Reliability considerations and economic benefits of dynamic transformer rating for wind energy integration

Abstract

An increasing share of renewable energy on the electricity market creates the need for economic and efficient production, operation and integration technologies, associated with the specific behavior of renewable energy sources (RES). Dynamic rating (DR) provides a possibility to apply improvements to the system both during planning and operation stages. The DR benefits are well described in various literature sources. However, DR is often focused on more efficient exploitation of power lines, not power transformers. Power transformers are costly equipment and their efficient usage and planning can have drastic effect on total costs.Our analysis focuses on the dynamic transformer rating (DTR) for wind energy applications. The main objective is to study reliability effects of DTR from the component perspective. We utilize existing knowledge about transformer heat balance models from IEC and IEEE standards to obtain information on the loss of life (LOL) of the transformer under investigation and propose possible improvements for the system in question. The method can be employed for identifying the appropriate transformer size by taking into account ambient temperature and load variations and then overloading the transformer beyond nameplate ratings. The reliability of the proposed application is ensured by calculating the risk of overloading the transformer for each day of the year. A risk of overloading is quantified as LOL of the transformer. The risk is presented as a function of ambient temperature and duration of an overload. The final step consists of an economic analysis, which demonstrates economic benefits of DTR application.