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1, JANUARY 2006
AbstractAutonomous power systems, such as those existing in In Greece, more than 50 islands exist with relatively small,
small and medium-size islands, typically consist of medium voltage diesel-powered grids, in many of which significant wind pen-
networks fed by conventional power stations and present charac- etration levels have been reached (exceeding 50% during low
teristics not typical for large interconnected grids. In this paper,
results are presented and analyzed from a power-quality measure- load hours). To obtain field data for the operation of such sys-
ment campaign, conducted in a diesel-powered island system with tems, a two-week measurement campaign was organized on the
significant wind penetration. Emphasis is placed on the voltage island of Samos, where 4 MW of wind turbines were installed
flicker, which was found quite increased under all operating condi- and operating.
tions. It is shown that the diesel engines of the conventional power In this paper, results from the measurements are presented,
station are the main source of flicker in the system, due to the
pulsed variation of their torque. The operation of the wind farms, focusing on the power-quality characteristics at the medium-
on the other hand, does not result in any notable deterioration of voltage (MV) level of the network. The main objective is to
the voltage quality level in the system. demonstrate the effect of the diesel generating units, which are
Index TermsDiesel-driven generators, flicker, power quality, the main factor differentiating the island grid from a weak distri-
wind power generation. bution network in the interconnected system, and to evaluate the
impact from the operation of the wind turbines. Particular em-
phasis is placed on the voltage flicker, the main source of which
I. INTRODUCTION
is shown to be the diesel generating units.
TABLE I
DATA FOR THE DIESEL GENERATOR UNITS OF THE POWER STATION
Fig. 6. Short-term flicker index during the low wind days of the measurement
period, as a function of the active power of feeders 240 and 260.
Fig. 11. Simulation results showing the coupling between the engine shaft
torque pulsations due to cylinder firing asymmetries [diagram (a)] and the
voltage at the DPS busbars [diagram (b)].
Fig. 10. Measured power spectral density of the voltage at the DPS busbars.
Generating units in operation: (a) DG #7,8,9,12 and (b) DG #7,8,9. have been performed, to verify the coupling of the torque pulsa-
tions with the voltage of the system, without attempting to repro-
In Fig. 10, the power spectral density of the rms phase voltage duce the exact form of the actual voltage variations. Indicative
at the DPS busbars is illustrated for two characteristic operating results are shown in Fig. 11, where one 6 MW engine is oper-
conditions (one-cycle rms values have been used resulting in a ating , with the torque of cylinder #1 reduced
cut-off frequency of 25 Hz). In Fig. 10(a), where DGs #7, 8, at 80% of the normal value. It is observed that the voltage at the
9 and 12 are operating, the spectral content is located at fre- station busbars presents an oscillation of approximately 20 V
quencies , including thus the char- peak-to-peak, with a fundamental frequency equal to the engine
acteristic harmonics of both engine types according to Table I value (2.08 Hz).
(multiples of the cylinder power stroke frequency, ). Upon
disconnection of DG #12, the power spectral density of the bus V. WT EFFECT ON VOLTAGE FLICKER
voltage is modified as shown in Fig. 10(b), where the harmonics WTs are a well-known source of flicker emissions during
appear now at , i.e. at the characteristic frequencies their normal operation, due to the highly variable nature of their
of DGs #7, 8 and 9. This excellent agreement is observed using input power, to the rotor torque harmonics, as well as to
any voltage measurements, either at the DPS or at the network, other resonance modes excited by the variability of the wind.
both at MV and LV level. Therefore, their connection to the grid is expected to increase
It is therefore confirmed that the recorded voltage fluctuations the existing levels of voltage flicker, to a degree which depends
are due to firing asymmetries of the diesel power station engines. on the characteristics of the specific machines (e.g. the flicker
For the power stroke frequencies shown in Table I, the resulting index , according to [8]) and on the network parame-
voltage fluctuations occur in the frequency range between 220 ters (mainly the short circuit capacity and impedance angle,
Hz, including thus the range 510 Hz, which contributes most and , at the point of common coupling).
