The increasing penetration of inverter based renewable generation in the form of solar photo-voltaic (PV) or wind has introduced numerous operational challenges and uncertainties. Among these challenges, one of the major ones is the impact on the transient stability of the grid. On the other hand, the direct methods for transient stability assessment of power systems have also fairly evolved over the past 30 years. These set of techniques inspired from the Lyapunov's direct method provide a clear insight into the system stability changes with a changing grid. The most attractive feature of these types of techniques is the heavy reduction in the computational burden by cutting down on the simulation time. These advancements were still aimed at analyzing the stability of a non-linear autonomous dynamical system and the existing power system perfectly fits that definition. Due to the changing renewable portfolio standards, the power system is undergoing serious structural and performance alterations. The whole idea of power system stability is changing and there is a major lack of work in the field of direct methods in keeping up with these changes. This dissertation aims at employing the pre-existing direct methods as well as developing new techniques to visualize and analyze the stability of a power system with an added subset of complexities introduced by PV generation. / Ph. D.

Since large scale unscheduled tripping of wind power generation could lead to power system stability problem. Thus network interconnection regulations become more rigid when the wind power penetration reaches a non-neglible portion of the total power generation. This thesis presents a comparison of five different low voltage ride through (LVRT) capability enhancement technologies, i.e., additional rotor resistance, DC bus chopper, crowbar on rotor, the combination of above schemes, and grid voltage support by controlling grid side converter. System simulations are performed under Digsilent environment with model and control blocks provided by the package. Additional models are developed to implement the LVRT enhancement schemes studied. A Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) with pitch control is used to simulate different system fault scenarios with different voltage sag magnitude and duration time. Simulation results indicate that different enhancement schemes provide various levels in relieving DC bus overvoltage, rotor winding overcurrent, and overspeed problems, and the method combines all tested schemes seems to provide the best result.

Demand is emerging for offshore wind power plant (WPP) that often has favorable capacity factor and high capacity value as compared with onshore wind farms. There are many challenges regarding power losses, economics, protection system and reliability of the wind farm. Collection system design decisions play an essential role to efficient operation of the WPP. Wind generators also have to be able to cope with grid disturbances. Low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability of wind turbines requires generator units remain in operation for severe voltage drops during ¡@grid system faults, and be able to withstand depressed voltage for a few seconds in a recovery period. Technical requirements set out in grid codes for off shore wind farm normally relate to different connection points. A rigor LVRT requirement would increase the overall investment costs of the wind farm. In most offshore wind farm projects, radial collector systems connecting a number of wind turbines and terminated at the offshore platform have served well the requirements for an economical design. However, due to the lack of redundancy, its reliability is poor. To improve the reliability of the collector system, the inclusion of a cable section that interconnects the remote ends of two adjacent radial feeders has been proposed. The transmission system of a wind farm takes the power generated and sends it to shore. Medium voltage AC transmission is the simplest one, just gathering the cables from the collector system and taking them together until they reach the point of common coupling (PCC).Through wind farm dynamic simulations by using DIgSIENT package, this thesis demonstrates that the ride through capability which occur at the particular wind parks with different collector system topology are greater than those which the wind turbines are capable of riding through, i.e., LVRT curves of different wind farm collection system designs of an offshore WPP and a single wind generator are different. This can be exploited to reduce the cost in complying with LVRT requirement of offshore WPP.

Large off-shore wind farms raise the concern of widespread tripping of off-shore wind generator in the presence of system faults and corresponding voltage dips that could potentially cause system wide blackout. In this thesis an offshore wind farm and three different types of power transmission are modeled and studied using simulation software. Off-shore wind farm composed of fixed speed induction generators and HVAC interconnection, HVAC interconnection plus STATCOM and HVDC interconnections are studied. Onshore grid faults are simulated for each interconnection. Voltage tolerance curves are established to assess fault ride through capability of each interconnection and compared with different grid transmission ride through capacity required by grid operator.

