Effect of wind turbine converter control on wind power plant harmonic response and resonances

Abstract

Wind turbine harmonic emissions due to power electronics are a well-known power quality concern in wind power plants (WPPs). This problem may be increased by resonances because they amplify harmonic distortion around resonance frequencies. Hence, the resonance phenomenon is widely analysed in the literature. Resonance studies usually consider wind turbines (WTs) as ideal current sources, which can lead to inaccurate results. The study explores the effect of WT converter control on WPP harmonic response. It contributes expressions of WT equivalent harmonic impedance including current control of the grid side converter. This impedance allows WT converter control to be considered in WPP modelling to analyse its effect on harmonic response and resonances. PSCAD and Matlab/Simulink simulations were performed to validate the analytical expressions and illustrate the usefulness of the work in predicting harmonic distortions at WT terminals in actual WPPs. ; L. Sainz's work was carried out with the financial support of the 'Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad' (grant ENE2013-46205- C5-3-R), which the authors gratefully acknowledge. M. Cheah- Mane's work received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement no. 317221, project title MEDOW.