Fault Ride-Through Capability of Doubly-Fed Induction Generators Based Wind Turbines

Abstract

Due to growing concerns over climate change, more and more countries are looking to renewable energy sources to generate electricity. Therefore, wind turbines are increasing in popularity, along with doubly-fed induction machines (DFIGs) used in generation mode. Current grids codes require DFIGs to provide voltage support during a grid fault. The fault ride-through (FRT) capability of DFIGs is the focus of this thesis, in which modifications to the DFIG controller have been proposed to improve the FRT capability. The static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) controller has been applied with proposed method to study its influence on the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed method was also compared with other FRT capability improvement methods, including the conventional crowbar method. The simulation of the dynamic behaviour of DFIG-based wind turbines during grid fault is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink. The results obtained clearly demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.