1

Active Power and Reactive Power Regulation

Capacity Study of DFIG Wind Turbine
Lei sun, Zengqiang Mi, Yang Yu, Tao Wu, Haifeng Tian

Abstract--In this paper, taking the doubly fed induction

generator (DFIG) wind turbine as the research object, an
electromagnetic transient simulation model is established in
PSCAD/EMTDC simulation environment to analyze the active
power and reactive power regulation capacity of DFIG wind
turbine. Under different wind speed, maximum power point
tracing (MPPT) control is implemented to ensure the optimum
active power output, meanwhile the reactive power limits are
calculated and combined with reactive power requirement of
local load or the grid to determine the reactive power output. It
can achieve operation optimization by making full use of a DFIG
wind turbine capacity of the flexible power regulation.
Index Terms--Active Power; Control Strategy; DFIG;
Decoupled Control; Dynamic Compensation; Maximum Power
Point Tracking; Operation Optimization; Reactive Power Limits;
the Stator Flux Field Oriented Control

I. INTRODUCTION

OWADAYS, variable-speed constant-frequency (VSCF)

wind-power doubly-fed induction generator is the most
widely used for wind farms with the development of wind
power generation technology. Compared with constant speed
constant frequency (CSCF) wind generating system, variable
speed constant frequency doubly fed wind power generator
presents noticeable advantages such as, it can keep the
optimum tip-speed ratio to get maximum wind-power during a
low wind speed and improve the flexibility of the drive system
by releasing or saving some energy during high wind speed, in
order to ensure the active power output smooth [1]-[6]. At the
same time, doubly fed induction generator wind turbines can
achieve the decoupled control of active and reactive powers.
So it not only can work as a power supply to the grid, it can
also be used as reactive power supply to stabilize the power
system voltage around a prescribed value and deliver the

This work was supported in part by the North China Electric Power
Research Institute.
Lei Sun is currently attending the Electrical Engineering Department ,
North China Electric Power University as a graduate student, Baoding,
071003 CHINA, (e-mail: 2008sunlei@163.com).
Zengqiang Mi is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, North
China Electric Power University, Baoding, 071003 CHINA, (e-mail:
mzq@ncepubd.edu.cn).
Yang Yu is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, North China
Electric Power University, Baoding, 071003 CHINA, (e-mail:
yy19820316@163.com).
Tao Wu is with North China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing,
100045 CHINA, (e-mail: mrwutao0619@sina.com).
Haifeng Tian is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, North
China Electric Power University, Baoding, 071003 CHINA, (e-mail:
thf1124@126.com).

reactive power as compensation to local users near the wind

farms. Therefore, calculation of the reactive power limits has
important significance in selecting the reactive power control
strategy and determining the set point of reactive power [7][10]. Hence, active power and reactive power regulation
capacity study of DFIG wind turbine have attracted more
attention.
In this paper, taking the doubly fed induction generator
(DFIG) wind turbine as the research object, an
electromagnetic transient simulation model is established in
PSCAD/EMTDC simulation environment to analyze the
active power and reactive power regulation capacity of DFIG
wind turbine. By specifically analysing the decoupled control
principle of active and reactive powers based on vectororiented control method, the expressions and relationships of
the active power, reactive power, current and voltage in the
rotor and stator are studied, indicating the state of the DFIG
under different wind speed. Finally, maximum power point
tracing (MPPT) control is implemented to ensure the optimum
active power output. The reactive power limits are calculated
and combined with reactive power requirement of local load
or the grid to determine the reactive power output. It can
achieve operation optimization by making use of a DFIG wind
turbine capacity of the flexible power regulation.
II. THE DECOUPLED CONTROL OF DFIG
DFIG wind turbine includes a wound rotor induction
generator connected to the wind turbine rotor through a
gearbox. This generator presents the stator winding directly
grid-coupled and a bidirectional power converter feeding the
rotor winding, made up two back-to-back IGBT bridges based
voltage source converters linked by a DC bus. This power
converter decouples the electrical grid frequency and the
mechanical rotor frequency, thus enabling variable speed wind
turbine generation. The wind turbine rotor presents blade pitch
angle control limiting the power and the rotational speed for
high winds [11]. The schematic diagram of a double fed
induction generator for wind turbine application is shown in
Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. DFIG wind turbine

