RUNNING HEAD: GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE SPEED WIND TURBINES

General Model for Representing Variable Speed Wind Turbines in Power System Dynamics
Shannon Woolfolk, Lauren Warner, Paulina Hall
September 22, 2016

Dr. Psaker

GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE WIND SPEED TURBINES

Abstract

The use of alternative energy sources has become more common as environmental issues
have come to light. While nuclear, thermal, and hydroelectric plants are more common, the usage
of wind turbines as a means of generating power are gaining popularity. The article documents
how wind turbines will be used to communicate with alternative power systems to make them
more prominent as an alternative energy source. The problem with the typical wind turbine is
that they do not allow frequency and voltage to be controlled easily and often have to be
disconnected and shut down in the event of a disturbance. However, the proposed model in the
paper demonstrates a usage where a wind turbine can be incorporated with additional power
sources. Their idea would consist of a variable-speed wind turbine with a back-to-back voltage
source converter to direct current to the rotor winding (Slootweg, 2003). An alternative idea that
they propose as well would use a direct drive synchronous generator with a voltage source
converter of some kind. The ultimate goal of these alternative designs is the integration of the
wind turbine into power systems dynamics simulations. This integration should demonstrate the
impact that many wind turbines can have on the voltage and frequency of an electric power
system as a whole. In order to further investigate variable-speed wind turbines and the balance
between wind speed and maximum power supply, the wind speed model was developed,
utilizing mean wind speed, turbulence, wind gust, and a wind speed ramp to maximize energy
generation (Slootweg, 2003). This model was then tested and, using various formulae, the ideal
model was determined based on the results. The idea of this model was to allow maximum
energy generation despite the landscape surrounding the wind turbine (i.e. cities, grasslands, etc).
Also included in the design of the wind speed model was a complex rotor to convert the wind
energy into mechanical energy which will then be transferred to electrical energy (Slootweg,

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2003). This rotor uses blade element theory to compute the rotor size and dimensions ideal for
the maximum movement from wind energy. Essentially, the ideal wind turbine was developed in
order to best connect to an outside power system to harvest the energy. This included various
other elements like a switch to prevent overcharging and a way to monitor and prevent dangerous
rotor speed, as well as a way to monitor the pitch of the turbine to prevent unhealthy rotor speeds
and the overloading of the generator. These elements were then combined to form the ideal wind
turbine for use in power systems and tested to demonstrate the benefits. These tests were then
analyzed for usage in power systems.

Materials and Methods

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A wind turbines components consist of smaller programs that come together to convert
the wind power into mechanical electricity. These systems are a wind speed model, and rotor
model, generator and convertor, rotor speed controller, pitch angle controller, voltage controller,
and protection system. The wind speed model is made of the mean wind speed, wind speed ramp,
wind gust, and turbulence. The wind gust can be calculated by t<T sg: v wg

= 0. Tsg is the

starting time of the wind gust and vwg stands for the mean wind speed in m/s. Wind gust is
further characterized using Tsg t Teg : v wg = A g[1cos (2 (t /DT sg / D g))] .
Teg< t: vwg = 0. Teg represents the wind gust end time and D g is the duration of the wind gust.
The second component to a wind turbines systems is rotor which takes wind energy and changes
it to mechanical power. Pw = 1/2 Arcp( ,

) v 3 w makes the rotor run more

efficient, where Pw is the wind power, cp represents the power coefficient,

is the tip speed

ratio, means the pitch angle of the rotor blades, and Ar is the area of the rotor coverage. The
generator and converter are used together in two different ways: one way using grid and
mechanical rotor frequencies with a doubly fed induction generator, and the other being a direct
drive generator while using a diode rectifier and a generator stator winding and voltage source
convertor together. The rotor speed controller uses a set point, which uses a rotor speed versus
generator power characteristic. The pitch angle controller changes the angle of the rotor to keep
it from overloading when the wind power begins to turn the blades too fast. The voltage
controller increases and decreases the terminal voltage, therefore controlling the reaction power
of the wind turbine. Lastly, the protection system turns the wind turbine off when when the
terminal voltage or grid frequency gets too drastic of a number compared to the nominal values.
Tables

GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE WIND SPEED TURBINES

Table 1: The values of roughness length for different landscapes is depicted above.

Table 2: The values of some model parameters for wind turbines when they have different
nominal power is shown in the table above.
Table 1 is relevant to the article as it shows the different roughness of the landscape
where a wind turbine could possible go. This is relevant to our project as it shows that the
landscape around a turbine affects the structure of the turbine itself when it is placed in the
location and is stabilized. Table 2 is important to this article as it shows different parameters for a
wind turbine at different nominal power values. This relates to our project as we need to make
sure that the parameters correspond with the values of the nominal power.

GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE WIND SPEED TURBINES

Graphs

Figure 1: The variable speed wind turbine subsystems and the way they are connected is shown
above.

Figure 2: The power curves of two commercial wind turbines are shown above, along with their
numerical approximation.

GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE WIND SPEED TURBINES

Figure 3: The solid line shows the optimal energy and the dotted line shows the implemented
control versus the power characteristic of a variable speed turbine.

Figure 4: This is an image that depicts the pitch angle controller and how it is designed, along
with how it operates.

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Figure 5: This is an image that shows a voltage controller and the different components of it.
Figure 1 is relevant to the article as it shows the subsystems in a variable speed wind
turbine. This will help us with our project, since we are trying to create a wind turbine, and this
shows us some of the main components. Figure 2 is important to the article since it shows the
power of a turbine when it is in use. This is important to our project, since it gives us the general
idea of how much power a commercial wind turbine creates. Figure 3 is relevant since it shows
the rotor speed in comparison to the set power. This will help us with our project since the article
uses the image to expand on generator torque and its effect on the rotor speed. We can use this to
help us understand the interaction of power, rotor speed, and the generator torque. Figure 4
shows a pitch angle controller, and this is important because it is only active in high wind speeds,
so the rotor speed would no longer be able to be controlled by simply increasing the generator
power. To keep this from happening, we will need to make sure the pitch angle is changed, if we
need to use pitch angle controller. The last figure, Figure 5, is important since it shows the
components of a voltage controller. This is important to our project as a controller like this has
the ability to change all parameters of a wind turbine. This may prove to be useful when making
and using our wind turbine.

GENERAL MODEL FOR VARIABLE WIND SPEED TURBINES

References

Slootweg, J. G., De Haan, S. W. H., Polinder, H., & Kling, W. L. (2003). General model for
representing variable speed wind turbines in power system dynamics simulations. IEEE
Transactions on power systems, 18(1), 144-151.

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