Stability improvement of 200 MW Gabal El-Zayt wind farm connected to electrical grid using supercapacitor and static synchronous compensator during extreme gust

Abstract

This paper proposes constant active and reactive power control of a wind farm during gust using the supercapacitor (SC) and static synchronous compensator (STATCOM). The proposed technique is applied to Gabal El-Zayt wind farm which located in Red Sea region of Egypt with a capacity of 200 MW and equipped with doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) and analyzed during gust wind. As the nature of wind is varying all time, the output power is changing continuously so energy storage system such as SC is required. SC is responsible for maintaining constant output active power by charging when there is excess in the output power of DFIG and discharging when there is a lack in the output power of DFIG. Reactive power compensation is achieved by connecting STATCOM to the power system. SC keeps reactive power constant however its value is improved by connecting STATCOM. Wind farm model is analyzed during gust with the proposed technique while active and reactive power performance is investigated. Firstly, the effect of connecting SC to each wind turbine is studied. Then the effect of connecting STATCOM to the electric power system is studied. Also, the effect of connecting SCs and STATCOM is studied. Finally, the impact of connecting additional STATCOM at different locations is investigated. Results show the proposed technique validity.