In this paper, the vector control strategy of the rotor side

PWM converter is based on the stator field-orient vector
control technology. The induction machine is controlled in a
synchronous rotating dq axis frame, with the d-axis oriented
along the stator-flux vector. In this way, sd=s, usq=us, sq=
usd=0, the relationship between the dq axis voltages, currents
and active power, reactive power are calculated by [1], [12]:

dird

urd = rr ird + Lr dt s Lr irq

dirq
Lm

urq = rr irq + Lr dt + s ( L s + Lr ird )

s

L
i = m i s
sd Ls rd Ls

i = Lm i
sq Ls rq

(1)

Lm

Ps = 1.5usq isq = 1.5 L us irq

2
L
Q = 1.5u i = 1.5 m u i 1.5 us
sq sd
s rd
s
Ls
n Ls

(2)

: Air density
R: Rotor radius
Cp: Power coefficient as a function and
For a particular wind turbine and a specified wind velocity,
there is a value of opt to ensure a maximum of Cpmax and a
turbine rotational speed value that allows capturing the
maximum mechanical power attainable from the wind.
Power relationship of DFIG can be obtained as
Ps = Pe Pcu Pfe

(4)

P0 Pm'
P
P Pr'
= m = r
Pe =
1 s
1 s
s

where Ps, Pcu, Pfe respectively represent the output power,

copper losses, iron losses of the stator; Pe is the electric power
of generator; Pm is the mechanical losses; Pm is the
mechanical power injected into generator; Pr is the output
power of rotor; Pr is the rotor losses.
It is assumed that the system ensures the optimum active
power output. Thus, it can be stated that P0=P opt . So, Ps, Pr
can be expressed as
Popt

P
Ps =
1 s

s ( Popt Pm' )
Pr'
=
P
r
1
s

Pm'
P = Pcu + Pfe +
1 s

(5)

B. Control Strategy of Active Power

When the wind speeds above cut-in wind speed and below
rated nominal wind speed, maximum power point tracking
strategy is used to ensure the optimum active power output.
Fig. 2 shows the power characteristics of a wind turbine.

where u, r, i, L , respectively represent the voltage,

resistance, current, leakage inductance and flux; indexes d
and q, the direct and quadrature components; indexes s and r
refers to stator and rotor; r denotes rotor electrical speed,
=1

Lm 2
, s = n r .
Ls Lr

The quadrature component of the rotor current i rq is

contributes to the machine active power, the direct component
i rd controls the reactive power entering the machine.
III. ACTIVE POWER REGULATION CAPACITY
A. Output Characteristics of Active Power
The mechanical power P 0 captured by a wind turbine,
depends on its tip-speed-ratio, , blade pitch angle, , wind
speed, Vw, and can be represented by [13]:

P0 = 0.5 C p ( , ) r 2Vw3
with:

(3)

Fig. 2. Power characteristics of a wind turbine

A typical relationship, as shown in Fig. 2, indicates that

there is one rotor electrical speed at which the wind turbine is
most efficient under specific wind speed. Hence, to achieve
maximum power Popt, r should be regulated to keep the tipspeed-ratio at the optimal operating point for all wind speeds
[14], [15]. The schematic of control strategy of active power is
shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.

3
P

r
D

ref
Po pt

2.0M
1.6M
1.2M
0.8M

Popt

0.4M

0. 0

4. 0

8. 0

(m/s)

12.0

16. 0

account. The approximated limit for the reactive power can

be derived as follows:

irqref

s ( P Pm' )
Qg max = S g 2 [ opt
Pr' ]2
1 s

s ( Popt Pm' )

2
Pr' ]2
Qg min = S g [
1 s

Wind
speed

(8)

where Sg is the rated power of the grid side inverter.

The reactive powers limits of the DFIG wind turbine can be
represented as the sum of (7) and (8).

Fig. 3. Rotor speed mode control

Qm a x = Qs max + Qg max

Qmin = Qs min + Qg min

Fig. 4 Power mode control

The transient response of rotor speed mode control is fast

and DFIG can achieve steady-state quickly. But, the output
power will fluctuate or sag. Compared with rotor speed mode
control, the transient response of power mode control is
relatively slow, but power output is becoming smooth. At the
same time, the reference depends on the wind speed value can
not be measured because it is a fictitious wind speed related to
the energy contained in the incident wind field. Therefore,
power mode control and blade pitch angle control are chose to
regulate active power output. There is a blade pitch angle
control block available in PSCAD/EMTDC.

