Flicker mitigation planning solutions in distributed wind power: A real-time simulation analysis

This paper studies the sensitivity of flicker severity to flicker mitigation planning solutions that can be adopted by distribution network operators. More specifically, the paper studies the flicker mitigation capacity under different bandwidths of direct voltage control stipulated by the network operator and implemented by a distributed wind farm, different MV/HV substation transformer ratings, series compensation of the distribution line and finally, the change of the wind farm connection point. The purpose of this paper is to provide results that help in the understanding of the feasibility and effectiveness of flicker mitigation solutions in the planning phase of a wind farm. A detailed typical North-American 25 kV distribution network is employed as the test network and a 10 MW DFIG-based wind farm is employed as the source of wind power. The flicker measurement is carried out for a 10-minute time frame according to the guidelines of IEC standard 61000-4-15. All studies are conducted on a multi-processor real-time simulator for its superior computational capacity.