In last decade, there is a large increase in installed capacity of wind power. Asmore wind power is integrated into utility networks, related technologychallenges draw much attention. The doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) isthe mainstream choice for wind turbine generator (WTG) in current market andthe object of this thesis. It is very sensitive to voltage dips. The enhancement oflow voltage ride through (LVRT) is one of the most important issues for DFIG,and many works have already been done to provide solutions.In current works, the voltage dip waveforms that are applied in LVRTrelated works are largely different from waveforms in reality, because they failto consider the the effect of realistic wind farm configurations on waveforms ofvoltage dips and significant influences of additional characteristics of voltagedips. The true impact of the voltage dip needs to be assessed in performanceevaluation and development of LVRT methods. To support the development ofpractical LVRT capacity enhancement solutions, the application of voltage dipknowledge is definitely demanded.In this thesis, the characteristics of realistic waveform voltage dips in windfarm are analyized based on voltage dip knowldege from power quality field,measured voltage dip from industry and realistic wind farm configurations.Classical analysis theory is applied to explain the principles of the impact ofvoltage dip characteristics on dynamic behavior of DFIG. The impacts of manywidely neglected characteristics such as phase angle jump (PAJ), point on wave(POW) of initiation and recovery, voltage recovery process, transformerconfigurations, load effect are revealed and verified by simulations. The impactof many voltage dip characteristics on DFIG are studied for the first time. / De senaste tio åren har sett en stor ökning av installerad effekt av vindkraft.Mer vindkraft i elnäten har lett till större uppmärksamhet om dess tekniskautmaningar. Den dubbelmatad asynkrongenerator (DFIG) är idag denvanligaste förekommande typen i vindkraftverk. Den är mycket känslig förspänningssänkningar. Förbättring av tålighet för spänningssänkningar (LVRT)är en av de viktigaste frågorna för DFIG, och många studier har redan söktlösningar.I befintliga studier om LVRT har spänningssänkningarna skiljt sig väsentligtfrån verkliga vågformer, då de inte har tagit hänsyn till realistiskavindparkkonfigurationer och betydande påverkan av ytterligare egenskaper hosspänningssänkningar. För att stödja utvecklingen av praktiska LVRT lösningarbehövs mer kunskap om spänningssänkningar för att bedöma dess verkligainverkan.Detta examensarbete förbättrar LVRT analysen av DFIG genom att tillämpakunskap om spänningssänkningar från elkvalitetsområdet, tillsammans medrealistiska vindparkskonfigurationer. Inflytandet av ändringar i fasvinkel(PAJ), fasvinkeln vid sänkning och återhämtning (POW), spänningsåterhämtning, transformatorkonfigurationer, last och många andra egenskaperav spänningssänkningar ingår också. Inflytandet av många egenskaper avspänningssänkningar studeras här akademiskt för första gången. Denkaraktäristik av realistiska spänningssänkningar som inträffar vid generatornspoler, och de effekter dessa har, studeras och förklaras genom teoretisk analysoch intensiva simuleringar.

When more induction generator based wind farms are integrated into the power system, the system voltage dips and stability problems may arise due to the draw of reactive power by induction generators. The power system short-circuit event induced wind turbine trips could result in power imbalance and lead to power system instability. This thesis studies the influence of two compensation techniques on the wind turbine low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability. One of which is based on a parallel compensation by a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), and the other one is a series compensation by a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR). In this study, Matlab tools and models are used to simulate an active-stall controlled fixed-speed induction generator connected to a power system. Two system configurations are used to simulate three phase faults and compare the improvement of wind turbine LVRT capability due to the two studied compensation techniques. Simulation results indicate that wind turbine compensated by DVR would have better LVRT performance than that by STATCOM in dealing with the low voltage situations due to system faults.