Smoothing control of wind farm output by using kinetic energy of variable speed wind power generators

This paper proposes a new control method for reducing fluctuation of power system frequency through smoothing active power output of wind farm. The proposal is based on the modulation of rotaional kinetic energy of variable speed wind power generators through power converters between permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSG) and transmission lines. In this paper, the proposed control is called Fluctuation Absorption by Flywheel Characteristics control (FAFC). The FAFC can be easily implemented by adding wind farm output signal to Maximum Power Point Tracking control signal through a feedback control loop. In order to verify the effectiveness of the FAFC control, a simulation study was carried out. In the study, it was assumed that the wind farm consisting of PMSG type wind power generator and induction machine type wind power generaotors is connected with a power sysem. The results of the study show that the FAFC control is a useful method for reducing the impacts of wind farm output fluctuation on system frequency without additional devices such as secondary battery.