Variable Frequency Operations of an Offshore Wind Power Plant with HVDC-VSC

Oct. 12, 2012
Based on DOE study, wind power generation may reach 330 GW by 2030 at the level of penetration of 20% of the total energy production.

Based on DOE study, wind power generation may reach 330 GW by 2030 at the level of penetration of 20% of the total energy production. From this amount of wind power, 54 GW of wind power will be generated at offshore wind power plants. The deployment of offshore wind power plants requires power transmission from the plant to the load center inland. Since this power transmission requires submarine cable, there is a need to use High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission.

Otherwise, if the power is transmitted via alternating current, the reactive power generated by the cable capacitance may cause an excessive over voltage in the middle of the transmission distance which requires unnecessary oversized cable voltage breakdown capability.

The use of HVDC is usually required for transmission distance longer than 50 kilometers of submarine cables to be economical. The use of HVDC brings another advantage; it is capable of operating at variable frequency. The inland substation will be operated to 60 Hz synched with the grid, the offshore substation can be operated at variable frequency, thus allowing the wind power plant to be operated at constant Volt/Hz. In this paper, a constant Volt/Hz operation applied to the Type 1 wind turbine generator. Various control aspects of Type 1 generators at the plant level and at the turbine level will be investigated....(Read more...)

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