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The slip synchronous-permanent magnet generator (SS-PMG) is a direct-driven, direct-to-grid generator for wind turbine applications. This investigation focuses on achieving automated grid connection and low voltage ride-through for a small-scale SS-PMG. To reduce cost and complexity, components such as blade pitch controllers and frequency converters are avoided. Instead, electromagnetic braking is employed to control turbine speed prior to grid synchronisation and compensation resistances are used to facilitate grid fault ride-through. The conditions under which the SS-PMG can be successfully synchronised with the grid are determined, indicating a need for speed control. An evaluation of electromagnetic braking strategies reveals that satisfactory speed control performance can be achieved when employing back-to-back thyristors to switch in the braking load. Simulations show that controlled synchronisation can be executed successfully under turbulent wind conditions. All controllable parameters are held within safe limits, but the SS-PMG terminal voltage drop is higher than desired. Compensation is developed to allow the SS-PMG to ride through the voltage dip profile specified by the Irish distribution code. It is found that a combination of series and shunt resistances is necessary to shield the SS-PMG from the voltage dip, while balancing active power transfer. The flexibility offered by thyristor switching of the shunt braking load is instrumental in coping with turbulent wind conditions and unbalanced dips. The South African voltage dip profile is also managed with conditional success. Following on from the theoretical design, the grid connection controller is implemented for practical testing purposes. Protection functions are developed to ensure safe operation under various contingencies. Before testing, problems with the operation of the thyristors are overcome. Practical testing shows that grid synchronisation can be undertaken safely by obeying the theoretically determined conditions. The speed control mechanism is also shown to achieve acceptable dynamic performance. Finally, the SS-PMG is incorporated into a functioning wind turbine system and automated grid connection is demonstrated under turbulent wind conditions. Future investigations may be focused on optimal control strategies, alternative solid-state switching schemes, and reactive power control. Low voltage ride-through should also be optimised for the South African dip profile and validated experimentally. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die glip-sinchroon permanente magneet generator (GS-PMG) is ‘n direkte dryf, direkte netwerkgekoppelde generator vir windturbine toepassings. Hierdie ondersoek fokus op die bereiking van ’n ge-outomatiseerde netwerkkoppeling en lae spanning deurry vir ‘n kleinskaalse GS-PMG. Om kostes en kompleksiteit te verminder, word komponente soos lemsteekbeheerders en frekwensie-omsetters vermy. In plaas daarvan word elektromagnetiese remwerking gebruik om die turbine spoed, voorgaande net-werksinchronisasie, te beheer, en word kompensasieweerstande gebruik om netwerkfoutdeurry te handhaaf. Die omstandighede waaronder die GS-PMG suksesvol met die netwerk gesinchroniseer kan word, is vasgestel en dit het die behoefte aan spoedbeheer uitgewys. ‘n Evaluering van elektromagnetiese remstrategië wys uit dat ’n bevredigende spoedbeheervermoë verkry kan word as anti-parallelle tiristors gebruik word om die remlas te skakel. Simulasies wys dat beheerde netwerksinchronisasie suksesvol uitgevoer kan word, selfs onder turbulente windtoestande. Alle beheerbare parameters is binne veilige perke gehou, maar die GS-PMG se klemspanningsval is gevind as hoë as verwag. Kompensasie is ontwikkel om die GS-PMG toe te laat om deur die spanningsvalprofiel, soos gespesifieer deur die Ierse distribusiekode, te ry. Dit is gevind dat ‘n kombinasie van serie- en parallelle weerstande nodig is om die GS-PMG teen die spanningsval te beskerm, terwyl aktiewe drywingsoordrag gebalanseer word. Die buigbaarheid wat verkry word met die tiristorskakeling van die parallele weerstand is noodsaaklik in die hanteering van turbulente windtoestande en ongebalanseerde spanningsvalle. Die Suid-Afrikaanse spanningsvalprofiel is ook met voorwaardelike sukses hanteer. In opvolg van die teoretiese ontwerp is die netwerkkoppelingsbeheerder vir praktiese toetsdoeleindes in werking gestel. Beskermingsfunksies is ontwikkel om veilige werking onder verskeie gebeurlikhede te verseker. Die probleme met die werking van die tiristors is oorkom voor die aanvang van die toetse. Die praktiese toetse bewys dat netwerksinchronisasie veilig gedoen kan word deur die teoretiese bepaalde voorwaardes te volg. Dit is ook getoon dat met die spoedbeheermeganisme aanvaarbare dinamiese gedrag verkry kan word. Ten laaste is die GS-PMG in ‘n werkende windturbinestelsel geïnkorporeer en outomatiese netwerkkoppeling is onder turbulente windtoestande gedemonstreer. Toekomstige ondersoeke kan toegespits word op optimale beheerstrategië, alternatiewe vaste toestand skakelingskemas en reaktiewe drywingsbeheer. Lae spanning deurry moet nog vir die Suid- Afrikaanse spanningsprofiel ge-optimeer en eksperimenteel bevestig word.