significantly to the flicker levels ([18]). Had the engine operation Yet, during the measurement campaign it was observed that
been ideal, only the frequencies (12.5 Hz and 33.33 Hz) the connection of the wind turbines typically resulted in a
and their multiples would have been observed. In such a case, noticable decrease of the overall flicker level. Such a situation
the voltage variations and flicker problem would be much less is illustrated in Fig. 12, corresponding to a 2-h interval, during
severe, due to the shift to higher frequencies, as well as because which the 9 225-kW wind farm is successively cut out and in
of the more effective filtering of the torque pulsations by the for measuring purposes. In the diagram, the wind farm output
mechanical inertia of the generating sets. power is shown, together with the active power of one diesel
Determination of the exact firing pattern for each engine, to generator (representative of the variation of the total DPS
quantitatively account for the time-domain voltage variations power) and the measured voltage flicker at the 15-kV busbars
and their frequency spectrum, is beyond the scope of this inves- of the DPS. It is apparent that each time the WTs are cut in, the
tigation. Nevertheless, simulations of the engine-generator-net- flicker is significantly reduced, which is a rather unexpected
work combination using a suitable transient stability code ([19]) finding.
PAPATHANASSIOU AND SANTJER: POWER-QUALITY MEASUREMENTS IN AN AUTONOMOUS ISLAND GRID 223
Fig. 14. Spectrum of the active power of feeder #240 before and after cut-in
2
of the 9 225-kW wind farm.
Fig. 12. Flicker variation at the DPS busbars during a 2-h interval with
2
successive connection and disconnection of the 9 225-kW wind farm.
Fig. 15. Active and reactive power spectrum of one 225-kW WT.
farms, as well as due to the lack of sufficient compensation for [12] Voltage Characteristics of Electricity Supplied by Public Distribution
the reactive power demand of the load. An important finding of Systems, European Std. EN 50160, 1999.
[13] N. G. Boulaxis, S. A. Papathanassiou, and M. P. Papadopoulos, Wind
the campaign was the actually positive effect of the WT connec- turbine effect on the voltage profile of distribution networks, Renew.
tion and operation on the fast voltage variations and the resulting Energy, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 401415, Mar. 2002.
flicker. [14] Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)Part 2: EnvironmentSection
1: Description of the EnvironmentElectromagnetic Environment for
In total, although the penetration of wind power to nonin- Low-Frequency Conducted Disturbances and Signalling in Public
terconnected island systems is dealt with severe conservatism, Power Supply Systems, IEC Std. 61 000-2-1, 1990.
among other things for fears of power quality and frequency reg- [15] Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)Part 3: LimitsSection 7: As-
sessment of Emission Limits for Fluctuating Loads in MV and HV Power
ulation issues, the field measurements performed demonstrate Systems, IEC Std. 61 000-3-7, 1996.
that such concerns are largely unfounded. [16] Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)Part 1: GeneralSection 1:
Application and Interpretation of Fundamental Definitions and Terms,
IEC Std. 61 000-1-1, 1992.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [17] P. M. Anderson and M. Mirheydar, Analysis of a diesel-engine driven
generating unit and the possibility for voltage flicker, IEEE Trans. En-
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of ergy Convers., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3747, Mar. 1995.
CRES (M. Koulouvari and S. Tentzerakis) and PPC (Dr. D. [18] Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)Part 4: Testing and Measure-
ment TechniquesSection 15: Flickermeter-Functional and Design
Conidaris and DPS personnel) to the measurement campaign, Specifications, IEC Std. 61 000-4-15, 2003.
as well as the valuable input of Prof. M. Papadopoulos and Dr. [19] S. A. Papathanassiou, N. G. Boulaxis, and M. P. Papadopoulos, A sim-
N. Boulaxis of NTUA, both to the campaign and the analysis ulation code for power systems with high wind penetration, in Proc.
of the measurements. European Wind Energy Conf., Copenhagen, Denmark, Jul. 2001.
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