WIND FARM TO WEAK-GRID CONNECTION

USING UPQC CUSTOM POWER DEVICE

ABSTRACT
Wind Farms (WF) employing squirrel cage induction generator (SCIG) directly
connected to the grid, represent a large percentage of the wind energy conversion systems around
the world. In facilities with moderated power generation, the WF are connected through medium
voltage (MV) distribution headlines. A situation commonly found in such scheme is that the
power generated is comparable to the transport capacity of the grid. This case is known as Wind
Farm to Weak Grid Connection, and its main problem is the poor voltage regulation at the point
of common coupling (PCC). Thus, the combination of weak grids, wind power fluctuation and
system load changes produce disturbances in the PCC voltage, worsening the Power Quality and
WF stability. This situation can be improved using control methods at generator level, or
compensation techniques at PCC. In case of wind farms based on SCIG directly connected to the
grid, is necessary to employ the last alternative. Custom power devices technology (CUPS) result
very useful for this kind of application. In this paper is proposed a compensation strategy based
on a particular CUPS device, the Unified Power Quality Compensator (UPQC). A customized
internal control scheme of the UPQC device was developed to regulate the voltage in the WF
terminals, and to mitigate voltage fluctuations at grid side. The internal control strategy is based
on the management of active and reactive power in the series and shunt converters of the UPQC,
and the exchange of power between converters through UPQC DC–Link. This approach increase
the compensation capability of the UPQC with respect to other custom strategies that use
reactive power only. Simulations results show the effectiveness of the proposed compensation
strategy for the enhancement of Power Quality and Wind Farm stability.
 INTRODUCTION

The location of generation facilities for wind energy is determined by wind energy resource
availability, often far from high voltage (HV) power transmission grids and major consumption
centers. In case of facilities with medium power ratings, the WF is connected through medium
voltage (MV) distribution headlines. A situation commonly found in such scheme is that the
power generated is comparable to the transport power capacity of the power grid to which the
WF is connected, also known as weak grid connection. The main feature of this type of
connections, is the increased voltage regulation sensitivity to changes in load. So, the system’s
ability to regulate voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) to the electrical system is a
key factor for the successful operation of the WF. Also, is well known that given the random
nature of wind resources, the WF generates fluctuating electric power. These fluctuations have a
negative impact on stability and power quality in electric power systems. Moreover, in
exploitation of wind resources, turbines employing squirrel cage induction generators (SCIG)
have been used since the beginnings. The operation of SCIG demands reactive power, usually
provided from the mains and/or by local generation in capacitor banks. In the event that changes
occur in its mechanical speed, i.e due to wind disturbances, so will the WF active (reactive)
power injected(demanded) into the power grid, leading to variations of WF terminal voltage
because of system impedance.
This power disturbances propagate into the power system, and can produce a
phenomenon known as “flicker”, which consists of fluctuations in the illumination level caused
by voltage variations. Also, the normal operation of WF is impaired due to such disturbances. In
particular for the case of “weak grids”, the impact is even greater. In order to reduce the voltage
fluctuations that may cause “flicker”, and improve WF terminal voltage regulation, several
solutions have been posed. The most common one is to upgrade the power grid, increasing the
short circuit power level at the point of common coupling PCC, thus reducing the impact of
power fluctuations and voltage regulation problems. In recent years, the technological
development of high power electronics devices has led to implementation of electronic
equipment suited for electric power systems, with fast response compared to the line frequency.
These active compensators allow great flexibility in: a) controlling the power flow in
transmission systems using Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices, and b)
enhancing the power quality in distribution systems employing Custom Power System CUPS)
devices. The use of these active compensators to improve integration of wind energy in weak
grids is the approach adopted in this work. In this paper we propose and analyze a compensation
strategy using an UPQC, for the case of SCIG–based WF,

Connected to a weak distribution power grid. This system is taken from a real case. The
UPQC is controlled to regulate the WF terminal voltage, and to mitigate voltage fluctuations at
the point of common coupling (PCC), caused by system load changes and pulsating WF
generated power, respectively. The voltage regulation at WF terminal is conducted using the
UPQC series converter, by voltage injection “in phase” with PCC voltage. On the other hand, the
shunt converter is used to filter the WF generated power to prevent voltage fluctuations,
requiring active and reactive power handling capability. The sharing of active power between
converters, is managed through the common DC link. Simulations were carried out to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed compensation approach.

Wind Energy
Wind power:

Wind is abundant almost in any part of the world. Its existence in nature caused by uneven
heating on the surface of the earth as well as the earth’s rotation means that the wind resources
will always be available. The conventional ways of generating electricity using non renewable
resources such as coal, natural gas, oil and so on, have great impacts on the environment as it
contributes vast quantities of carbon dioxide to the earth’s atmosphere which in turn will cause
the temperature of the earth’s surface to increase, known as the green house effect. Hence, with
the advances in science and technology, ways of generating electricity using renewable energy
resources such as the wind are developed. Nowadays, the cost of wind power that is connected to
the grid is as cheap as the cost of generating electricity using coal and oil. Thus, the increasing
popularity of green electricity means the demand of electricity produced by using non renewable
energy is also increased accordingly.

Fig: Formation of wind due to differential heating of land and sea

Features of wind power systems:

There are some distinctive energy end use features of wind power systems

i. Most wind power sites are in remote rural, island or marine areas. Energy
requirements in such places are distinctive and do not require the high electrical
power.
ii. A power system with mixed quality supplies can be a good match with total energy
end use i.e. the supply of cheap variable voltage power for heating and expensive
fixed voltage electricity for lights and motors.
iii. Rural grid systems are likely to be weak (low voltage 33 KV). Interfacing a Wind
Energy Conversion System (WECS) in weak grids is difficult and detrimental to the
workers’ safety.
 iv. There are always periods without wind. Thus, WECS must be linked energy storage
or parallel generating system if supplies are to be maintained.
Power from the Wind:

Kinetic energy from the wind is used to turn the generator inside the wind turbine to
produced electricity. There are several factors that contribute to the efficiency of the wind
turbine in extracting the power from the wind. Firstly, the wind speed is one of the important
factors in determining how much power can be extracted from the wind. This is because the
power produced from the wind turbine is a function of the cubed of the wind speed. Thus, the
wind speed if doubled, the power produced will be increased by eight times the original power.
Then, location of the wind farm plays an important role in order for the wind turbine to extract
the most available power form the wind.

The next important factor of the wind turbine is the rotor blade. The rotor blades length
of the wind turbine is one of the important aspects of the wind turbine since the power produced
from the wind is also proportional to the swept area of the rotor blades i.e. the square of the
diameter of the swept area.

Hence, by doubling the diameter of the swept area, the power produced will be four fold
increased. It is required for the rotor blades to be strong and light and durable . As the blade
length increases, these qualities of the rotor blades become more elusive. But with the recent
advances in fiberglass and carbon-fiber technology, the production of lightweight and strong
rotor blades between 20 to 30 meters long is possible. Wind turbines with the size of these rotor
blades are capable to produce up to 1 megawatt of power.The relationship between the power
produced by the wind source and the velocity of the wind and the rotor blades swept diameter is
shown below.
The derivation to this formula can be looked up in [2]. It should be noted that some books
derived the formula in terms of the swept area of the rotor blades (A) and the air density is
denoted as .

Thus, in selecting wind turbine available in the market, the best and efficient wind turbine is the
one that can make the best use of the available kinetic energy of the wind.

Wind power has the following advantages over the traditional power plants.

 Improving price competitiveness,

 Modular installation,
 Rapid construction,
 Complementary generation,
 Improved system reliability, and
 Non-polluting.

Wind Turbines:

There are two types of wind turbine in relation to their rotor settings. They are:

 Horizontal-axis rotors, and

 Vertical-axis rotors.
In this report, only the horizontal-axis wind turbine will be discussed since the modeling of the
wind driven electric generator is assumed to have the horizontal-axis rotor.

The horizontal-axis wind turbine is designed so that the blades rotate in front of the tower with
respect to the wind direction i.e. the axis of rotation are parallel to the wind direction. These are
generally referred to as upwind rotors. Another type of horizontal axis wind turbine is called
downwind rotors which has blades rotating in back of the tower. Nowadays, only the upwind
rotors are used in large-scale power generation and in this report, the term .horizontal-axis wind
turbine refers to the upwind rotor arrangement.

The main components of a wind turbine for electricity generation are the rotor, the transmission
system, the generator, and the yaw and control system. The following figures show the general
layout of a typical horizontal-axis wind turbine, different parts of the typical grid-connected wind
turbine, and cross-section view of a nacelle of a wind turbine
 (c)

Figs: (a) Main Components of Horizontal-axis Wind Turbine

(b) Cross-section of a Typical Grid-connected Wind Turbine

(c) Cross-section of a Nacelle in A Grid-connected Wind Turbine

The main components of a wind turbine can be classified as i) Tower ii) Rotor system iii)
Generator iv) Yaw v) Control system and vi) Braking and transmission system

Tower:
It is the most expensive element of the wind turbine system. The lattice or tubular types of
towers are constructed with steel or concrete. Cheaper and smaller towers may be supported by
guy wires. The major components such as rotor brake, gearbox, electrical switch boxes,
controller, and generator are fixed on to or inside nacelle, which can rotate or yaw according to
wind direction, are mounted on the tower. The tower should be designed to withstand gravity
and wind loads. The tower has to be supported on a strong foundation in the ground. The design
should consider the resonant frequencies of the tower do not coincide with induced frequencies
from the rotor and methods to damp out if any. If the natural frequency of the tower lies above
the blade passing frequency, it is called stiff tower and if below is called soft tower.
Rotor:

The aerodynamic forces acting on a wind turbine rotor is explained by aerofoil theory. When the

(a)

(b)

Fig (a) Zones of low and high-pressure (b) Forces acting on the rotor blade

Aero foil moves in a flow, a pressure distribution is established around the symmetric aerofoil as
shown in the fig.