(9)

Hence, the output reactive power limits can be obtained

under different wind speed condition. In practical
operation, Pm, Pr, Pcu, Pfe are neglected to ensure a margin
of safety. Reference [7] has demonstrated that both steady
state and dynamic stability limits are approximately equal.

B. Control Strategy of Reactive Power

Currently, the reactive power control strategy of DFIG
wind turbine mainly includes constant power factor control
strategy, constant terminal voltage control strategy and
dynamic compensation control strategy.
(a) Constant power factor control strategy. When a small
scale wind farm connects to the grid, a change of output will
hardly affect the operational status. In that case, wind
generators usually work with constant power factor, such as
unity power factor. The constant power factor control block is
shown in Fig. 5.

IV. REACTIVE POWER REGULATION CAPACITY

A. Reactive Power Limits
According to (2) and (5), the approximated limit for the
reactive power is obtained:
Ps 2 + (Qs + 1.5

U s2 2
L
L
) = (1.5 m U s I r ) 2 (1.5 m U s I r max ) 2 (6)
Ls
Ls
n Ls

Popt
U2
L
P ) 2
Qs max = 1.5 s + (1.5 m U s I r max ) 2 (
1 s
n Ls
Ls

Popt
U s2
L

(1.5 m U s I r max ) 2 (
P ) 2
1.5
Q
s min
1

L
L
s
n s
s

Q S 2 ( Popt P) 2
n
s
1 s

(7)

where Irmax is the maximum rotor current that can be driven

by the rotor-side converter; Sn is the rated power of DFIG.
In commercial systems, the grid side inverter usually
works with unity power factor, i.e., zero reactive power, so the
total reactive power capability of the generator is equal to the
stator reactive power capability. But in this paper, the grid
side inverter reactive power capability is taken into

Fig. 5 Constant power factor control block

(b) Constant terminal voltage control strategy. When a

wind farm is installed in remote, rural areas where the grids is
weak or a wind farm is large enough, the voltage of integrated
point sometimes fluctuates greatly. In its acute forms, voltage
collapse will endanger the security and grid-connection of
wind generators. Therefore, the reactive power is controlled to
maintain voltage stability. The external-loop is controlled by
constant voltage and the inner-loop is controlled by reactive
power. The constant terminal voltage control block is shown
in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 Constant terminal voltage control block

(c) Dynamic compensation control strategy. In gridconnected applications, dynamic compensation control
strategy is implemented to provide in some cases
compensation, to satisfy the reactive power requirement of
local load or the grid by making full use of a DFIG wind
turbine capacity of power regulation. The dynamic
compensation control block is shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 Power-speed curve of the wind turbine

Fig. 9 shows the relationship between the reference active

power output of the stator and the rotor electrical speed.
According to the curve, the optimum output Psref of stator
under different wind speed condition is obtained by measuring
the rotor electrical speed r. In other words, r is an available
magnitude and the wind speed has been estimated in the
simulations.

Fig. 7 Dynamic compensation control block

For the last two control strategies, the reactive power limits
should be considered and combined with the control
objectives and the actual operation condition of the power
system, in order to contribute to the voltage regulation and
power compensation. Therefore, to ensure the utility and
effectiveness of the developed and tested reactive power
control, it can achieve operation optimization.
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
The power regulation capacity simulation studies for a
2MW wind turbine were carried out. The control mode was
selected for the maximum power point tracking and the
reactive power compensation that based on the reactive power
limits. The results illustrate how the developed wind farm
controller controls the wind farm power production by
considering the regulation capacity of the DFIG wind turbine
in PSCAD/EMTDC environment.
Parameters of the system used for simulations are reported
as follows:
Turbine: R=40m, opt=10.5, =1.225kg/m3, rated wind speed is
13m/s.
DFIG: The rated power of DFIG is 2MVA, rated voltage is
0.69kV, rs=0.0004pu, rr=0.02pu, Lm=6.92pu, Ls=0.257pu,
Lr=0.295pu, Irmax=1.8KA, Sg=0.6MW.
Fig. 8 shows the power-speed curve of the wind turbine. At
below-rated wind speed, the turbine rotational speed is
controlled to its optimal value, which is linked to the optimal
tip speed ratio, to ensure that capture the largest wind energy.
At above-rated wind speed, the blade pitch angle controller
keeps the generator speed limited to the control value by
acting on the pitch angle.

