Frequency control by variable speed wind turbines in islanded power systems with various generation mix

Abstract

This study presents the impact on power system frequency control in small power systems based on different generator topologies with a large penetration (50%) of variable speed wind turbines. The impact of a proposed controller is investigated versus various wind speeds. In particular, wind speeds with an average wind speed just below rated wind speed proves to cause the worst frequency fluctuations regardless of the type of backup generation topology investigated during 50% wind-penetration ratio. For this wind-speed session and a hydro-based system, the proposed control system improves the frequency duration outside of the specified range [49.9, 50.1]Hz from 81 to 53% while reducing its delivered energy by only 6%. Furthermore, the proposed control reduces the absolute value of requested reserve by 49% from the hydro unit responsible for primary frequency control.