A reference line from which measurements are made on an aerofoil section is referred to as
chord line and the length is known as chord. The angle, which an aerofoil makes with the
direction of airflow measured against the chord line is called the angle of attack  . The
generation of lift force L on an aerofoil placed at an angle of attack  to an oncoming flow is a
consequence of the distortion of the streamlines of the fluid passing above and below the
aerofoil. When a blade is subjected to unperturbed wind flow, the pressure decreases towards
the center of curvature of a streamline. The consequence is the reduction of pressure (suction)
on the upper surface of the aerofoil compared to ambient pressure, while on the lower side the
pressure is positive or greater. The pressure difference results in lift force responsible for
rotation of the blades. The drag force D is the component that is in line with the direction of
oncoming flow is shown in Fig (b).

These forces are both proportional to the energy in the wind. To attain a high efficiency
of rotor in wind turbine design is for the blade to have a relatively high lift-to-drag ratio. This
ratio can be varied along the length of the blade to optimize the turbine’s energy output at
various wind speeds. The lift force, drag force or both extract the energy from wind. For
aerofoil to be aerodynamically efficient, the lift force can be 30 times greater than the drag force.

Cambered or asymmetrical aero foils have curved chord lines. The chord line is now defined
as the straight line joining the ends of the camber line and  is measured from this chord line.
Cambered aerofoil is preferred to symmetrical aerofoil because they have higher lift/drag ratio
for positive angles of attack. It is observed that the lift at zero angle of attack is no longer zero
and that the zero lift occurs at a small negative angle of attack of approximately 4 o. The center
of pressure, which is at the ¼ chord position on symmetrical aerofoil has at the ¼ chord position
on cambered aerofoil and moves towards the trailing edge with increasing angle of attack.

Arching or cambering a flat plate will cause it to induce higher lift force for a given angle of
attack and blades with a cambered plate profile work well, under the conditions experienced by
high solidity, multi bladed wind turbines. For low solidity turbines, the use of aerofoil section is
more effective.

The characteristics of an aerofoil, the angle of attack, the magnitude of the relative wind
speed are the prime parameters responsible for the lift and drag forces. These forces acting on
the blades of a wind turbine rotor are transformed into a rotational torque and axial thrust force.
The useful work is produced by the torque where as the thrust will overturn the turbine. This
axial thrust should be resisted by the tower and foundations.
Rotor speed:

Low speed and high-speed propeller are the two types of rotors. A large design tip speed
ratio would require a long, slender blade having high aspect ratio. A low design tip speed
would require a short, flat blade. The low speed rotor runs with high torque and the high-
speed rotor runs with low torque. The wind energy converters of the same size have
essentially the same power output, as the power output depends on rotor area. The low speed
rotor has curved metal plates. The number of blades, weight, and difficulty of balancing the
blades makes the rotors to be typically small.

They get self-started because of their aerodynamic characteristics. The propeller type
rotor comprises of a few narrow blades with more sophisticated airfoil section. When not
working, the blades are completely stalled and the rotor cannot be self-started. Therefore,
propeller type rotors should be started either by changing the blade pitch or by turning the
rotor with the aid of an external power source (such as generator used as a motor to turn the
rotor). Rotor is allowed to run at variable speed or constrained to operate at a constant speed.
When operated at variable speed, the tip speed ratio remains constant and aerodynamic
efficiency is increased.

Rotor alignment:

The alignment of turbine blades with the direction of wind is made by upwind or
downwind rotors. Upwind rotors face the wind in front of the vertical tower and have the
advantage of somewhat avoiding the wind shade effect from the presence of the tower.
Upwind rotors need a yaw mechanism to keep the rotor axis aligned with the direction of the
wind. Downwind rotors are placed on the lee side of the tower. A great disadvantage in this
design is the fluctuations in the wind power due to the rotor passing through the wind shade
of the tower which gives rise to more fatigue loads. Downwind rotors can be built without a
yaw mechanism, if the rotor and nacelle can be designed in such a way that the nacelle will
follow the wind passively.

This may however include gyroscopic loads and hamper the possibility of unwinding
the cables when the rotor has been yawing passively in the same direction for a long time,
thereby causing the power cables to twist.
 Upwind rotors need to be rather inflexible to keep the rotor blades clear of the tower,
downwind rotors can be made more flexible. The latter implies possible savings with respect to
weight and may contribute to reducing the loads on the tower. The vast majority of wind
turbines in operation today have upwind rotors.

Number of rotor blades:

The three bladed rotors are the most common in modern aero generators. Compared to
three bladed concepts, the two and one bladed concepts have the advantage of representing a
possible saving in relation to cost and weight of the rotor. However, the use of fewer rotor
blades implies that a higher rotational speed or a larger chord is needed to yield the same energy
output as a three bladed turbine of a similar size. The use of one or two blades will also result in
more fluctuating loads because of the variation of the inertia, depending on the blades being in
horizontal or vertical position and on the variation of wind speed when the blade is pointing
upward or downward.
Therefore, the two and one bladed concepts usually have so-called teetering hubs,
implying that they have the rotor hinged to the main shaft. This design allows the rotor to teeter
in order to eliminate some of the unbalanced loads. One bladed wind turbines are less
widespread than two–bladed turbines. This is because they in addition to a higher rotational
speed, more noise and visual intrusion problems, need a counter weight to balance the rotor
blade.
Generator:

Electricity is an excellent energy vector to transmit the high quality mechanical power of
a wind turbine. Generator is usually 95% efficient and transmission losses should be less
than 10%. The frequency and voltage of transmission need not be standardized, since the
end use requirements vary. There are already many designs of wind/ electricity systems
including a wide range of generators. The distinctive features of wind/electricity generating
systems are:

(i) Wind turbine efficiency is greatest if rotational frequency varies to maintain constant
tip
 speed ratio, yet electricity generation is most efficient at constant or near constant
frequency.
(ii) Mechanical control of turbine to maintain constant frequency increases complexity
and expense. An alternative method, usually cheaper and more efficient is to vary the
electrical load on the turbine to control the rotational frequency.
(iii) The optimum rotational frequency of a turbine in a particular wind speed decreases
with increase in radius in order to maintain constant tip speed ratio. Thus, only small
turbines of less than 2 m radius can be coupled directly to generators. Larger
machines require a gearbox to increase the generator drive frequency.
(iv) Gearboxes are relatively expensive and heavy. They require maintenance and can be
noisy. To overcome this problem, generators with a large number of poles are being
manufactured to operate at lower frequency.
(v) The turbine can be coupled with the generator to provide an indirect drive through a
mechanical accumulator (weight lifted by hydraulic pressure) or chemical storage
(battery). Thus, generator control is independent of turbine operation.
The generators used with wind machines are i) Synchronous AC generator ii) Induction AC
generator and iii) Variable speed generator

Synchronous AC generator:

The Synchronous speed will be in the range of 1500 rpm – 4 pole, 1000 rpm – 6 pole or 750
rpm, - 8 pole for connection to a 50 Hz net work. The ingress of moisture is to be avoided by
providing suitable protection of the generator. Air borne noise is reduced by using liquid cooling
in some wind turbines. An increase of the damping in the wind turbine drive train at the expense
of losses in the rotor can be obtained by high slip at rated power output. Synchronous generators
run at a fixed or synchronous speed, N s . We have N s  120 f p , where p is the number of
poles, f is the electrical frequency and N s is the speed in rpm.
Induction AC generator:

They are identical to conventional industrial induction motors and are used on constant speed
wind turbines. The torque is applied to or removed from the shaft if the rotor speed is above or
below synchronous. The power flow direction in wires is the factor to be considered to
differentiate between a synchronous generator and induction motor. Some design modifications
are to be incorporated for induction generators considering the different operating regime of
wind turbines and the need for high efficiency at part load, etc.
Variable speed generator:

Electrical variable speed operation can be approached as:

 All the output power of the wind turbine may be passed through the frequency
converters to give a broad range of variable speed operation.
 A restricted speed range may be achieved by converting only a fraction of the output
power.
Yaw system:

It turns the nacelle according to the actuator engaging on a gear ring at the top of the tower.
Yaw control is the arrangement in which the entire rotor is rotated horizontally or yawed out
of the wind. During normal operation of the system, the wind direction should be
perpendicular to the swept area of the rotor. The yaw drive is controlled by a slow closed-
loop control system. The yaw drive is operated by a wind vane, which is usually mounted on
the top of the nacelle sensing the relative wind direction, and the wind turbine controller. In
some designs, the nacelle is yawed to attain reduction in power during high winds.

In extremity, the turbine can be stopped with nacelle turned such that the rotor axis is at right
angles to the wind direction.

One of the more difficult parts of a wind turbine designs is the yaw system, though it is
apparently simple. Especially in turbulent wind conditions, the prediction of yaw loads is
uncertain.
 Control systems:

A wind turbine power plant operates in a range of two characteristic wind speed values
referred to as Cut in wind speed u in and Cut out wind speed u out . The turbine starts to
produce power at Cut in wind speed usually between 4 and 5 m/s. Below this speed, the
turbine does not generate power. The turbine is stopped at Cut out wind speed usually at 25
m/s to reduce load and prevent damage to blades. They are designed to yield maximum
power at wind speeds that lies usually between 12 and 15 m/s. It would not be economical to
design turbines at strong winds, as they are too rare. However, in case of stronger winds, it is
necessary to waste part of the excess energy to avoid damage on the wind turbine. Thus, the
wind turbine needs some sort of automatic control for the protection and operation of wind
turbine. The functional capabilities of the control system are required for:

i Controlling the automatic startup

ii Altering the blade pitch mechanism
iii Shutting down when needed in the normal and abnormal condition
iv Obtaining information on the status of operation, wind speed, direction and power
production for monitoring purpose
As can be seen in figure 1 (c), the nacelle consists of several components. They are the generator,
yaw motor, gearbox, tower, yaw ring, main bearings, main shaft, hub, blade, clutch, brake, blade
and spinner. Other equipment that is not shown in the figure might include the anemometer, the
controller inside the nacelle, the sensors and so on. The generator is responsible for the
conversion of mechanical to electrical energy.

