MEASURED EFFECTS OFWINDTURBINE REACTIVE POWERCONTROL ONANISOLATED UTILITY

Onephaseof an overall effortinevaluating performance of a 150kWMOD-OA windturbine connected totheBlockIslandPowerCompany (BIPCO) systemconsisted in analyzing threemethodsof excitation (reactive power) control.Theseareidentified as: 1)constant var (reactive), 2)constantvoltage, and3)constant powerfactor(PF) control.Thepowersystemenvironment in whichthe windturbine generator (WTG) exists ultimately determines whichmethodofcontrol is themostsuitable. Inthecaseof theBIPCOinstallation, themajor emphasis wasto insuresufficient WTGelectrical torqueduring wind gustsin lowpoweroutputperiods.Subsequent useof constantPF control demonstrated an adequacy of performance equivalent tothatof constantvar controlwhileconstantvoltagecontrolindicated a diminished capacity to maintain synchronism withtheutility, when compared toconstant varor PF control.A mathematical modelwhich incorporates thedetailed excitation systemtransfer functions isused tocompare theresults indicated bythemeasurements produced duringa three-month dataacquisition effort.