Stability improvement of wind farms with fixed-speed turbine generators using braking resistors

This paper investigates the stability improvement of a grid connected fixed speed wind farms following disturbances such as faults, using braking resistors along with reactive power compensation devices. As wind fluctuations and grid disturbances can cause significant shaft oscillations, their interaction effects have been taken into account by employing a two-mass shaft model. The stability performance of the system is examined by simulation studies in the DIgSILENT environment under different levels of compensation, delay time of circuit breakers following the grid fault conditions. Computer simulation results show the combination of braking resistors and reactive compensation can significantly improve the stability of grid connected wind turbines.