Yaw motor is used power the yaw drive to turn the nacelle to the direction of the wind. The
gearbox is used to connect the low-speed shaft (main shaft in the figure) to the high-speed shaft
which drives the generator rotor.

The brake is used to stop the main shaft from over speeding. The blades are used to
extract the kinetic power from the wind to mechanical power i.e. lifting and rotating the blades.
The tower is made from tubular steel or steel lattice and it is usually very high in order to expose
the rotor blades to higher wind speed.

Induction generator:

An induction generator is a type of electrical generator that is mechanically and

electrically similar to a polyphase induction motor. Induction generators produce electrical
power when their shaft is rotated faster than the synchronous frequency of the equivalent
induction motor. Induction generators are often used in wind turbines and some micro hydro
installations due to their ability to produce useful power at varying rotor speeds. Induction
generators are mechanically and electrically simpler than other generator types. They are also
more rugged, requiring no brushes or commutators.

Induction generators are not self-exciting, meaning they require an external supply to
produce a rotating magnetic flux. The external supply can be supplied from the electrical grid or
from the generator itself, once it starts producing power. The rotating magnetic flux from the
stator induces currents in the rotor, which also produces a magnetic field. If the rotor turns
slower than the rate of the rotating flux, the machine acts like an induction motor. If the rotor is
turned faster, it acts like a generator, producing power at the synchronous frequency.

In induction generators the magnetizing flux is established by a capacitor bank connected

to the machine in case of standalone system and in case of grid connection it draws magnetizing
current from the grid. It is mostly suitable for wind generating stations as in this case speed is
always a variable factor.

Why Induction Generator:

Induction generator is commonly used in the wind turbine electric generation due to its
reduced unit cost, brushless rotor construction, ruggedness, and ease of Maintenance. Moreover,
induction generators have several characteristics over the synchronous generator. The speed of
the asynchronous generator will vary according to the turning force (moment, or torque) applied
to it. In real life, the difference between the rotational speed at peak power and at idle is very
small approximately 1 percent. This is commonly referred as the generator’s slip which is the
difference between the synchronous speed of the induction generator and the actual speed of the
rotor.

This speed difference is a very important variable for the induction machine. The term
slip is used because it describes what an observer riding with the stator field sees looking at the
rotor which appears to be slipping backward [35]. A more useful form of the slip quantity results
when it is expressed on a per unit basis using synchronous speed as the reference. The expression
of the slip in per unit is shown below.

A four-pole, 50 Hz generator will run idle at 1500 rpm according to the following formula.

If the generator is producing its maximum power, it will be running at 1515 rpm. A
useful mechanical property of the generator is that it will increase or decrease its speed slightly if
the torque varies and hence will be less tear and wear on the gearbox as well as in the system.
This is one of the important reasons to use asynchronous (induction) generator compared to a
synchronous generator on a wind turbine.
Induction Machine Analysis

The following figure shows the torque vs speed characteristic of typical squirrel cage induction
machine.

Fig: Torque vs. Speed Characteristics of Squirrel-cage Induction Generator

In the figure, it can be seen that when the induction machine is running at Synchronous speed at
the point where the slip is zero i.e. the rotor is spinning at the same speed as the rotating
magnetic field of the stator, the torque of the machine is zero. If the induction machine is to be
operated as a motor, the machine is to operated just below its synchronous speed.

On the other hand, if the induction machine is to be operated as a generator, its stator terminals
should be connected to a constant-frequency voltage source and its rotor is driven above
synchronous speed (s<0) by a prime mover such as the wind turbine shaft. The source fixes the
synchronous speed and supplies the reactive power input required exciting the air gap magnetic
field and hence the slip is negative. The following figure shows the per-phase equivalent circuit
of the induction machine.
 Fig. : Per-Phase Equivalent Circuit of An Induction Machine

In this project, star-connected induction machine is evaluated. All the calculations are in per-
phase values. Hence, for a star-connected stator:

In order to analyze the behavior of an induction generator, the operation of an Induction motor
must be fully understood. Once, the equivalent circuit parameters have been obtained, the
performance of an induction motor is easy to determine. As shown in Fig, the total power Pg
transferred across the air gap from the stator is

And it is evident from figure 3 that the total rotor loss Pr loss is
Therefore, the internal mechanical power developed by the motor is

From the power point of view, the equivalent circuit of figure 3 can be rearranged to the
following figure, where the mechanical power per stator phase is equal to the power absorbed by
the resistance R2(1-s)/s.

Fig: Alternative Form for Per-Phase Equivalent Circuit

The analysis of an induction motor is also facilitated by using the power flow diagram as shown
in the following figure in conjunction with the equivalent circuit.

Fig: Power Flow Diagram

Where,
The parameters of an induction generator can be determined by using the no-load test and block
rotor test (The steps in calculating the parameters and the test results obtained from a 440V,
4.6A, 2.2kW induction motor).

FACTS

Flexible ac transmission systems, called facts, got in the recent years a well known term
for higher controllability in power systems by means of power electronic devices. Several facts-
devices have been introduced for various applications worldwide. A number of new types of
devices are in the stage of being introduced in practice.

In most of the applications the controllability is used to avoid cost intensive or landscape
requiring extensions of power systems, for instance like upgrades or additions of substations and
power lines. Facts-devices provide a better adaptation to varying operational conditions and
improve the usage of existing installations.

The basic applications of facts-devices are:

• power flow control,

• increase of transmission capability,

• voltage control,

• reactive power compensation,

• stability improvement,

• power quality improvement,

• power conditioning,

• flicker mitigation,

• interconnection of renewable and distributed generation and storages.

Figure 1.1 shows the basic idea of facts for transmission systems. The usage of lines for
active power transmission should be ideally up to the thermal limits. Voltage and stability limits
shall be shifted with the means of the several different facts devices. It can be seen that with
growing line length, the opportunity for facts devices gets more and more important.

The influence of facts-devices is achieved through switched or controlled shunt

compensation, series compensation or phase shift control. The devices work electrically as fast
current, voltage or impedance controllers. The power electronic allows very short reaction times
down to far below one second.
 The development of facts-devices has started with the growing capabilities of power
electronic components. Devices for high power levels have been made available in converters for
high and even highest voltage levels. The overall starting points are network elements
influencing the reactive power or the impedance of a part of the power system. Figure 1.2 shows
a number of basic devices separated into the conventional ones and the facts-devices.

For the facts side the taxonomy in terms of 'dynamic' and 'static' needs some explanation.
The term 'dynamic' is used to express the fast controllability of facts-devices provided by the
power electronics. This is one of the main differentiation factors from the conventional devices.
The term 'static' means that the devices have no moving parts like mechanical switches to
perform the dynamic controllability. Therefore most of the facts-devices can equally be static
and dynamic.
 The left column in figure 1.2 contains the conventional devices build out of fixed or
mechanically switch able components like resistance, inductance or capacitance together with
transformers. The facts-devices contain these elements as well but use additional power
electronic valves or converters to switch the elements in smaller steps or with switching patterns
within a cycle of the alternating current. The left column of facts-devices uses thyristor valves or
converters. These valves or converters are well known since several years. They have low losses
because of their low switching frequency of once a cycle in the converters or the usage of the
thyristors to simply bridge impedances in the valves.

The right column of facts-devices contains more advanced technology of voltage source
converters based today mainly on insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) or insulated gate
commutated thyristors (IGCT). Voltage source converters provide a free controllable voltage in
magnitude and phase due to a pulse width modulation of the igbts or IGCTS. High modulation
frequencies allow to get low harmonics in the output signal and even to compensate disturbances
coming from the network. The disadvantage is that with an increasing switching frequency, the
losses are increasing as well. Therefore special designs of the converters are required to
compensate this.

Configurations of facts-devices:

Shunt devices:

The most used facts-device is the svc or the version with voltage source converter called
statcom. These shunt devices are operating as reactive power compensators. The main
applications in transmission, distribution and industrial networks are:

• reduction of unwanted reactive power flows and therefore reduced network losses.

• keeping of contractual power exchanges with balanced reactive power.

• compensation of consumers and improvement of power quality especially with huge demand
fluctuations like industrial machines, metal melting plants, railway or underground train systems.

• compensation of thyristor converters e.g. In conventional hvdc lines.

• improvement of static or transient stability.

Almost half of the svc and more than half of the statcoms are used for industrial
applications. Industry as well as commercial and domestic groups of users require power quality.
Flickering lamps are no longer accepted, nor are interruptions of industrial processes due to
insufficient power quality. Railway or underground systems with huge load variations require
svcs or statcoms.

Svc:

Electrical loads both generate and absorb reactive power. Since the transmitted load
varies considerably from one hour to another, the reactive power balance in a grid varies as well.
The result can be unacceptable voltage amplitude variations or even a voltage depression, at the
extreme a voltage collapse.

A rapidly operating static var compensator (svc) can continuously provide the reactive
power required to control dynamic voltage oscillations under various system conditions and
thereby improve the power system transmission and distribution stability.

