Primary Frequency Response from Offshore Wind Farms Connected to HVdc via Diode Rectifiers

Offshore high-voltage DC (HVDC) grids are developing as a technically reliable and economical solution to transfer more offshore wind power to onshore power systems. It is also foreseen that the offshore HVDC grids pave the way for offshore wind participation in power systems’ balancing process through frequency support. The primary frequency control mechanism in an HVDC grid can be either centralized using communication links between HVDC terminals or decentralized by the simultaneous use of DC voltage and frequency droop controls. This paper investigates the impact of both types of primary frequency control of offshore HVDC grids on onshore power system dynamics. Parametric presentation of power systems’ electro-mechanical dynamics and HVDC controls is developed to analytically prove that the primary frequency control can improve the damping of interarea modes of onshore power systems. The key findings of the paper include showing that the simultaneous use of frequency and DC voltage droop controls on onshore converters results in an autonomous share of damping torque between onshore power systems even without any participation of offshore wind farms in the frequency control. It is also found that the resulting damping from the frequency control of offshore HVDC is not always reliable as it can be nullified by the power limits of HVDC converters or wind farms. Therefore, using power oscillation damping control in parallel with frequency control is suggested. The analytical findings are verified by simulations on a three-terminal offshore HVDC grid.

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Adaptation of VSC-HVDC Connected DFIG Based Offshore Wind Farm to Grid Codes: A Comparative Analysis

International Journal of Renewable Energy Development ◽

10.14710/ijred.8.1.91-101 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 91

Author(s):

Seyed Saed Heidary Yazdi ◽

Jafar Milimonfared ◽

Seyed Hamid Fathi

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Frequency Response ◽

Wind Turbines ◽

Wind Farm ◽

Control Structure ◽

Offshore Wind ◽

Offshore Wind Farm ◽

Grid Codes ◽

Primary Frequency ◽

Primary Frequency Response

Lack of synchronism between VSC-HVDC (Voltage Source Converter - High Voltage Direct Current) connected offshore wind farm and onshore grid leads to immunity of wind turbines to grid contingencies. Focusing on DFIG (Doubly Fed Induction Generator) based wind farms; this paper has presented a univalent control structure based on inertial and primary frequency response in which DC link voltage is utilized as synchronization interface. Based on the presented structure, four approaches based on the communication system, frequency, voltage and combined frequency and voltage modulation are utilized and compared to inform the onshore grid status to individual wind turbines. Considering Kondurs two area power system, results have revealed that all four approaches have similar ability (with negligible error) in offering inertial and primary frequency response to improve slow network oscillations. On the other hand, voltage and combined frequency and voltage modulation approaches have the ability to satisfy Fault Ride Through (FRT) requirements thanks to superior dynamics. However, communication and frequency modulation approaches lose that ability as communication and frequency measurement delays increase respectively. It has been concluded that combined frequency and voltage modulation, as the superior approach, has advantages like minimum FRT DC voltage profile increase and deviation from operating point after the fault, the minimum imposition of electrical and mechanical stress on DFIG and preservation of prevalent control structure thanks to appropriate dissociation between slow and fast dynamics.©2019. CBIORE-IJRED. All rights reservedArticle History: Received Dec 8th 2017; Received in revised form July 16th 2018; Accepted December 15th 2018; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Yazdi, S.S.H., Milimonfared, J. and Fathi, S.H. (2019). Adaptation of VSC-HVDC Connected DFIG Based Offshore Wind Farm to Grid Codes: A Comparative Analysis. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 8(1), 91-101.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.8.1.91-101

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