling (PCC) power value was measured by inputting the command value to the wind farm based on the configured real simulation computer-aided design (RSCAD)
In the case of the proportional distribution (PD) control method, the 5 MW curtailment signal was distributed at a constant rate to 15 wind turbines

Summary

Introduction

The development of renewable energy systems has been receiving a lot of attention due to the crisis caused by climate change and the resultant carbon neutrality. The generation cost of wind power is relatively low, and large-scale wind power systems are efficient with regard to central control. The constantly changing wind speed in the supply side causes irregular power supply problems for the surrounding grid system. Wind power irregularity affects harmonic components, resulting in power quality deterioration and power equipment damages [1,2]. This problem can be solved by stabilizing the imbalance between power supply and power demand through curtailments, which forcibly limit the power generated by wind turbines. Lately there have been many studies on the active power control of wind farms [3,4,5]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion