Frequency regulation at a wind farm using time-varying inertia and droop controls

Abstract

As renewable power generation becomes more prevalent, the problem of frequency stability has become a particular concern of transmission system operators (TSOs), especially those of small power transmission systems. Traditional wind generation systems do not provide frequency regulation because they are decoupled from the power grid. Therefore, as conventional thermal generators are replaced by wind generators, the issue of frequency regulation for wind generation systems has become increasingly important. To release the kinetic energy stored in the rotating mass, inertia and droop control loops can be added into the controller of a wind turbine (WT). This work proposes an advanced control strategy with the time-varying gains of two control loops. In the proposed strategy, the gains are determined based on the desired frequency-response time. Moreover, the initial gain of the control loop is determined based on the wind speed, considering the operating condition of each WT in a wind farm (WF). The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using an actual power system, revealing that it can be used to improve frequency regulation in a power grid.