Applications of the svc systems in transmission systems:

A. To increase active power transfer capacity and transient stability margin

B. To damp power oscillations

C. To achieve effective voltage control

In addition, svcs are also used

1. In transmission systems

A. To reduce temporary over voltages

B. To damp sub synchronous resonances

C. To damp power oscillations in interconnected power systems

2. In traction systems

A. To balance loads

B. To improve power factor

C. To improve voltage regulation

3. In hvdc systems

A. To provide reactive power to ac–dc converters

4. In arc furnaces

A. To reduce voltage variations and associated light flicker

Installing an svc at one or more suitable points in the network can increase transfer
capability and reduce losses while maintaining a smooth voltage profile under different network
conditions. In addition an svc can mitigate active power oscillations through voltage amplitude
modulation.

Svc installations consist of a number of building blocks. The most important is the
thyristor valve, i.e. Stack assemblies of series connected anti-parallel thyristors to provide
controllability. Air core reactors and high voltage ac capacitors are the reactive power elements
used together with the thyristor valves. The step up connection of this equipment to the
transmission voltage is achieved through a power transformer.
Svc building blocks and voltage / current characteristic

In principle the svc consists of thyristor switched capacitors (TSC) and thyristor switched
or controlled reactors (TSC/TSR). The coordinated control of a combination of these branches
varies the reactive power as shown in figure. The first commercial svc was installed in 1972 for
an electric arc furnace. On transmission level the first svc was used in 1979. Since then it is
widely used and the most accepted facts-device.
Svc

Svc using a TCR and an FC:

In this arrangement, two or more fc (fixed capacitor) banks are connected to a TCR (thyristor
controlled reactor) through a step-down transformer. The rating of the reactor is chosen larger
than the rating of the capacitor by an amount to provide the maximum lagging vars that have to
be absorbed from the system.

By changing the firing angle of the thyristor controlling the reactor from 90° to 180°, the reactive
power can be varied over the entire range from maximum lagging vars to leading vars that can be
absorbed from the system by this compensator.
Svc of the FC/TCR type:

The main disadvantage of this configuration is the significant harmonics that will be
generated because of the partial conduction of the large reactor under normal sinusoidal steady-
state operating condition when the svc is absorbing zero MVAR. These harmonics are filtered in
the following manner. Triplex harmonics are canceled by arranging the TCR and the secondary
windings of the step-down transformer in delta connection.

The capacitor banks with the help of series reactors are tuned to filter fifth, seventh, and
other higher-order harmonics as a high-pass filter. Further losses are high due to the circulating
current between the reactor and capacitor banks.
 Comparison of the loss characteristics of TSC-TCR, TCR-FC compensators and
synchronous condenser. These svcs do not have a short-time overload capability because the
reactors are usually of the air-core type. In applications requiring overload capability, TCR must
be designed for short-time overloading, or separate thyristor-switched overload reactors must be
employed.

Svc using a TCR and TSC:

This compensator overcomes two major shortcomings of the earlier compensators by

reducing losses under operating conditions and better performance under large system
disturbances. In view of the smaller rating of each capacitor bank, the rating of the reactor bank
will be 1/n times the maximum output of the svc, thus reducing the harmonics generated by the

reactor. In those situations where harmonics have to be reduced further, a small amount
of FCS tuned as filters may be connected in parallel with the TCR.
SVC of combined TSC and TCR type

When large disturbances occur in a power system due to load rejection, there is a
possibility for large voltage transients because of oscillatory interaction between system and the
svc capacitor bank or the parallel. The LC circuit of the svc in the fc compensator. In the TSC-
TCR scheme, due to the flexibility of rapid switching of capacitor banks without appreciable
disturbance to the power system, oscillations can be avoided, and hence the transients in the
system can also be avoided. The capital cost of this svc is higher than that of the earlier one due
to the increased number of capacitor switches and increased control complexity.

Statcom:

In 1999 the first svc with voltage source converter called statcom (static compensator)
went into operation. The statcom has a characteristic similar to the synchronous condenser, but
as an electronic device it has no inertia and is superior to the synchronous condenser in several
ways, such as better dynamics, a lower investment cost and lower operating and maintenance
costs. A statcom is build with thyristors with turn-off capability like GTO or today IGCT or with
more and more IGBTS. The static line between the current limitations has a certain steepness
determining the control characteristic for the voltage.

The advantage of a statcom is that the reactive power provision is independent from the
actual voltage on the connection point. This can be seen in the diagram for the maximum
currents being independent of the voltage in comparison to the svc. This means, that even during
most severe contingencies, the statcom keeps its full capability.

In the distributed energy sector the usage of voltage source converters for grid
interconnection is common practice today. The next step in statcom development is the
combination with energy storages on the dc-side. The performance for power quality and
balanced network operation can be improved much more with the combination of active and
reactive power.

Statcom structure and voltage / current characteristic

 Statcoms are based on voltage sourced converter (VSX) topology and utilize either gate-
turn-off thyristors (GTO) or isolated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) devices. The statcom is a
very fast acting, electronic equivalent of a synchronous condenser. If the statcom voltage, vs,
(which is proportional to the dc bus voltage vc) is larger than bus voltage, ES, then leading or
capacitive vars are produced. If vs is smaller than ES then lagging or inductive vars are
produced.

6 pulses statcom

The three phases statcom makes use of the fact that on a three phase, fundamental
frequency, steady state basis, and the instantaneous power entering a purely reactive device must
be zero. The reactive power in each phase is supplied by circulating the instantaneous real power
between the phases. This is achieved by firing the GTO/diode switches in a manner that
maintains the phase difference between the ac bus voltage ES and the statcom generated voltage
vs. Ideally it is possible to construct a device based on circulating instantaneous power which has
no energy storage device (i.e no dc capacitor).

A practical statcom requires some amount of energy storage to accommodate harmonic

power and ac system unbalances, when the instantaneous real power is non-zero. The maximum
energy storage required for the statcom is much less than for a TCR/TSC type of svc
compensator of comparable rating.
 Statcom equivalent circuit

Several different control techniques can be used for the firing control of the statcom.
Fundamental switching of the GTO/diode once per cycle can be used. This approach will
minimize switching losses, but will generally utilize more complex transformer topologies. As an
alternative, pulse width modulated (pwm) techniques, which turn on and off the GTO or IGBT
switch more than once per cycle, can be used. This approach allows for simpler transformer
topologies at the expense of higher switching losses.

The 6 pulse statcom using fundamental switching will of course produce the 6 n1
harmonics. There are a variety of methods to decrease the harmonics. These methods include the
basic 12 pulse configuration with parallel star / delta transformer connections, a complete
elimination of 5th and 7th harmonic current using series connection of star/star and star/delta
transformers and a quasi 12 pulse method with a single star-star transformer, and two secondary
windings, using control of firing angle to produce a 30phase shift between the two 6
pulse bridges. This method can be extended to produce a 24 pulse and a 48 pulse statcom, thus
eliminating harmonics even further. Another possible approach for harmonic cancellation is a
multi-level configuration which allows for more than one switching element per level and
therefore more than one switching in each bridge arm. The ac voltage derived has a staircase
effect, dependent on the number of levels. This staircase voltage can be controlled to eliminate
harmonics.

Substation with a statcom

Series devices:

Series devices have been further developed from fixed or mechanically switched
compensations to the thyristor controlled series compensation (tcsc) or even voltage source
converter based devices.

The main applications are:

• reduction of series voltage decline in magnitude and angle over a power line,

• reduction of voltage fluctuations within defined limits during changing power transmissions,

• improvement of system damping resp. Damping of oscillations,

• limitation of short circuit currents in networks or substations,

• avoidance of loop flows resp. Power flow adjustments.

TCSC:

Thyristor controlled series capacitors (tcsc) address specific dynamical problems in

transmission systems. Firstly it increases damping when large electrical systems are
interconnected. Secondly it can overcome the problem of sub synchronous resonance (ssr), a
phenomenon that involves an interaction between large thermal generating units and series
compensated transmission systems.

The tcsc's high speed switching capability provides a mechanism for controlling line
power flow, which permits increased loading of existing transmission lines, and allows for rapid
readjustment of line power flow in response to various contingencies. The tcsc also can regulate
steady-state power flow within its rating limits.

From a principal technology point of view, the tcsc resembles the conventional series
capacitor. All the power equipment is located on an isolated steel platform, including the
thyristor valve that is used to control the behavior of the main capacitor bank.

Likewise the control and protection is located on ground potential together with other
auxiliary systems. Figure shows the principle setup of a tcsc and its operational diagram.

The firing angle and the thermal limits of the thyristors determine the boundaries of the
operational diagram.
Advantages

 Continuous control of desired compensation level

 Direct smooth control of power flow within the network

 Improved capacitor bank protection

 Local mitigation of sub synchronous resonance (ssr). This permits higher levels of
compensation in networks where interactions with turbine-generator torsional vibrations
or with other control or measuring systems are of concern.

 Damping of electromechanical (0.5-2 hz) power oscillations which often arise between
areas in a large interconnected power network. These oscillations are due to the dynamics
of inter area power transfer and often exhibit poor damping when the aggregate power
tranfer over a corridor is high relative to the transmission strength.
SHUNT AND SERIES DEVICES

Dynamic power flow controller

A new device in the area of power flow control is the dynamic power flow controller (DFC). The
DFC is a hybrid device between a phase shifting transformer (PST) and switched series
compensation.

A functional single line diagram of the dynamic flow controller is shown in figure 1.19. The
dynamic flow controller consists of the following components:

• a standard phase shifting transformer with tap-changer (PST)

• series-connected thyristor switched capacitors and reactors

(TSC/TCR)

• a mechanically switched shunt capacitor (MSC). (This is optional depending on the system
reactive power requirements)
 Based on the system requirements, a DFC might consist of a number of series TSC or
TSR The mechanically switched shunt capacitor (MSC) will provide voltage support in case of
overload and other conditions. Normally the reactance of reactors and the capacitors are selected
based on a binary basis to result in a desired stepped reactance variation. If a higher power flow
resolution is needed, a reactance equivalent to the half of the smallest one can be added.

