Impact of Dispersed Wind Farms’ Integration on Transient Stability of Interconnected Grid

Abstract

In this paper, transient stability of wind farm based on Double-Fed Induction Generators is analyzed and discussed. The uncertainty of wind power production is a challenge to maintain the grid’s power stability. Thus, the contribution of integrating wind farms to the stability of the electrical systems during contingencies depends on several factors, including the location of the wind turbines in the electricity grid, the reliability of transmission lines, the relaying algorithms, the utilized protection devices and the wind turbines’ integration mode. This paper studies the benefits of wind turbines’ dispersed integration in the electrical grid by simulating transient stability voltage, current and rotor angle. Based on a real scenario involving a short circuit fault in the grid, a comparison between different types of wind turbines’ integration in the grid’s power has been established, using an optimal power flow calculation. In addition, this work discusses the reduction of power generation costs, based on the cubic cost model, which has been achieved by integrating the wind farm and comparing the production cost to the conventional power plants’. The aim of this article is to prove that the integration of wind farms in dispersed mode can be used as an alternative solution since it stabilizes grid parameters during strong transients. In fact, the response of active and reactive power to the output of the wind farm is stable during short-circuit faults, it minimizes the tripping events in the grid, it reduces energy losses, and ultimately it decreases energy production costs by optimizing the power flow when injected into high-demand PQ buses.