Short circuit study of fixed speed wind turbines with STATCOM in distribution networks

The increased penetration of wind farm in distribution networks has brought changes in the performance of the whole system. Such disadvantages when connecting one of these distributed generation sources is reduced voltage and power stability of the AC network. This phenomena can cause the connected electricity consumers to suffer from disturbances. This paper investigates the use of a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) to improve the short circuit current contribution in the network which will include balanced and unbalanced faults. The wind farm is equipped with fixed-speed wind turbines driving squirrel-cage induction generators. The IEEE 30-bus distribution test system is used to see the performance of the system under distribution level. Simulation studies are carried out in the DIgSILENT software.