Sub-Synchronous Resonance Mitigation in Wind Farms Using Gate-Controlled Series Capacitor

Hossein Ali Mohammadpour, MD Moinul Islam, David Coats, Enrico Santi

Electrical Engineering Department University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA Email: Mohammah@email.sc.edu, Santi@cec.sc.edu

Yong-June Shin
Electrical Engineering Department Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea Email: Yongjune@yonsei.ac.kr

AbstractThe increasing deployment of wind power generation is leading to the integration of large wind farms into the power distribution grid. Given the remote geographic location of wind farms, series capacitive compensation is commonly used to ensure stable power transmission over long distances. However, the sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) phenomenon presents potential risks in a series compensated wind farm. Although the SSR problem in traditional power systems is wellknown and has been extensively studied in the literature, the SSR problem in series-compensated wind farms requires more study and analysis. This paper investigates the application of the gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC), a new series FACTS device consisting of a xed capacitor in parallel with a pair of anti-parallel GTOs, for series compensation in xed-speed wind turbine generator (FSWTG) systems. The GCSC enables fast control of series impedance of the transmission line, which can be used for SSR damping. The power system studied in this paper is the IEEE First Benchmark Model. Extensive simulations are carried out using PSCAD/EMTDC to validate the result. Simulation results show that the GCSC can effectively damp the SSR in wind farms. Therefore, the GCSC is an effective solution to provide series compensation and SSR damping for the FSWTG. Index TermsFlexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), xed-speed wind turbine, gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC), modeling and simulation, PSCAD/EMTDC, subsynchronous resonance.

I. I NTRODUCTION Environmental pollution and possible shortage of sustainable conventional fossil fuels are two of the most important energy-related issues facing the world today. These issues have led to increasing interests in electric power generation by renewable energy sources. Among the variety of renewable energy sources, wind energy is one of the most attractive and is rapidly being adopted around the world [1]. Although xedspeed wind turbine generator systems (FSWTGS) are being replaced by more advanced variable speed wind turbines, they are still a substantial part of the fast-growing WTGS market [2]. In any case, increasing interest and use of wind energy will inevitably lead to the connection of large wind turbine generator systems (WTGS) to the existing utility power grids. Series compensation is often considered the most economical way to increase the transmittable power of the existing utility power grids. However, sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) is a potential risk in series compensated wind farms [3]. Based on the IEEE SSR working Group [4], the SSR is

an electric power system condition where the electric network exchanges energy with the turbine generator at one or more of the natural frequencies of the combined system below the fundamental frequency. The SSR can be divided into two main categories, namely induction generator effect (IGE), and torsional interactions (TI). While the IGE involves solely the electrical part of the system and it represents the interaction between the electrical network and the generator, the TI effect involves both the electrical and mechanical part of the system [5]. Series exible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices make series compensation more attractive as they can solve some of the problems introduced by xed series compensation, eliminating the risk of SSR phenomena. Gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC), which consists of a xed capacitor in parallel with two GTOs for each phase, is a new series FACTS device proposed for controlling the power ow in transmission lines [6]. In addition to controlling the power ow, the GCSC has been employed to alleviate the risk of SSR in traditional power systems [7]-[9], and to improve power quality [10]. The main goal of this paper is to propose the application and control of the GCSC for SSR mitigation in FSWTGS. This is accomplished by designing an impedance-controlled GCSC and employing it to a FSWTGS. The power system considered in this paper is a modied version of the IEEE rst benchmark model for computer simulation of SSR [11]. Time domain simulations are carried out using PSCAD/EMTDC [12]. II. S UB - SYNCHRONOUS RESONANCE (SSR) A series compensated power system with a compensation C level dened as K = X Xe excites sub-synchronous currents at frequency, fn , given by [5]: fn = fs KXe Xe + Xg (1)

where Xe is the reactance of the line including that of the transformer and system, Xg is the reactance of the generator, and fs is the nominal frequency. At this frequency the slip, given by (2), becomes negative since the natural resonance frequency, fn , is less than the electric frequency corresponding to the rotating speed, fm

Fig. 1.

Wind farm under sub-synchronous resonance frequency [13].