The switching of series reactors occurs at zero current to avoid any harmonics. However,
in general, the principle of phase-angle control used in tcsc can be applied for a continuous
control as well. The operation of a DFC is based on the following rules:

• TSC/TSR are switched when a fast response is required.

• the relieve of overload and work in stressed situations is handled by the TSC/TCR.

• the switching of the PST tap-changer should be minimized particularly for the currents higher
than normal loading.

• the total reactive power consumption of the device can be optimized by the operation of the
MSC, tap changer and the switched capacities and reactors.

In order to visualize the steady state operating range of the DFC, we assume an
inductance in parallel representing parallel transmission paths. The overall control objective in
steady state would be to control the distribution of power flow between the branch with the DFC
and the parallel path. This control is accomplished by control of the injected series voltage.

The PST (assuming a quadrature booster) will inject a voltage in quadrature with the
node voltage. The controllable reactance will inject a voltage in quadrature with the throughput
current. Assuming that the power flow has a load factor close to one, the two parts of the series
voltage will be close to collinear.
 However, in terms of speed of control, influence on reactive power balance and
effectiveness at high/low loading the two parts of the series voltage has quite different
characteristics. The steady state control range for loadings up to rated current is illustrated in
figure 1.20, where the x-axis corresponds to the throughput current and the y-axis corresponds to
the injected series voltage.

Fig1.20. Operational diagram of a DFC

Operation in the first and third quadrants corresponds to reduction of power through the DFC,
whereas operation in the second and fourth quadrants corresponds to increasing the power flow
through the DFC. The slope of the line passing through the origin (at which the tap is at zero and
TSC/TSR are bypassed) depends on the short circuit reactance of the PST.

Starting at rated current (2 ka) the short circuit reactance by itself provides an injected
voltage (approximately 20KV in this case). If more inductance is switched in and/or the tap is
increased, the series voltage increases and the current through the DFC decreases (and the flow
on parallel branches increases).
 The operating point moves along lines parallel to the arrows in the figure. The slope of
these arrows depends on the size of the parallel reactance. The maximum series voltage in the
first quadrant is obtained when all inductive steps are switched in and the tap is at its maximum.

Now, assuming maximum tap and inductance, if the throughput current decreases (due
e.g. To changing loading of the system) the series voltage will decrease. At zero current, it will
not matter whether the TSC/TSR steps are in or out, they will not contribute to the series voltage.
Consequently, the series voltage at zero current corresponds to rated PST series voltage. Next,
moving into the second quadrant, the operating range will be limited by the line corresponding to
maximum tap and the capacitive step being switched in (and the inductive steps by-passed). In
this case, the capacitive step is approximately as large as the short circuit reactance of the PST,
giving an almost constant maximum voltage in the second quadrant.

UNIFIED POWER FLOW CONTROLLER:

The upfc is a combination of a static compensator and static series compensation. It acts
as a shunt compensating and a phase shifting device simultaneously.

Fig1.21. Principle configuration of an upfc

 The upfc consists of a shunt and a series transformer, which are connected via two
voltage source converters with a common dc-capacitor. The dc-circuit allows the active power
exchange between shunt and series transformer to control the phase shift of the series voltage.
This setup, as shown in figure 1.21, provides the full controllability for voltage and power flow.
The series converter needs to be protected with a thyristor bridge. Due to the high efforts for the
voltage source converters and the protection, an upfc is getting quite expensive, which limits the
practical applications where the voltage and power flow control is required simultaneously.

OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF UPFC

The basic components of the upfc are two voltage source inverters (vsis) sharing a
common dc storage capacitor, and connected to the power system through coupling transformers.
One vsi is connected to in shunt to the transmission system via a shunt transformer, while the
other one is connected in series through a series transformer.

A basic upfc functional scheme is shown in fig.1

The series inverter is controlled to inject a symmetrical three phase voltage system (VSC), of
controllable magnitude and phase angle in series with the line to control active and reactive
power flows on the transmission line. So, this inverter will exchange active and reactive power
with the line. The reactive power is electronically provided by the series inverter, and the active
power is transmitted to the dc terminals. The shunt inverter is operated in such a way as to
demand this dc terminal power (positive or negative) from the line keeping the voltage across the
storage capacitor vdc constant. So, the net real power absorbed from the line by the upfc is equal
only to the losses of the inverters and their transformers. The remaining capacity of the shunt
inverter can be used to exchange reactive power with the line so to provide a voltage regulation
at the connection point.

The two vsi’s can work independently of each other by separating the dc side. So in that
case, the shunt inverter is operating as a statcom that generates or absorbs reactive power to
regulate the voltage magnitude at the connection point. Instead, the series inverter is operating as
sssc that generates or absorbs reactive power to regulate the current flow, and hence the power
low on the transmission line.

The upfc has many possible operating modes. In particular, the shunt inverter is operating
in such a way to inject a controllable current, ish into the transmission line. The shunt inverter
can be controlled in two different modes:

Var control mode:

the reference input is an inductive or capacitive var request. The shunt inverter control
translates the var reference into a corresponding shunt current request and adjusts gating of the
inverter to establish the desired current. For this mode of control a feedback signal representing
the dc bus voltage, vdc, is also required.

Automatic voltage control mode:

the shunt inverter reactive current is automatically regulated to maintain the transmission
line voltage at the point of connection to a reference value. For this mode of control, voltage
feedback signals are obtained from the sending end bus feeding the shunt coupling transformer.
 The series inverter controls the magnitude and angle of the voltage injected in series with
the line to influence the power flow on the line. The actual value of the injected voltage can be
obtained in several ways.

Direct voltage injection mode: the reference inputs are directly the magnitude and phase angle of
the series voltage. Phase angle shifter emulation mode: the reference input is phase displacement
between the sending end voltage and the receiving end voltage. Line impedance emulation mode:
the reference input is an impedance value to insert in series with the line impedance

Automatic power flow control mode: the reference inputs are values of p and q to maintain on
the transmission line despite system changes.

UNIFIED POWER QUALITY CONDITIONER

The provision of both DSTATCOM and DVR can control the power quality of the source
current and the load bus voltage. In addition, if the DVR and STATCOM are connected on the
DC side, the DC bus voltage can be regulated by the shunt connected DSTATCOM while the
DVR supplies the required energy to the load in case of the transient disturbances in source
voltage. The configuration of such a device (termed as Unified Power Quality Conditioner
(UPQC)) is shown in Fig. 14.15. This is a versatile device similar to a UPFC. However, the
control objectives of a UPQC are quite different from that of a UPFC.
CONTROL OBJECTIVES OF UPQC

The shunt connected converter has the following control objectives

1. To balance the source currents by injecting negative and zero sequence components required
by the load

2. The compensate for the harmonics in the load current by injecting the required harmonic
currents

3. To control the power factor by injecting the required reactive current (at fundamental
frequency)

4. To regulate the DC bus voltage.

The series connected converter has the following control objectives

1. To balance the voltages at the load bus by injecting negative and zero sequence voltages to
compensate for those present in the source.

2. To isolate the load bus from harmonics present in the source voltages, by injecting the
harmonic voltages

3. To regulate the magnitude of the load bus voltage by injecting the required active and reactive
components (at fundamental frequency) depending on the power factor on the source side

4. To control the power factor at the input port of the UPQC (where the source is connected.
Note that the power factor at the output port of the UPQC (connected to the load) is controlled by
the shunt converter.
Operation of UPQC

The operation of a UPQC can be explained from the analysis of the idealized equivalent
circuit shown in Fig. 14.16. Here, the series converter is represented by a voltage source VC and
the shunt converter is represented by a current source IC. Note that all the currents and voltages
are 3 dimensional vectors with phase coordinates. Unlike in the case of a UPFC (discussed in
chapter 8), the voltages and currents may contain negative and zero sequence components in
addition to harmonics. Neglecting losses in the converters, we get the relation

Where X,Y denote the inner product of two vectors, defined by

Let the load current IL and the source voltage VS be decomposed into two
Components given by

Where I1p L contains only positive sequence, fundamental frequency components

Similar comments apply to V 1pS. IrL and V rS contain rest of the load current and the source
voltage including harmonics. I1pL is not unique and depends on the power factor at the load bus.
However, the following relation applies for I1p L.
 This implies that hIrL; VLi = 0. Thus, the fundamental frequency, positive sequence
component in IrL does not contribute to the active power in the load. To meet the control
objectives, the desired load voltages and source currents must contain only positive sequence,
fundamental frequency components and

Where V ¤ L and I¤S are the reference quantities for the load bus voltage and the source
current respectively. Ál is the power factor angle at the load bus while Ás is the power factor
angle at the source bus (input port of UPQC). Note that V ¤ L(t) and I¤S (t) are sinusoidal and
balanced. If the reference current (I¤C ) of the shunt converter and the reference voltage (V ¤ C)
of the series converter are chosen as

Note that the constraint (14.30) implies that V 1p C is the reactive voltage in quadrature

with the desired source current, I¤S . It is easy to derive that .The
above equation shows that for the operating conditions assumed, a UPQC can be viewed as a
inaction of a DVR and a STATCOM with no active power °ow through the DC link. However, if
the magnitude of V ¤ L is to be controlled, it may not be feasible to achieve this by injecting only
reactive voltage. The situation gets complicated if V 1p S is not constant, but changes due to
system disturbances or fault. To ensure the regulation of the load bus voltage it may be
necessary to inject variable active voltage (in phase with the source current).
If we express

This implies that both ¢VC and ¢IC are perturbations involving positive sequence,
fundamental frequency quantities (say, resulting from symmetric voltage sags). the power
balance on the DC side of the shunt and series converter. The perturbation in VC is initiated to
ensure that

Thus, the objective of the voltage regulation at the load bus may require exchange of
power between the shunt and series converters.

