Abstract
Reactive power plays an important role in the operation of power systems, especially in the case of wind energy integration. This paper aims to evaluate the reactive power support capability of wind turbines in both normal and voltage sag conditions. The three 2MW wind turbines studied are a fixed speed wind turbine and two variable speed wind turbines with full-scale and power-scale power converters. Comparison results indicate that at normal operation, the fixed speed wind turbine with a static synchronous compensator is able to consume the highest reactive power, while the variable speed wind turbine with full-scale power converter can supply the highest reactive power. In case of low voltage, the fixed speed wind turbine with the static synchronous compensator can support the highest reactive power if the static synchronous compensatorâs capacity is similar to the wind turbineâs capacity, while if its capacity is equal to 25% of the generatorâs capacity, the variable speed wind turbine with full-scale power converter has the best performance.
Highlights
Renewable energy resources have attracted great interest and are exploited in many countries
Active power generated from wind farms is not smooth, while the voltage drop on the connected lines depends proportionally on it and voltage at nodes of the power system varies, no matter of the constant voltage control at the terminal of the wind farm
This turbine is equipped with a permanent synchronous generator (PMSG) and its stator is connected to the grid via a full-scale power converter, as shown in Figure 1(c) [12, 14, 15]
Summary
Renewable energy resources have attracted great interest and are exploited in many countries. The power system requires from the wind farm to generate or receive a reactive power quantity to support the voltage control at nodes of the power system, or to reduce power loss on the grid [2,3,4,5,6]. It can be noted that the VSWT can adjust reactive power exchange with the grid by the power converter, while FSWT always receives reactive power from the grid, as it is not equipped with a power converter To overcome this disadvantage, a capacitor bank or a Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is suggested for FSWT [11], in order to supply reactive power to the grid. This study points out which kinds of wind turbines should be utilized from the perspective of reactive power support capability and can help power system operators to determine the reactive power quantities, which wind farms can support
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