Fig. 2. Conguration of the studied wind farm with two-mass drive-train with gearbox. Hw = wind turbine inertia, HG = generator inertia, D = damping coefcient, K = stiffness coefcient, RL = transmission line resistance, XT = transformer reactance, XLine = transmission line reactance, XCef f = series capacitive compensation, XS = system impedance.

s=

fn fm fn

(2)

The steady state equivalent circuit of the system under subsynchronous frequency is shown in Fig. 1. If the magnitude of r the equivalent rotor resistance, i.e. R S < 0, exceeds the sum of the resistances of the armature and the network, there will be a negative resistance at the sub-synchronous frequency, and the sub-synchronous current would increase with time. This is called induction generator effect (IGE) [4], and only involves rotor electrical dynamics [13]. Another type of SSR, which involves with both rotor electrical and mechanical dynamics, occurs when the natural frequency of the electric system, fn , becomes close to or coincides with the complement of one of the torsional resonance frequencies of the turbine generator and shaft system, fmi , as in (3): (3) fem = fs fmi This interplay between the mechanical and electrical part of the power system is called torsional interaction (TI). The TI SSR type is unlikely to happen in wind farms, due to typical values of wind turbine shaft stiffness [13]. III. S TUDIED S YSTEM M ODEL The power system studied in this paper is shown in Fig. 2. The transmission line in this study is derived from the IEEE First Benchmark Model for SSR studies [11]. In this system a 50-500 MW FSWTG-based wind farm is connected to the innite bus through a 500-kV series compensated transmission line. Although a large real-world wind farm normally consists of a number of wind turbine generators, it is modeled as a single generator with the total power capacity of the individual generators for simplicity of simulation and analysis. The aggregation of wind farms is supported in several literature [14]-[18]. The wind farm in this paper is created from the aggregation of a large number-67 to 670-of 1000-hp selfexcited double-cage IGs [12]. Because the IG lacks an external exciter, a shunt capacitor is added to the wind farm bus to bring up the power factor to approximately 0.98-0.99 lagging. In this work, the WTGS rotor is modeled as a two lumpedmass system including the generator with gearbox mass and the hub blades mass as shown in Fig. 2. Two different scenarios will be considered. In both scenarios, three-phase-to-ground (3-LG) fault will be applied at

point B in Fig. 2 to create a transient having the potential of causing IGE and TI SSR. While in Scenario I, only xed-series compensation is provided for the system, in Scenarios II the possibility of SSR mitigation/damping is studied by installing GCSC in the transmission line. IV. SSR A NALYSIS IN S CENARIO I In this section, both the IGE and TI SSRs are studied in the absence of a FACTS device in the system model shown in Fig. 2, operating under xed-series compensation only. A temporary 3-LG fault with a duration of 0.075 sec. is applied at point B at t = 0.1 sec. in order to excite sub-synchronous frequencies. A. Induction Generator Effect (IGE) In order to consider IGE SSR phenomenon only, the effects of TI SSR are excluded by deactivation of the multi-mass turbine in the system model. The output real power of the wind farm is varied from 100 MW to 500 MW, while maintaining a constant series compensation level, K = 90%. Fig. 3 through 6 show the electric torque and induction generators (IG) rotor speed when the wind farm output power is 100, 200, 300, and 500 MW in order to examine the onset of IGE in the wind farm. Fig. 3 shows that when the wind farms output power is 100 MW, even though the IGE SSR appears in the system, it is not so prominent even at a very high series compensation level, i.e., K = 90%, and eventually dies out. However, as the wind farms output power increases to 200 MW and 300 MW, the SSR oscillation becomes more prominent; however, these oscillations eventually decay and the wind farm is still stable, as seen in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. Eventually, when the output power of wind farm is increased to 500 MW, as shown in Fig. 6 (a) and (b), the sub-synchronous oscillation with dominant frequency of 14.5 Hz - which is the complement of electric frequency fn given in (1) - appears in the electric torque and IGs rotor speed and does not decay with time. This can lead to wind farms instability. This is due to the fact that, at higher power levels assuming a constant negative slip s, the apparent negative resistance, Rr /s, seen from the IG terminal voltage increases. Therefore, this resistance might exceed the sum of the network and armature resistances, creating a very large negative damping ratio for the system [19].

Electric torque (p.u)

2 0 2 4 0 0.2 0.4 (b) 0.6 0.8 1

Electric torque (p.u)

(a)

(a)

2 0 2 4 0

0.2

0.4
(b)

0.6

0.8

Rotor speed (p.u)

1.04 1.02 1 0.98 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Time (sec.) 0.8 1

Rotor speed (p.u)

1.04 1.02 1 0.98 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Time (sec.) 0.8 1

Fig. 3. (a) Electric torque (b) rotor speed; wind farms output real power 100 MW; the series compensation level 90%; IGE SSR-type.

