Model predictive based automatic generation control with participation of the output-constrained wind farms

Abstract

With the rapid growth of installed wind power generation, there has been an increased interest for wind farms to participate in automatic generation control (AGC). While participating in AGC under normal conditions, wind farms have to track set-points by deloading control, instead of operating in maximum power point tracking (MPPT). However, if wind farms participate in AGC when their allowed outputs are lower than their capabilities due to security constraints, they could contribute to frequency regulation and reduce their wind energy curtailment simultaneously. This paper first illustrates the pitch angle control for wind turbines to track set-points. Then, a new controller based on model predictive control (MPC) is proposed, considering wind farms participating in AGC when their outputs are constrained. Simulation results show that the contributions of wind farms to AGC can help to suppress frequency fluctuation notably. The comparison with a proportional integral (PI) controller shows the effectiveness of proposed controller.