Remarks:
1. The unbalance and harmonics in the source voltage can arise due to uncompensated nonlinear
and unbalanced loads in the upstream of the UPQC.

2. The injection of capacitive reactive voltage by the series converter has the advantage of raising
the source voltage magnitude.
Voltage Fluctuations

Although blackouts seem to get all the attention, major power problems can be attributed
to voltage fluctuations such as sags, surges and impulses. Thus, it is not surprising that users tend
to overlook this issue and do not pay much attention to protection against invisible voltage
fluctuations. The majority of users believe uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are a
universal remedy for all power-related problems. The end result is a modest market for voltage
regulators used to regulate the ac from the outlet. A recent study conducted by research firm
Frost & Sullivan reveals this market generated worldwide revenue of only $203.3 million in
2003, and is expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 4.5% over next few years. At
this rate, it is estimated to reach $277.7 million by 2010.

By comparison, UPS is expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2003 to $6.3 billion,
according to Venture Development Corp. Although, this market has also suffered because of
recent economic conditions and cuts in spending, the global awareness of the benefits of power
protection and recovery in the market is expected to improve revenues in the coming years.

According to Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst G.V.Suryanarayana Raju, “To boost
voltage regulator usage, suppliers must conduct consumer awareness campaigns and educate the
users about the damages caused by voltage fluctuation frequency to the end equipment connected
to the supply.” He adds that 95% of power problems can be attributed to voltage fluctuations
such as sags, surges and impulses and only 5% to blackouts. Although UPS systems offer some
sort of regulation, it is not sufficient. Hence, users must combine UPS with precise voltage
regulators to effectively tackle blackouts and voltage fluctuations on the supply line,
recommends Raju.

Furthermore, the report indicates that of the three major technologies—tap switching,
ferro resonant and buck-boost—tap switching offers growth potential. In 2003, tap switching-
based solutions accounted for nearly 63% of the market revenues. Due to its faster response and
ease of manufacturing, it is also finding new uses in contemporary high-speed electronic
applications. Tap switching products are becoming popular for mining and petroleum exploration
activities in Africa and South America.
 While ferro resonant and buck-boost technologies have several drawbacks, they offer
some good properties. Ferro resonant, for instance, has improved isolation and noise attenuation
properties. Most notably, buck-boost provides stability and efficiency in high-power
applications.

The study shows that the growth for these products will come from developing nations
where the main power supply is highly unstable. “The highly unstable main power supply in
Asia and the rest-of-world necessitates installation of additional external protection in the form
of voltage regulators,” notes Raju. Developing nations need to improve power quality and, in
turn, increase demand for voltage regulator products. In 2003, Asia, including Japan, accounted
for 25% of the world voltage regulator market. Much higher figures are projected for next few
years.

Meanwhile, new voltage regulating products are being created using IGBT technology
for its improved stability and protection properties against voltage fluctuations in high-power
electronic devices. Once consumers are convinced of IGBT’s ability to shield equipment with
isolation and fast response features, this market is expected to drive upward.

Weak grid

The term ‘weak grid’ is used in many connections both with and without the inclusion of wind
energy. It is used without any rigour definition usually just taken to mean the voltage level is not
as constant as in a ‘stiff grid’. Put this way the definition of a weak grid is a grid where it is
necessary to take voltage level and fluctuations into account because there is a probability that
the values might exceed the requirements in the standards when load and production cases are
considered. In other words, the grid impedance is significant and has to be taken into account in
order to have valid conclusions. Weak grids are usually found in more remote places where the
feeders are long and operated at a medium voltage level. The grids in these places are usually
designed for relatively small loads. When the design load is exceeded the voltage level will be
below the allowed minimum and/or the thermal capacity of the grid will be exceeded. One of the
consequences of this is that development in the region with this weak feeder is limited due to the
limitation in the maximum power that is available for industry etc. The problem with weak grids
in connection with wind energy is the opposite. Due to the impedance of the grid the amount of
wind energy that can be absorbed by the grid at the point of connection is limited because of the
upper voltage level limit. So in connection with wind energy a weak grid is a power supply
system where the amount of wind energy that can be absorbed is limited by the grid capacity and
not e.g. by operating limits of the conventional generation.
Basic power control idea
The basic power control idea investigated in the current project is to buffer wind energy
in situations where the grid voltage would otherwise exceed the limit and then release at a later
time when the voltage of the grid is lower. The main idea is to combine a wind farm with an
energy storage and a control
system and then be able to connect a larger amount of wind capacity without exceeding the
voltage limits and without grid re-enforcement and still have a profitable wind energy system.
Outline of report
The report initially presents the basic problem with wind turbines in weak grids in some
details. It then continues with a detailed presentation of the power control concept and various
ways of implementing such concepts. This includes discussions on different storage technologies
and control strategies.
Then a frame work for assessing power control options (in both technical and economic
terms) as a mean of integrating more wind energy is presented. A simulation model for assessing
the voltage level, amount of wind energy and storage size has been developed as part of the
project and it is described in some details. The report ends with a short indication of the size,
performance and cost associated with power control concepts as a solution to wind energy
integration in weak grids.
Basic Problems with Wind Turbines in Weak Grids
Voltage level

The main problem with wind energy in weak grids is the quasi-static voltage level. In a grid
without wind turbines connected the main concern by the utility is the minimum voltage level at
the far end of the feeder when the consumer load is at its maximum. So the normal voltage
profile for a feeder without wind energy is that the highest voltage is at the bus bar at the
substation and that it drops to reach the minimum at the far end.
The settings of the transformers by the utility are usually so, that the voltage at the consumer
closest to the transformer will experience a voltage, that is close to the maximum value
especially when the load is low and that the voltage is close to the minimum value at the far end
when the load is high. This operation ensures that the capacity of the feeder is utilised to its
maximum. When wind turbines are connected to the same feeder as consumers which often will
be the case in sparsely populated areas the voltage profile of the feeder will be much different
from the no wind case. Due to the power production at the wind turbine the voltage level can and
in most cases will be higher than in the no wind case.
 As is seen on the figure the voltage level can exceed the maximum allowed when the
consumer load is low and the power output from the wind turbines is high. This is what limits the
capacity of the feeder. The voltage profile of the feeder depends on the line impedance, the point
of connection of the wind turbines and on the wind power production and the consumer load. For
a simple single load case the voltage rise over the grid impedance can be approximated with ΔU
≅ (R * P + X *Q) /U using generator sign convention. This formula indicates some of the
possible solutions to the problem with absorption of wind power in weak grids. The main options
are either a reduction of the active power or an increase of the reactive power consumption or a
reduction of the line impedance.
Voltage fluctuations

Another possible problem with wind turbines in weak grids are the possible voltage fluctuations
as a result of the power fluctuations that comes from the turbulence in the wind and from starts
and stops of the wind turbines. As the grids becomes weaker the voltage fluctuations increase
given cause to what is termed as flicker. Flicker is visual fluctuations in the light intensity as a
result of voltage fluctuations. The human eye is especially sensitive to these fluctuations if they
are in the frequency range of 1-10 Hertz. Flicker and flicker levels are defined in IEC1000-3-7,
[1]. During normal operation the wind turbulence causes power fluctuations mainly in the
frequency range of 1-2 Hertz due to rotational sampling of the turbulence by the blades. This
together with the tower shadow and wind shear are the main contributors to the flicker produced
by the wind turbine during normal operation.
The other main contribution to the flicker emission is the cut-in of the wind turbine.
During cut-in the generator is connected to the grid via a soft starter. The soft starter limits the
current but even with a soft starter the current during cut-in can be very high due to the limited
time available for cut-in. especially the magnetisation current at cut-in contributes to the flicker
emission from a wind turbine.
Basic Power Control Idea

The main idea is to increase the amount of wind energy that can be absorbed by the grid
at a certain point with minimum extra cost. There exist several options that can be implemented
in order to obtain a larger
wind energy contribution. These options include:
 Grid reinforcement
 Voltage dependent disconnection of wind turbines
 Voltage dependent wind power production
 Inclusion of energy buffer (storage)

Determination of actual voltage distribution instead of worst case and evaluation if real
conditions will be a problem Grid reinforcement increases the capacity of the grid by increasing
the cross section of the cables. This is usually done by erecting a new line parallel to the existing
line for some part of the distance. Because of the increased cross section the impedance of the
line is reduced and therefore the voltage variations as a result of power variations are reduced.
Grid reinforcement increases both the amount of wind energy that can be connected to the
feeder and the maximum consumer load of the feeder. Since the line impedance is reduced the
losses of the feeder are also reduced. Grid reinforcement can be very costly and sometimes
impossible due to planning restrictions. Since grid reinforcement can be very costly or
impossible other options are interesting.
The most simple alternative is to stop some of the wind turbines when the voltage level is in
danger of being exceeded. This can e.g. be done by the wind turbine controller monitoring the
voltage level at the low voltage side of the connection point. At a certain level the wind turbine is
cut off and it is then cut in again when the voltage level is below a certain limit. The limits can
be precalculated and depends on transformer settings, line impedance and other loads of the
feeder. This is a simple and crude way of ensuring that the voltage limits will not be exceeded. It
can be implemented at practically no cost but not all the potentially available wind energy is
utilised.
A method that is slightly more advanced is to continuously control the power output of the wind
turbine in such a way that the voltage limit is not exceeded. This can be done on a wind farm
level with the voltage measured at the point of common connection. The way of controlling the
power output requires that the wind turbine is capable of controlling the output (pitch or variable
speed controlled) and a bit more sophisticated measuring and control equipment, but the amount
of wind energy that is dumped is reduced compared to the option of switching off complete wind
turbines.
 The basic power control idea in the current context of this project is based on the
combination on wind turbines and some kind of energy storage. The storage is used to buffer the
wind energy that cannot be feed to the grid at the point of connection without violating the
voltage limits. Usually the current limit of the grid will not be critical. The energy in the storage
can then be fed back to the grid at a later time when the voltage level is lower.
The situations where the voltage level will be high will occur when the consumer load of
the grid is low and the wind power production is high. If the voltage level will be critically high
depends on the characteristics of the grid (e.g. impedance and voltage control), the minimum
load of the consumers, the amount of installed wind power and the wind conditions. The critical
issues involved in the design of a power control system are the power and energy capacity, the
control bandwidth as well as investment, installation and maintenance cost.
The various types of power control systems have different characteristics giving different
weights on capacity, investment and maintenance. Different types of storage can be applied.
During the project only pumped storage and batteries has been investigated. Other types of
storage include flywheel, super conducting magnetic storage, compressed air and capacitors.
These types of storage have not been investigated for several reasons among them cost, capacity
and availability.
Control Strategies

Several different control strategies exist for a power controller with storage. The different
control strategies place different weights on voltage and power fluctuations and therefore have
different impact on the sizing of the storage capacity and of the power rating. The two main
types of control strategies are ones controlling the voltage at the point of common connection or
another point in the grid and the ones controlling the power for smoothing or capacity increase.