Fig. 5. (a) Electric torque (b) rotor speed; wind farms output real power 300 MW; the series compensation level 90%; IGE SSR-type.

Electric torque (p.u)

2 0 2 4 0 0.2 0.4 (b) 0.6 0.8 1

Electric torque (p.u)

(a)

(a) 2 0 2 4 0 0.2 0.4 (b) 0.6 0.8 1

Rotor speed (p.u)

1.04 1.02 1 0.98 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Time (sec.) 0.8 1

Rotor speed (p.u)

1.04 1.02 1 0.98 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 Time (sec.) 0.8 1

Fig. 4. (a) Electric torque (b) rotor speed; wind farms output real power 200 MW; the series compensation level 90%; IGE SSR-type.

Fig. 6. (a) Electric torque (b) rotor speed; wind farms output real power 500 MW; the series compensation level 90%; IGE SSR-type.

The same system was also tested when the wind farm output power is held constant at 500 MW while the series compensation level, K , is varied. The results show that, even with much lower series compensation, e.g. 70%, the wind farm goes unstable. B. Torsional Interactions (TI) In this section, the multi-mass turbine is activated and connected to the system. The oscillatory mode of torsional dynamics is highly dependent on the shaft stiffness. In this study, the shaft stiffness was considered 0.15 p.u./rad [19]. To study the TI SSR type, the wind farms output power is increased from 50 MW to 100 MW, and the series compensation level is kept at K = 90%. At these lower power levels the IGE instability described in the previous section does not occur. Fig. 7 shows the IGs rotor speed and the mechanical torque between mass I and II when the wind farms output power is 50 MW. As shown in Fig. 7, the rotor speed and mechanical torque oscillation have a frequency of about less than 1 Hz. In this case, the system is stable and the transient decays to zero after an oscillatory transient. However, as shown in Fig. 8, when the wind farms output power increases to 100 MW, a growing sub-synchronous oscillation due to TI between

mass I and II appears in the IGs rotor speed and mechanical torque, and makes the wind farm unstable. The the undamped frequency of oscillation is slightly 1 Hz. V. GCSC D ESIGN AND C ONTROL A. GCSC Design A GCSC (one per phase), as shown in Fig. 9, is composed of a xed-capacitor in parallel with a pair of anti-parallel gatecommuted switches enabling rapid control of series impedance of a transmission line [8]. The effective impedance of the GCSC is given by [8] XCGCSC (2 2 sin((2 ))) (4) where XCGCSC is the GCSC xed capacitor, and is the turn-off angle, 90o < < 180o . Fig. 10 shows the effective reactance of the implemented GCSC as a function of turn-off angle. As seen in this gure, the GCSC impedance characteristic is continuous and always capacitive, and thereby, there is no parallel resonant frequency in the GCSC. As can be seen in this gure, the GCSC impedance characteristic is approximately linear for turn-off angles below 130o . Therefore, in order to have fast XG ( ) =

(a) Rotor speed (p.u) 1.2 1.15 1.1 1.05 1 0.95 0 3 2 1 0 1 0 5 10 Time (sec.) 15 20

10 (b)

15

20

Fig. 7. (a) Rotor speed (b) mechanical torque between mass I and II; wind farms output real power 50 MW; the series compensation level 90%; TI SSR-type.

Mechanical torque (p.u)

Fig. 9.

Conguration of the gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC)

(a) Rotor speed (p.u) 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.9 0 5 4 2 0 2 4 0

GCSC impedance (Ohm)

100

200

10 (b)

15

20

Mechanical torque (p.u)

300 350 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 Turnoff angle (deg.) 160 170 180

Fig. 10. The effective reactance of the implemented GCSC as a function of turn-off angle.
5 10 Time (sec.) 15 20

Fig. 8. (a) Rotor speed (b) mechanical torque between mass I and II; wind farms output real power 100 MW; the series compensation level 90%; TI SSR-type.

modication of the system impedance for a small variation of the turn-off angle, the steady-state turn-off angle between 90o and 130o should be selected; therefore, a steady state turn off angle of 117o is selected for this work. In this paper, the GCSC performance in mitigating the SSR is evaluated at the worst wind farm operating condition, i.e. 500 MW output power at 90% series compensation level. Having the steady state turn-off angle, s = 117o , the effective reactance of the GCSC, i.e. XG (s ) = 0.9Xe , the value of the GCSC xed capacitor, i.e. XCGCSC , can be calculated using (4) as XCGCSG B. GCSC Control A generic block diagram of the GCSC is shown in Fig. 11. This controller is based on controlling the impedance of the GCSC using a proportional-integral (PI) regulator. The impedance controller enables one to easily control the power ow of the transmission line by changing the series compensation level of the transmission line. As shown in Fig. 11, the line current and voltage across the GCSC are rst measured. = 0.9Xe 2s 2 sin(2s ) (5)