Fig. 9 Reference active power output of the stator

Fig. 10 shows the reactive power limits of the 2MW DFIG

wind turbine. The results demonstrate that the limits are
reduced with increasing wind speed. As the generator
operating at constant speed control or constant power control
condition, reactive power limits are essentially unchanged and
regulation capacity has declined markedly.

Fig. 10 Reactive power limits

In order to test the wind generator regulation capacity, the

following power control functions sequence is proposed
according to Fig. 9 and Fig. 10:
(1) The time period between 1 and 3 s, the received wind
speed is 13m/s, Qmax=0.007679MVar, Qmin=-0.843554MVar,
P opt =1.96MW;
(2) The time period between 3 and 5 s, the received wind
speed is 10m/s, Qmax=1.051857MVar, Qmin=-1.712806MVar,
P opt =1.19MW;
(3) The time period between 3 and 5 s, the received wind
speed is 7m/s, Qmax=1.305598MVar, Qmin=-1.934937MVar,
P opt =0.78MW.
Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 illustrate both the actual active power
and reactive power at the limits level of DFIG. The simulation
results show a good performance of the control system. The

specified references both for the active and reactive power are
achieved properly to track the maximal wind energy and
reactive power limits when the injected wind is changing.

varies because of changes in wind speed, and the designed

control laws are capable of keeping tracking the desired
power. The reactive power capability limits of this generator
are calculated for planning the reference reactive power, and
the generator enables the flexible adjustment of reactive power
between the limits. In practical experience, optimization of
active and reactive power output and making full use of the
regulation capacity have great significance in improving the
stability of a grid-connected wind farm and its voltage, also in
controlling the power flow and balance.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Fig. 11 Output power that consider the upper limit of reactive power

The authors acknowledge contribution from North China

Electric Power Research Institute.
VIII. REFERENCES
[1]

[2]
[3]

Fig. 12 Output power that consider the lower limit of reactive power

Within the limits range, the reactive power requirement of

local load or the grid can be satisfied. For example, when the
reactive power requirement of grid is 1MVar, the simulation
result is shown in Fig. 13. At 13m/s of the wind speed,
Qmax=0.007679MVar. So it can only control its output
according the limit. At 10m/s and 7m/s of the wind speed, the
reactive power capacity can achieve the requirement.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
Fig. 13 Output power that consider the power requirement of the grid
[11]

In practical, the information of the reactive power

requirement of the grid or the local users is feedback to the
control system of wind farm. Then, compared with the
reactive limits of the wind farm under the current
circumstances, the reference reactive power output value of
the whole wind farm is determined and distributed to each
wind generator on the basis of its power regulation capacity.
VI. CONCLUSION
The simulation results obtained when running the wind
generator at its ultimate state. Then, the results analysis
demonstrates that the optimum active power to be generated

[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]

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IX. BIOGRAPHIES
Lei Sun was born in Yantai, Shandong Province, China in 1985. He received
his B. S. degree from North China Electric Power University (NCEPU). Now
he is a Master's Student of Electric Enpineering Department at NCEPU. His
areas of interest include power system automation, power system analysis, and
wind power generation.
Zengqiang Mi was born in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China in 1960.
Now he is a professor of Electric Engineering Department at North China
Electric Power University (NCEPU). His areas of interest include power
system automation, wind power generation, power system analysis, dynamic
analysis of hybrid power system, and power system wide-area protection and
control.
Yang Yu was born in Chongqing, China in 1982. He received the M.S. degree
in power system and its automation from Xian Jiao tong University in 2008.
Now he is working as an instructor in NCEPU. His interests mainly focus on
Power system protection and control, wind power generation and power
system analysis.
Wu Tao is a director of Electric Power System Research Division at North
China Electric Power Research Institute Co., Ltd. He received the Ph.D.
degree in power engineering from Xian Jiao tong University in 1997. He is
currently involved in large system studies including power system modeling
of generator excitation control system and governing system, real-time
simulation, network planning, integration of wind generation to power
systems and SSR mitigation studies.
Haifeng Tian was born in Fengzhen, Inner Mongolia, China in 1982. She
received her B. S. degree from Inner Mongolia University of Technology.
Now she is a Master's Student of Electric Engineering Department at NCEPU.
His areas of interest include power system analysis, and wind power
generation.