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This thesis addresses the main issues regarding the operation of full power converters wind turbines connected to the grid under balanced and unbalanced voltage sags. In the past, the grid codes allowed wind turbines to be disconnected during voltage and frequency disturbances. However, recently, grid codes updates often require that wind turbines remain connected during voltage sags aiming to provide voltage back-up support. Furthermore, some specific criteria establish that wind turbines should be able to utilize part of its current capability to promote the voltage back-up during unbalanced voltage sags. To guarantee the grid connected converter operation, even with voltage sags that lead to zero-voltage situations and unbalanced voltage conditions, a synchronous frame PLL with a very low time constant is designed and adapted with a Kalmam filter synchronization system. This thesis propose a two stages synchronization for grid connected converters that is able to ensure proper operation of the converter even when voltage on the converter terminals has temporarily falling down to zero. This goal is meet with a synchronous frame PLL with a very low time constant adapted with a Kalmam filter synchronization system. This composed synchronization system allows the converter control system to get the positive and negative sequences voltages components, that are necessary to the output power control even under severe voltage dips. Moreover, an anti windup is adapted to operate with a resonant current controller enabling the minimization of the saturation in the control action during voltage transients. During unbalanced voltage dips, the injection of unbalanced currents to the voltage back-up support becomes a good alternative to reduce the imbalance factor of the grid voltages. However, it is necessary to limit the maximum current output of the converter to avoid undesirable protection trips. This thesis proposes a strategy that limite the output currents allowing the use of the converter full current capacity during unbalanced voltage sags support. To achieve this goal, the current references are divided into three parts. The former is associated with the active power reference synchronized with the positive sequence voltage. The second is the reactive power synchronized with the positive sequence voltage and the third is the reactive power synchronized with the negative sequence voltage. The strategy propose the computation of th reactive power references by the positive and negative sequence voltages on the PPC in order to not overpass the converter current limits. Experimental and simulation results corroborate the contributions of this thesis. / Esta tese trata do problema de operação de aerogeradores com conversores plenos conectados à rede durante afundamentos de tensão equilibrados e desequilibrados. Inicialmente, os códigos de rede permitiam a desconexão dos aerogeradores durante distúrbios de frequência ou durante afundamentos de tensão. Entretanto, a presente tendência dos requisitos de conexão em diversos países obriga os aerogeradores a permanecerem conectados a contribuição destes com injeção de corrente reativa visando dar suporte à tensão. Além disso, alguns critérios especifícos estabelecem que aerogeradores devem ser capazes de utilizar parte de sua capacidade de corrente para promover o suporte de reativos também durante afundamentos desequilibrados. Nesta tese é apresentado um método de sincronismo composto baseado em filtro de Kalman e aplicado para conversores conectados à rede durante afundamentos de tensão que possam levar a tensão a zero no ponto de conexão. Este possibilita a obtenção das componentes de sequência e as suas tensões em quadratura de maneira simples, além de apresentar um bom desempenho dinâmico durante afundamentos desequilibrados. Além disso, uma estrutura anti windup é adaptada para operar com um controlador ressonante de corrente possibilitando a minimização da saturação da ação de controle na síntese das correntes de saída. Uma vez que o conversor do lado da rede é capaz de operar em condições severas de maneira adequada, a injeção de corrente reativa de forma a minimizar a tensão se sequência negativa no ponto de conexão é uma possibilidade para a diminuição do fator de desequilíbrio. Entretanto é necessário limitar as correntes máximas de saída do conversor. Esta tese propõem uma estratégia de limitação de corrente para conversores conectados à rede que possibilita o uso da plena capacidade de corrente do conversor na injeção de correntes desequilibradas para o suporte de tensão. Para atingir esse objetivo, as referências de corrente são dividas em três partes e com objetivos distintos. A primeira é associada a potência ativa sincronizada com a tensão de sequência positiva. A segunda representa a parcela de potência reativa sincronizada com a tensão de sequência positiva e a terceira parcela representa a potência reativa sincronizada com a tensão de sequência negativa. Pelo cômputo da norma máxima das correntes por uma expressão genérica é possível determinar as correntes de referência que respeitam os limites de corrente do conversor. Resultados de simulação e experimentais corroboram as contribuições desta tese.