Voltage peak limitation

The first control strategy is to limit the number of occurrences of voltage excursions above the
upper voltage limit by absorbing the excess power in the storage. Since the probability of
overvoltage is higher at certain times of the day one possible control strategy is to start up e.g. a
pumped storage plant at the beginning of such a period and then let it run pumping water up to
the upper reservoir during that period at a certain power level that will ensure that over voltages
will only occur very seldom.
 The period could be 4-5 hours during the night. The stored energy could then be released
during high load periods e.g. during the evening. The rating of the pumps and the capacity of the
reservoir have to be sized to accommodate for the power and energy requirements but the control
would be very simple. The size of the reservoir would have to be quite large since it would have
to accommodate the large amount of energy that has to be absorbed during a relatively long
period of time and since there is no feedback whether the voltage is high or not.
The control of the system will be extremely simple since all it requires is a start signal
and a stop signal. It will also involve only proven technology. In order to reduce the required
reservoir size measurement of the grid voltage can be included in the control of the system. Now
the system will only start up if the voltage exceeds a certain level and it will shut down if the
voltage is below a certain other value.
Depending on the technology the limits for starting and stopping the plant can be close to
the voltage limit or a bit away from the limit. So now storage capacity is only needed when the
voltage is high. If the storage is large enough as well as the power rating this system can
eliminate Over voltages. In order to be able to estimate the required size some kind of simulation
tool is needed that can take the stochastic nature of both the wind and the load into consideration.
Voltage control

Limiting the maximum voltage level is very important but sometime more accurate control is
desired. This can include maintaining the voltage level and reduce flicker. When these features
are implemented the total system, wind farm and power control plant, will be an active part of
the power supply system.
Some of the reasons behind this can be a desire to improve the general power quality of
the area and eliminate the impact of wind energy on the voltage. When the control strategy is to
maintain the voltage level and reduce flicker the power control plant has to be active all the time.
The requirements to the size of the storage is increased since it now should be able to supply
energy in large amounts during low voltage situations and also the requirements to handle fast
variations are increased since flicker is in the range up to 15 Hz. The plant will also be able to
supply and absorb reactive power. Again simulation models are needed These will have to be
able to estimate the size of both the power and the storage as well as the dynamic performance if
flicker is to be eliminated.
Power Fluctuations
Instead of controlling the voltage at the point of connection another control parameter
could be the output power from a wind farm. The objective can e.g. be to keep the output power
as constant as possible. This will eliminate voltage fluctuations generated by the wind farm and
therefore also flicker.
Another benefit by this way of controlling the total system, wind farm and power
controller, is that the impact on the other generating components is very limited and the
stochastic nature of the wind power is reduced.
Since it will require a very large storage system to keep the output constant at all times it
will be more realistic to let the output of the total system vary slowly with the mean wind energy
production. This will still make the wind energy seem more firm since the variations are more
slow and therefore more stable. It will also reduce the flicker since the fast variations in the
output power from the wind farm are absorbed by the storage system. The reactive power can be
controlled in the same way. The only difference is that control of the reactive power does only
require a very minimal storage capacity.
The requirements to the bandwidth of the power controller hardware are relatively high if
all fluctuations causing flicker are to be eliminated. Modern power electronics will be able to
obtain the required bandwidth.
Firm power

As for the previous strategy one of the objectives can be to supply firm power. Firm power is
here understood to be power that can be scheduled. In connection with wind power and weak
grids important aspects are the ability to inject power during high load periods thus reducing the
requirements for conventional capacity and reducing the impact of voltage drop on the feeder
during the same high load periods. A firm power strategy will be an additional strategy since it
on its own will not reduce the voltage level during high voltage periods. In order to be able to
inject power into the power system when it is required it is necessary that the storage has enough
energy stored. It is clear that because 12 Risø-R-1118(EN) some of the capacity of the storage is
already taken up by the need to be able to supply power when required either the storage
capacity has to be increased if the same level of overvoltage probability is desired or there will
be an increase in overvoltage probability.
Tariff control
Tariff control is like firm power control an additional control strategy. The idea is that the
storage is filled during periods with a low tariff and the energy is release when the tariff is high.
If there is a large difference between the low and high tariff additional money can be earned by
the plant owner. As for the firm power control strategy there is a probability that a overvoltage
will occur when the storage is filled due to the transferring of energy from low tariff periods to
high tariff periods either the storage has to be increased or the overvoltage probability will
increase. Another aspect of the Tariff control strategy is that it has to be remembered that
significant amounts of energy are lost in the conversion (20-30%).

Power Control Concepts

As described above there exist several control strategies for power controllers. When they are
combined with different types of storage systems several different kinds of power control
concepts exist. The main options studied in the current project concerns pumped storage and
batteries combined with control strategies that are based on the natural strength of the two
storage types.
Pumped storage concept
In a pumped storage power control system a system with two water reservoir with a head
difference is used as storage. Water is pumped from the lower head to the higher head when
power has to be absorbed and it is released through a turbine when the grid can absorb the stored
energy.
The principal components of the pumped storage system are (Figure 2)

 Upper reservoir
 Lower reservoir
 Pressure shaft (Penstock)
 Turbine/Pump house
 Turbine
 Pump
 Generator
 Motor
 Control system

The two reservoirs can be two lakes situated close to each other or it can be an artificial
reservoir as the upper reservoir and natural lake as the lower or it can be an artificial reservoir as
the upper reservoir with the sea acting as the other reservoir. In the last case the water being
pumped and stored will of course be saltwater.
The construction of the upper reservoir will then have to take that into account so that the
salty water does not leak through the bottom of the reservoir and pollute the ground and the
ground water with salt. It is also important the turbine, pump and pressure shaft are constructed
to handle saltwater. The difference in head between the two reservoirs determines together with
the dimensions of the pressure shaft the power that is available. The capacity of the storage is
determined by the change in head from full to empty, the area of the reservoir and difference in
head between the two reservoirs. The conversion from kinetic energy of the falling water to
electrical energy takes place in the turbine/generator arrangement in the turbine/pump house.
There exist different types of turbines with different features. In order to save investment it is
desirable to use a turbine type that is good both as a turbine and as a pump.
As for the turbine/pump it is desirable to have only one generator/motor per turbine/ pump.
There are two basic choices for generator, synchronous and induction generators. For larger plant
synchronous generators will be the natural choice since the plant will look very much like a
conventional hydro plant with the same possibilities to participate in the voltage control of the
grid. For small plants induction machines could be an alternative. The control system
implements the desired control strategy and manages changes in power flow direction and
prevents components from being overloaded. The bandwidth of the pumped storage plant is
sufficient to eliminate the lower frequency fluctuations thus eliminating the over-voltage
situations. It is not desirable to have the plant to eliminate flicker. This is for control reasons in
order not to put too much load on the speed controller and voltage controller. The startup time
and the time it takes to reverse the power flow are rather long. The startup time is in the range of
1 minute and the power reversal time is in the range of 8-10 minutes.
The overall efficiency is approx. 75% taking losses in the motor/generator, turbine and the
hydraulic part into account. Pumped storage plants integrate very well with the conventional
power system. This is due to the fact that it is build as a hydro plant with the exception that it can
also pump water and therefore absorb energy. The possibilities for control of the power and the
voltage are the same as for a hydro plant and it can therefore be treated in the same way. Pumped
storage systems will typically be rather large compared to systems with batteries or flywheels.
This is due to the high cost of establishing the pressure
shaft and the reservoir, both costs being relatively insensitive to the size of the plant. This means
that it in order to decrease the specific investment the plants will be large. This can be seen in
Table 1 where there is a clear tendency for lower cost at larger plant sizes.

In Table 2 is a breakdown of the cost of different cost estimates for pumped storage
plants studied in the Donegal Case Study of the project. It is clear from these data that the
penstock is a very significant part of the total cost, but it is also evident that the distribution of
the cost depends very strongly on local conditions. This can be seen in Table 3 where the specific
cost of the penstock is shown.

