VAr reserve concept applied to a wind power plant

Larger percentages of wind power penetration translate into more demanding requirements from the grid codes; for example voltage support at the point of connection has been introduced recently by several grid codes from around the world, making it important to analyze this control when applied to wind power plants. This paper proposes two different VAr reserve control strategies for a wind power plant. The amount of dynamic VAr available most of the operation time, makes the wind power plant (WPP) a good candidate to include a VAr reserve management system. Two different ways of implementing a VAr management system are proposed and analyzed. Such a reactive power reserve may be provided by the wind power plant since the amount of reactive power installed for most active power working points exceeds the demand required by the grid operator. Basically, this overrated reactive power capacity is a consequence of sizing wind turbine facilities for maximum active power level. The reactive power losses, due to active power transportation inside the plant (normally two transformers), and P-Q wind turbine characteristics define the P-Q reserve chart. By utilizing the intrinsic overrated reactive power capacity, additional devices, such as for example SVCs and STATCOMs, can be avoided in other locations of the grid.