A STATCOM with Supercapacitors for Low-Voltage Ride-Through in Fixed-Speed Wind Turbines

Fixed-speed wind generator (FSWG) technology has an important presence in countries where wind energy started to be developed more than a decade ago. This type of technology cannot be directly adapted to the grid codes, for example those requirements related to the immunity level under voltage dips....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 7; no. 9; pp. 5922 - 5952
Main Authors Obando-Montaño, Andrés, Carrillo, Camilo, Cidrás, José, Díaz-Dorado, Eloy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2014
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
Energy resources
Energy storage
fixed-speed wind generator
low-voltage ride-through
Power plants
STATCOM
supercapacitor
Turbines
wind energy
Wind power
Denmark
United Kingdom > UK
Germany
Spain
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Summary:Fixed-speed wind generator (FSWG) technology has an important presence in countries where wind energy started to be developed more than a decade ago. This type of technology cannot be directly adapted to the grid codes, for example those requirements related to the immunity level under voltage dips. That behavior is typically referred as low-voltage ride through (LVRT), and it usually implies certain reactive and active power injection requirements, both during a voltage dip and during the voltage recovery. In this context, a review is presented of the LVRT exigencies present in some of the countries with the most advanced grid codes (Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). In this paper, the capabilities of STATCOM-based devices for fulfilling the LVRT requirements in FSWGs are analyzed. For this purpose, two technologies are considered: a STATCOM with a supercapacitor, which improves its energy storage features; and a STATCOM with a supercapacitor and a DC-DC converter, to achieve higher discharge levels.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en7095922