The main advantages of a pumped storage system compared with the other types of
storage are that the technology is well known and proven and that the energy capacity will
usually be quite large and not very sensitive to the investment cost. The operating and
maintenance cost will usually be low compared with other types.
The initial investments costs of a pumped storage system are high due to especially the
penstock cost. If the reservoirs have to be made artificially the cost of that can also be very high.
In order to keep costs down it can be very beneficial to combine a pumped storage plant with a
conventional plant or to see the pumped storage plant as a capacity expansion. A limitation of the
pumped storage concept is also that it is very dependent on the available sites. If the situation
changes and e.g. a new feeder is installed eliminating the capacity problems of the existing
feeder the value of a pumped storage plant will be much lower since it cannot be moved. The
capacity of the plant is also quite fixed since it is difficult or expensive to expand the capacity.
 MODELLING OF CASE STUDY
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND MODELLING

A. System description

Fig.1 depicts the power system under consideration in this study. The WF is composed by 36
wind turbines using squirrel cage induction generators, adding up to 21.6MW electric power.
Each turbine has attached fixed reactive compensation capacitor banks (175kVAr), and is
connected to the power grid via 630KVA 0.69/33kV transformer. This system is taken from
and represents a real case. The ratio between short circuit power and rated WF power,
give us an idea of the “connection weakness”. Thus considering that the value of short circuit
power in MV6 is SSC ≃ 120MV A this ratio can be calculated:

Values of r < 20 are considered as a “weak grid” connection.

B. Turbine rotor and associated disturbances model

The power that can be extracted from a wind turbine, is determined by the following expression:

Where is air density, R the radius of the swept area, v the wind speed, and CP the power
coefficient. For the considered turbines (600kW) the values are R = 31.2 m , _ = 1.225 kg/m3
and CP calculation is taken from [8]. Then, a complete model of the WF is obtained by turbine
aggregation; this implies that the whole WF can be modeled by only one equivalent wind
turbine, whose power is the arithmetic sum of the power generated by each turbine according
to the following equation:

Moreover, wind speed v in (1) can vary around its average value due to disturbances in the wind
flow. Such disturbances can be classified as deterministic and random. The firsts are caused by
the asymmetry in the wind flow “seen” by the turbine blades due to “tower shadow” and/or due
to the atmospheric boundary layer, while the latter are random changes known as “turbulence”.
For our analysis, wind flow disturbance due to support structure (tower) is considered, and
modeled by a sinusoidal modulation superimposed to the mean value of v. The frequency for this
modulation is 3 ・Nortor for the three–bladed wind turbine, while its amplitude depends on the
geometry of the tower. In our case we have considered a mean wind speed of 12m/s and the
amplitude modulation of 15%. The effect of the boundary layer can be neglected compared to
those produced by the shadow effect of the tower in most cases [3]. It should be noted that while
the arithmetic sum of perturbations occurs only when all turbines operate synchonously and in
phase, this is the case that has the greatest impact on the power grid (worst case), since the power
pulsation has maximum amplitude. So, turbine aggregation method is valid.

C. Model of induction generator

For the squirrel cage induction generator the model available in Matlab/Simulink Sim Power
Systems libraries is used. It consists of a fourth–order state–space electrical model and a second–
order mechanical model.

D. Dynamic compensator model

The dynamic compensation of voltage variations is performed by injecting voltage in series and
active–reactive power in the MV6 (PCC) bus bar; this is accomplished by using an unified type
compensator UPQC. In Fig.2 we see the basic outline of this compensator; the bus bars and
impedances numbering is referred to Fig.1. The operation is based on the generation of three
phase voltages, using electronic converters either voltage source type (VSI–Voltage Source
Inverter) or current source type (CSI– Current Source Inverter). VSI converter are preferred
because of lower DC link losses and faster response in the system than CSI .The shunt converter
of UPQC is responsible for injecting current at PCC, while the series converter generates
voltages between PCC and U1, as illustrated in the phasor diagram of Fig.3. An important
feature of this compensator is the operation of both VSI converters (series and shunt) sharing.
 the same DC–bus, which enables the active power exchange between them. We have
developed a simulation model for the UPQC based on the ideas taken from. Since switching
control of converters is out of the scope of this work, and considering that higher order
harmonics generated by VSI converters are outside the bandwidth of significance in the
simulation study, the converters are modelled using ideal controlled voltage sources. Fig.4 shows
the adopted model of power side of UPQC. The control of the UPQC, will be implemented in a
rotating frame dq0 using Park’s transformation (eq.3-4)
Where fi=a,b,c represents either phase voltage or currents, and fi=d,q,0 represents that
magnitudes transformed to the dqo space. This transformation allows the alignment of a rotating
reference frame with the positive sequence of the PCC voltages space vector. To accomplish this,
a reference angle synchronized with the PCC positive sequence fundamental voltage space
vector is calculated using a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) system. In this work, an “instantaneous
power theory” based PLL has been implemented. Under balance steady-state conditions, voltage
and currents vectors in this synchronous reference frame are constant quantities. This feature is
useful for analysis and decoupled control.

UPQC CONTROL STRATEGY

The UPQC serial converter is controlled to maintain the WF terminal voltage at nominal value
(see U1 bus-bar in Fig.4), thus compensating the PCC voltage variations. In this way, the voltage
disturbances coming from the grid cannot spread to the WF facilities. As a side effect, this
control action may increase the low voltage ride–through (LVRT) capability in the occurrence of
voltage sags in the WF terminals [4], [9]. Fig.5 shows a block diagram of the series converter
controller. The injected voltage is obtained subtracting the PCC voltage from the reference
voltage, and is phase–aligned with the PCC voltage (see Fig.3).
On the other hand, the shunt converter of UPQC is used to filter the active and reactive
power pulsations generated by the WF. Thus, the power injected into the grid from the WF
compensator set will be free from pulsations, which are the origin of voltage fluctuation that can
propagate into the system. This task is achieved by appropriate electrical currents injection in
PCC. Also, the regulation of the DC bus voltage has been assigned to this converter. Fig.6 shows
a block diagram of the shunt converter controller. This controller generates both voltages
commands
 Ed shuC ∗ and Eq shuC ∗ based on power fluctuations _P and Q, respectively. Such
deviations are calculated subtracting the mean power from the instantaneous power measured in
PCC.
The mean values of active and reactive power are obtained by low–pass filtering, and the
bandwidth of such filters are chosen so that the power fluctuation components selected for
compensation, fall into the flicker band as stated in IEC61000- 4-15 standard. In turn, Ed shuC ∗
also contains the control action for the DC–bus voltage loop. This control loop will not interact
with the fluctuating power compensation, because its components are lower in frequency than
the flicker–band. The powers PshuC and QshuC are calculated in the rotating reference frame, as
follows:

Ignoring PCC voltage variation, these equations can be

written as follows.
Taking in consideration that the shunt converter is based on a VSI, we need to generate adequate
voltages to obtain the currents in (6). This is achieved using the VSI model proposed sin, leading
to a linear relationship between the generated power and the controller voltages. The resultant
equations are:

P and Q control loops comprise proportional controllers, while DC–bus loop, a PI controller.
In summary, in the proposed strategy the UPQC can be seen as a “power buffer”, leveling the
power injected into the power

system grid. The Fig.7 illustrates a conceptual diagram of this mode of operation. It must
be remarked that the absence of an external DC source in the UPQC bus, forces to maintain
zero–average power in the storage element installed in that bus. This is accomplished by a proper
design of DC voltage controller. Also, it is necessary to note that the proposed strategy cannot
be implemented using other CUPS devices like D–Statcom or DVR. The power buffer concept
may be implemented using a DStatcom, but not using a DVR. On the other hand, voltage
regulation during relatively large disturbances, cannot be easily coped using reactive power only
from DStatcom; in this case, a DVR device is more suitable.
 Matlab design of case study:

Discrete,
Ts = 5e-005 s.
powergui

Sine Wave Add

A A wind1
B B 12 Clock Switch
C C
Constant
Three-Phase
Series RLC Branch wind
Wind (m/s)
[Trip_WT1] trip
Trip

A a A
A aA aA A1 A2 A A aA
b B
N B bB B1 B2 B B bB B
bB
c C
C cC
cC C1 C2 C C cC
C n2
Three-Phase Three-Phase Wind Turbine 1
Programmable V-I Measurement2 Three-Phase UPQC 1 km line 1 B575_1 0.69/33e3 Induction Generator
Voltage Source V-I Measurement (575 V) 630KVA (Phasor Type)

C
A
B
170 kvar
A A Aa A A
B B Bb B B

A
B
C
C C Cc C C

o
c m
Three-Phase Three-Phase Breaker
Three-Phase Three-Phase
Series RLC Branch2 Series RLC Branch1
V-I Measurement1

b
a

c
A
B
C

Three-Phase
Series RLC Branch3 Timer

A
B
C
Three-Phase
C
A
B

Series RLC Load1

A
B
C

Three-Phase
Series RLC Load

The model of the power system scheme illustrated in Fig, including the controllers with the
control strategy detailed in section III, was implemented using Matlab/Simulink software.
Numerical simulations were performed to determine and then compensate voltage fluctuation
due to wind power variation, and voltage regulation problems due to a sudden load connection.
The simulation was conducted with the

following chronology:
• at t = 0.0′′ the simulation starts with the series converter
and the DC–bus voltage controllers in operation.
• at t = 0.5′′ the tower shadow effect starts;
• at t = 3.0′′ Q and P control loops(see Fig.6) are enabled;
• at t = 6.0′′ L3 load is connected.
• at t = 6.0′′ L3 load is disconnected
Active and reactive power demand at power grid side
 PCC voltage

Voltage at WF
Power of the capacitor in the dc bus
Voltage of the capacitor in the dc bus
Voltage at WF
Series injected voltage at “a” phase
Shunt and series converter active power
DC bus voltage
 CONCLUSION
In this paper, a new compensation strategy implemented using an UPQC type compensator was
presented, to connect SCIG based wind farms to weak distribution power grid. The proposed
compensation scheme enhances the system power quality, exploiting fully DC–bus energy
storage and active power sharing between UPQC converters, features not present in DVR and D–
Statcom compensators. The simulation results show a good performance in the rejection of
power fluctuation due to “tower shadow effect” and the regulation of voltage due to a sudden
load connection. So, the effectiveness of the proposed compensation approach is demonstrated in
the study case. In future work, performance comparison between different compensator types
will be made.

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