Then the GCSC impedance is calculated and compared with the reference impedance. The product of the impedance error and the output of linearization block is passed through a PI controller. The proportional and integral parameters were selected using the genetic algorithm tool provided with the Optimum Run block in PSCAD. This block is suitable for optimization of several real/integral/logical variables[12]. The output of the PI controller is then passed through a lead/lag and hard limiter block and enters the ring angle pulse generator. In Fig. 11, the operation mode selector block enables us to set a manual constant turn-off angle. VI. SSR A NALYSIS IN S CENARIO II This section presents the performance of the GCSC on both IGE and TI SSR types. A. IGE SSR Type The GCSC performance in IGE SSR-type mitigation is evaluated considering the worst possible operating condition of the wind farm, i.e. 500 MW output power at 90% series compensation. The following signals are used to verify the IGE mitigation using the GCSC: the IGs electric torque (p.u) the IGs rotor speed (p.u) the IGs instantaneous terminal voltage (p.u) These signals are shown in Fig. 12 through 14, where the GCSC performance is compared with the results obtained in

1.06 Without FACTS GCSC Rotor speed (p.u) 1.02

0.98

0.94 0

0.5 Time (sec.)

1.5

Fig. 11.
3

GCSC control system.

Fig. 13.

IG rotor speed response due to IGE with and without FACTS.

(a) 2 1 0 1 2 0 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 0 Voltage (p.u)

2 Electric torque (p.u) 0 2 4 Without FACTS GCSC 6 0 0.5 Time (sec.) 1 1.5

0.2

0.4 (b)

0.6

0.8

Voltage (p.u)

0.2

0.4 0.6 Time (sec.)

0.8

Fig. 12.

Electric torque response due to IGE with and without FACTS. Fig. 14. IG instantaneous terminal voltage response due to IGE (a) without (b) with FACTS.

Scenario I for IGE SSR-type. From these gures it is clear that without any FACTS device, sub-synchronous resonance frequencies with a dominant frequency of approximately 14.5 Hz appear in the system. However, using GCSC, the SSR is damped out, and the wind farm maintains its stability for even very high levels of series compensation, e.g. 90% , and 500 MW output power. B. TI SSR Type The GCSC performance in TI SSR-type mitigation is tested at 100 MW output power ow and 90% capacitive series compensation level. The following signals are used to exhibit the TI mitigation using the GCSC: the IGs electric torque (p.u) the IGs rotor speed (p.u) the mechanical torque between mass I and II (p.u) These signals are shown in Fig. 15 through 17, where the GCSC performance is compared with the results obtained in Scenario I for TI SSR-type. As shown in these gures, without any FACTS device the undamped SSR with the frequency of about 1 Hz makes the wind farm unstable. However, using GCSC, the SSR is damped and the wind farm maintains its stability. VII. C ONCLUSION This paper has proposed the control and the application of the gate-controlled series capacitor (GCSC) for series compensation and SSR mitigation in xed-speed wind turbine generator systems (FSWTGS). An impedance-controlled GCSC has

been designed and implemented using PSCAD/EMTDC in a highly unstable wind farm to examine the GCSC effectiveness. The paper can be summarized as follows: when the wind farm is compensated using only a xed-series capacitor, the wind farm may go unstable due to both induction generator effect (IGE) and torsional interaction (TI) SSR-types, even at a realistic wind farm output power and series compensation level. when the wind farm is equipped with the GCSC, the result veries that this device is effective in damping the IGE and TI SSR-types, even at a very high series compensation level. In this paper, it has been shown that SSR can be a potential risk in series compensated xed-speed wind turbine generator systems (FSWTGS), and that this threat can be eliminated by employing appropriately controlled GCSC in FSWTGS. In future work, the SSR phenomenon in other types of wind farms, i.e. doubly-fed induction generator systems (DFIG) and fully rated converter wind turbines will be studied. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) I/UCRC (Industry / University Cooperative Research Center) for Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES) center, under #0934378 and in part

Torque between two masses (p.u)

3 2 1 0 1 2 0

Electric torque (p.u)

4 5 0 1 2 3 Time (sec.)

Without FACTS GCSC 4 5 6

Without FACTS GCSC 1 2 3 Time (sec.) 4 5 6

Fig. 15.

