Real-time testing of power control implemented with IEC 61850 GOOSE messaging in wind farms featuring energy storage

The interconnection of Type-4 wind farms into weak distribution feeders may result in voltage rise and flicker concerns. This paper investigates a wind farm control scheme employing a slow-acting reactive power controller to regulate the steady-state voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) and a fast-acting active power controller, streaming from an embedded energy storage system (ESS) to mitigate flicker at the wind turbine terminals. Real-time hardware-in-loop (HIL) results have been obtained for the proposed power control strategy, emulating the distribution-feeder and wind turbines on a real-time digital simulator (RTDS) and the power control loops on a digital controller, communicating using the IEC 61850 GOOSE Messaging protocol. Flicker studies are conducted on a 25 kV distribution feeder using a flickermeter compliant to the IEC 61000-4-15 standard. Results demonstrate a short-term flicker level reduction up to 83%. Applicable utility grid codes and standards are considered throughout.