Impact of increased penetration of DFIG based wind turbine generators on rotor angle stability of power systems

An advantage of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) as compared to conventional fixed speed wind turbine generators is higher efficiency. This higher efficiency is achieved due to the ability of the DFIG to operate near its optimal turbine efficiency over a wider range of wind speeds through variable speed operation. This is achieved through the application of a back-to-back converter that tightly controls the rotor current and allows for asynchronous operation. In doing so, however, the power electronic converter effectively decouples the inertia of the turbine from the system. Hence, with the increase in penetration of DFIG based wind farms, the effective inertia of the system will be reduced. With this assertion, the present study is aimed at identifying the systematic approach to pinpoint the impact of increased penetration of DFIGs on a large realistic system. The techniques proposed in this work are tested on a large test system representing the Midwestern portion of the U.S. Interconnection. The electromechanical modes that are both detrimentally and beneficially affected by the change in inertia are identified. The combination of small-signal stability analysis coupled with the large disturbance analysis of exciting the mode identified is found to provide a detailed picture of the impact on the system. The work is extended to develop suitable control strategies to mitigate the impact of significant DFIG penetration on a large power system. Supplementary control is developed for the DFIG power converters such that the effective inertia contributed by these wind generators to the system is increased. Results obtained on the large realistic power system indicate that the frequency nadir following a large power impact is effectively improved with the proposed control strategy. The proposed control is also validated against sudden wind speed changes in the form of wind gusts and wind ramps. The beneficial impact in terms of damping power system oscillations is observed, which is validated by eigenvalue analysis. Another control mechanism is developed aiming at designing the power system stabilizer (PSS) for a DFIG similar to the PSS of synchronous machines. Although both the supplementary control strategies serve the purpose of improving the damping of the mode with detrimental impact, better damping performance is observed when the DFIG is equipped with both the controllers.