Grid-friendly connecting of constant-speed wind turbines using external resistors

Author

Thiringer, Torbjörn

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Power Eng., Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Goteborg, Sweden

Volume

17

Issue

4

fYear

2002

fDate

12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

537

Lastpage

542

Abstract

In this paper, an alternative method of connecting fixed-speed wind turbines, with active pitch mechanisms or variable-slip generators, is proposed and evaluated. Instead of using the conventional soft starter, external resistors are used. The method was evaluated via laboratory tests on a 15-kW machine and theoretically on a 1-MW wind turbine. The proposed method causes smaller grid power quality impact, especially on inductive grids, compared with soft starters. This means that it will be possible to install constant-speed wind turbines to weaker grids using this method.

Keywords

power supply quality; power system interconnection; turbogenerators; wind power plants; wind turbines; 1 MW; 15 kW; active pitch mechanisms; constant-speed wind turbines; fixed-speed wind turbines; grid power quality impact; grid-friendly connection method; inductive grids; laboratory tests; variable-slip generators; Circuits; Joining processes; Laboratories; Power quality; Resistors; Thyristors; Voltage fluctuations; Wind energy generation; Wind speed; Wind turbines;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Energy Conversion, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8969

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TEC.2002.805221

Filename

1159206