In fault ride through reactive current rise time requirements of various European grid codes—analysis based on a full‐converter wind turbine

Abstract

AbstractThe European transmission system operators specify grid codes to ensure a safe and reliable operation of the electrical power system, even during grid faults. Wind power plants have to comply with such specific requirements prior to installation and operation. Some of the requirements, however, are open to interpretation, especially because of lack of specification, and therefore, they pose technical challenges to full‐converter wind turbines. In fact, different interpretations leave it open to debate on whether a requirement can be fulfilled or not. The rise time requirement across some European grid codes is discussed in this paper. First the uncertainties in some transmission system operators' definitions of rise time, step response time and settling time are presented, and then a comparative analysis is performed among calculation methods, such as instantaneous reactive current in alpha‐beta reference frame, direct and quadrature reference frame and root mean square of the positive sequence component. The comparison results of both ideal cases and randomly selected measurements from actual full‐converter wind turbine field tests show that the rise time of the reactive current is significantly affected by the calculation methods. This effect in some cases can make the difference between fulfilling the requirement or not. As a result of that, it is highlighted in this paper the need for a common understanding of the rise time requirements between industry and system operators, based on clear technical fundamentals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.