Open AccessPost‐retirement utilisation of synchronous generators to enhance security performances in a wind dominated power system
Author(s) -
Masood NahidAl,
Yan Ruifeng,
Saha Tapan Kumar,
Bartlett Simon
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
iet generation, transmission and distribution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1751-8695
pISSN - 1751-8687
DOI - 10.1049/iet-gtd.2016.0267
Subject(s) - wind power , turbine , governor , electric power system , automatic frequency control , computer science , short circuit , permanent magnet synchronous generator , upgrade , power (physics) , engineering , electrical engineering , voltage , physics , quantum mechanics , mechanical engineering , aerospace engineering , operating system
Power system security concerns due to significant wind generation could be twofold: first, the frequency response and second, the short‐circuit performance. Continuous development of wind energy may cause economic replacement and retirement of existing synchronous generators. Modern wind turbine generators do not inherently offer inertia and governor response after a disturbance, which may result in declining frequency response behaviour. Besides, they have limited fault current contribution, which may cause unacceptable short‐circuit ratio at the grid connection point of those wind power plants. Traditionally, frequency response and short‐circuit performance are individually improved. However, both of them are concurrently affected by high wind penetration. Hence, a common approach to simultaneously enhance both indices is essential. Therefore, this study introduces an idea of operating some of the retired synchronous generators in the synchronous condenser mode, which is termed as ‘post‐retirement scheme (PRS)’. Such a second use of the retired synchronous generators can jointly upgrade frequency response and short‐circuit strength during high wind generation. This study also proposes a methodology to evaluate when and how much PRS should be deployed for ensuring an adequate security performance in a wind dominated power system.