Fixed speed wind farm operation improvement using current-source converter based UPQC

In this paper, a current-source converter based unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) is used for the flexible integration of pitch controlled fixed speed wind generator (FSWG) to IEEE 13 node test feeder. During the normal operation, shunt compensator (SHUC) of the UPQC maintains a unity power factor condition at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) and when a voltage sag occurs due to grid side fault the series compensator (SERC) of the UPQC injects appropriate deficit voltage to prevent disconnecting of the FSWG and the SHUC of the UPQC provides additional reactive power in fault during. The pitch angle is controlled in order to limit the generator output power to its nominal value for high wind speeds. The nonlinear model of the shunt compensator of the UPQC is modified to a linear model. The modeling technique is not based on the linearization of a set of nonlinear equations around an operating point. Instead, the power balance equation and a nonlinear input transformation are used to derive a linear model independent of the operating point. This model acts as the basis for the design of a decoupled state-feedback controller. The optimal control method linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is used to determine the optimal state-feedback gain matrix. The proposed control approach becomes a robust strategy that is able to keep regulation and stability even under extreme load power factor variations. The In-phase voltage injection method is used for the series compensator of the UPQC. The simulation results carried out by MATLAB/ SIMULINK software show the performance of the proposed UPQC and prove the validity of the proposed topology. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.