Electric torque response due to TI with and without FACTS.

1.4 1.32 Rotor speed (p.u) 1.24 1.016 1.08 1 0.92 0

Fig. 17. Mechanical torque between mass I and II due to TI with and without FACTS.
Without FACTS GCSC

3 Time (sec.)

Fig. 16.

IG rotor speed response due to TI with and without FACTS.

by the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program #0747681. R EFERENCES
[1] Wei Qiao, G. K. Venayagamoorthy, and R.G. Harley, Real-Time Implementation of a STATCOM on a Wind Farm Equipped With Doubly Fed Induction Generators, IEEE Trans. Industry Applications, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 98-107, Jan.-Feb. 2009. [2] A. Sumper, O. Gomis-Bellmunt, A. Sudria-Andreu, R.Villafala-Robles, and J. Rull-Duran, Response of Fixed Speed Wind Turbines to System Frequency Disturbances, IEEE Trans. Power Systems, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 181-192, Feb. 2009. [3] D. Rai, S. O. Faried, G. Ramakrishna, A. Edris, An SSSC-Based Hybrid Series Compensation Scheme Capable of Damping Subsynchronous Resonance, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 531-540, Apr. 2012. [4] IEEE SSR Working Group, Terms, Denitions and Symbols for Subsynchronous Oscillations, IEEE Trans. Power Appl. Syst.PAS-104 (June (6)) (1985) 1326-1334. [5] K. R. Padiar, Analysis of Sub-synchronous Resonance in Power Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers (KAP), Boston, 1999. [6] F. D. D. Jesus, E. H. Watanabe, L. F. W. D. Souza, and J. E. R. Alves, SSR and Power Oscillation Damping Using Gate-Controlled Series Capacitors (GCSC), IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 1806-1812, July 2007. [7] H. A. Mohammadpour, M. Pahlavani, and A. Shoulaie, On Control of Gate Controlled Series Capacitor for SSR and Power Oscillation Damping, Compatibility and Power Electronics, 2009. CPE 09., pp. 196203, May 2009. [8] M. Pahlavani, and H. A. Mohammadpour, Damping of SubSynchronous Resonance and Low-Frequency Power Oscillation in a Series-Compensated Transmission Line Using Gate-Controlled Series Capacitor, Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 81, Issue 2, pp. 308317, Feb. 2011.

[9] L. F. W. Souza, E. H. Watanabe, and M. Aredes, GTO Controlled Series Capacitors: Multi-Module and Multi-Pulse Arrangements, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 725-731, Apr. 2000. [10] M. R. Pahlavani, R. Ghandehari, A. Naghashpour, and H. A. Mohammadpour, Power Quality Enhancement Using Gate-Controlled Series Capacitor, International Review on Modeling and Simulations, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 568-574, Aug. 2010. [11] IEEE SSR Task Force, First benchmark model for computer simulation of subsynchronous resonance, IEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. PAS96, pp. 1562-1572, Sep./Oct. 1997. [12] EMTDC PSCAD User Manual, HVDC Research Center, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 2005. [13] Lingling Fan, R. Kavasseri,Zhixin Lee Miao; Chanxia Zhu, Modeling of DFIG-Based Wind Farms for SSR Analysis, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 2073-2082, Oct. 2010. [14] Vladislav Akhmatova, Hans Knudsenb, An aggregate model of a gridconnected, large-scale, offshore wind farm for power stability investigations importance of windmill mechanical system, International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, vol. 24, Issue 9, pp. 709-717, November 2002. [15] L. M. Fernandez, F. Jurado, and J. R. Saenz, Aggregated dynamic model for wind farms with doubly fed induction generator wind turbines, Renew. Energy, vol. 33, pp. 129140, 2008. [16] J. T. Bialasiewics and E. Muljadi, The Wind Farm Aggregation Impact on Power Quality Nov. 2006 [Online]. Available: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/39870.pdf, National Renewable Energy Lab. Rep. [17] E. Muljadi and B. Parsons, Comparing single and multiple turbine representations in a wind farm simulation, European Wind Energy Conference , Athens, Greece, 2006. [18] M. Poller and S. Acchilles, Aggregated wind park models for analyzing power system dynamics, in Proc. 4th Inst. Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power and Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms, Billund, Denmark, 2003. [19] R. K. Varma, S. Auddy, Y. Semsedini, Mitigation of Subsynchronous Resonance in a Series-Compensated Wind Farm Using FACTS Controllers, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 1645-1654, July 2008.