An Overview of the Role of Solid State Transformer in Grid Connected Wind Farms

Grid operators and wind farm vendors often employs multiple circuitries including but not limited to line frequency transformer (LFT), static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and power factor correction (PFC) devices for grid integration of wind farms. Such components are usually heavy, noisy and causes greenhouse effect. The bulky power transformers for both STATCOM and the wind farm generator hinders this configuration from applications where volume and weight are issues. As such, STATCOM-interfaced wind farm cannot be sited where size, weight, compactness, cable solution, multiport capability and environmental friendliness are critical. This paper demonstrate how solid state transformer (SST) replaces the STATCOM, the bulky transformers, and the additional reactive power compensation devices in grid integration of wind farms thereby providing smaller footprint, compactness and high performance. It is concluded that, SST-interfaced wind farms can be sited anywhere because of the reduced size, weight, compactness, cable solution, multiport capability and environmental friendliness.