Orientador: André Luiz Andreoli / Resumo: Nos últimos anos, questões relacionadas ao meio ambiente, principalmente, ao uso de combustíveis fósseis e à emissão de gases poluentes na atmosfera, ganharam grande destaque internacional. Com os avanços da comunidade científica e o aumento no preço do petróleo no começo da década de 1970, o uso de fontes renováveis, não poluentes e limpas teve grande investimento por parte de diversos países. Nesse contexto, a geração eólica vem se destacando como uma das mais promissoras, especialmente devido a sua viabilidade econômica e ao seu rápido desenvolvimento tecnológico. Entre as diferentes topologias utilizadas nos sistemas de geração eólica, destaca-se a configuração elaborada para operação em velocidade variável, que emprega o gerador de indução duplamente alimentado (DFIG), associado ao conversor eletrônico back-to-back para controle de sua operação. Como principais vantagens da utilização do DFIG, destacam-se sua maior eficiência na conversão de energia, menor estresse mecânico do rotor, controle independente de potência ativa e reativa limitada a valores típicos de 30% da potência nominal. Por outro, sabe-se que, durante a ocorrência de um distúrbio, as correntes do rotor podem atingir altas magnitudes e causar danos ao conversor. Além disso, sobretensões no capacitor do elo CC ocorrem devido à perda de capacidade de transferência de energia do conversor do lado da rede. Entretanto, os aerogeradores podem ser requisitados a permanecerem em funcionamento mesmo durante uma fa... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the last years, issues related to the environment, especially the use of fossil fuels and the emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere, have gained great international prominence. With the advances of scientific community and the increase of the oil price in the beginning of the 1970s, the use of renewable, non-polluting and clean sources had a great investment by several countries. In this context, wind generation has stood out as one of the most promising, especially due to its economic viability and its fast technological development. Among the different topologies used in wind generation systems, the configuration developed for operation at variable speed is highlighted, which employs the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) associated with back-to-back electronic converter to control its operation. The main advantages of using DFIG include its greater efficiency in energy conversion, less mechanical rotor stress, independent control of active and reactive power limited to typical values of 30% of the rated power. On the other hand, it is known that, during the occurrence of a disturbance, such as an electrical fault, the rotor currents can reach high magnitudes in order to damage the rotor side converter. In addition, overvoltages in the DC link capacitor occur due to the loss of power transfer capacity on grid side converter. However, wind turbines may be required to main in operation even during a fault, in addition to contributing the restoration of voltage... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Renewable energy is playing an increasingly significant role in power system operation and stability assessment with its numerous penetration expansion. This is not only brought by its uncertain power output and inverter-based equipment structures but also its operation characteristics like Low Voltage Ride Through (LVRT). It is thus necessary to take these characteristics into consideration and further to find more adaptive schemes to implement them for more effective analysis and safer power system operation. All the aforementioned is based on the accurate identification of the system fundamental information. In this dissertation, a systematic approach is proposed to find the valid system model by estimating the transmission line parameters in the system with PMU measurements. The system transient stability assessment is conducted based on this validated model. The constrained stability region is estimated with Lyapunov functions family based method in the center of angles reference frame considering renewables LVRT as operation limits. In order to integrate the LVRT constraints, a polytopic inner approximation mechanism is introduced to linearize and organize the transformed constraints in state space, which brings much scalability to the whole process. From the voltage stability perspective, an approach to adaptively adjust LVRT settings of the renewable energy sources in the system is formulated to guarantee the system load margin and thus the voltage security. A voltage prediction method is introduced for critical renewable energy sources identification. Estimation methods based on interpolation and sensitivities are developed and conducted for saving computation effort brought by continuation power flows. Multiple test cases are studied utilizing the proposed approaches and results are demonstrated. / Doctor of Philosophy / Renewable energy utilization is continuously rising nowadays. They are clean but highly dependent on natural resources, which causes their uncertainty and intermittence in electric power output. The power system, on the other hand, is designed for schedulable and controllable power generators, which make the traditional methods for system operation and analysis of the system stability much less effective facing the trend of renewables integration. In this dissertation, a series of systematic approaches are proposed firstly identify the system parameters for more accurate system modeling through PMU measurements, then to assess the system transient stability considering the renewable energy sources operation limits, and finally to adaptively adjust these operation limit for improving the system voltage security. The operation limits are transferred into the form in terms of system states. Linearization and approximation methods are also introduced to enhance the scalability of the processes. Multiple test cases are studied with the proposed approaches and the results demonstrate their effectiveness and efficiency.