ISSN (Online) 2321 2004

ISSN (Print) 2321 5526

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 1, Issue 5, August 2013

Mitigation of Voltage Sag in Grid Connected

Large Scale Wind Farm
D. P. Kadam1 Dr. B. E. Kushare2
Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, K.K. Wagh I.E.E. & R., Nasik, India1
Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, K.K. Wagh I.E.E. & R., Nasik, India2
Abstract: Injection of wind power into an electric grid affects the power quality and reactive power issues at the connected
electric network. Power quality problems such as voltage sag are some major concern. In this paper these issues are
analyzed. Wind turbine connected to squirrel cage induction generator is modeled using PSCAD simulation software to
analyze the said issues where STATCOM is introduced as an active voltage and reactive power supporter to increase the
power system stability. STATCOM unit is developed to inject reactive power for mitigation of power quality problems and
to get stable grid operation.
Keywords: Squirrel Cage Induction Generator (SCIG); PSCAD; Wind Turbine Generator (WTG); Static Synchronous
Compensator (STATCOM); Power Quality.
I. INTRODUCTION
As the wind power penetration into the grid is increasing
quickly, the influence of wind turbine on the power quality
is becoming an important issue. Wind power penetration is
the impact on power system stability. To facilitate the
investigation of the impact of a wind farm on the dynamics
of the power system to which it is connected, an adequate
model is required. In order to avoid the necessity of
developing a detailed model of a wind farm with tens or
hundreds of wind turbines and their interconnections,
aggregated wind farm models are needed [1]. From each
generating station the probability of the total generating
capacity not exceeding a given power level. This gives a
measure of the reliability of the system [2].If the network is
weak this situation will cause a voltage collapse to occur in
the transmission system. The process can be dynamically
supported by a STATCOM to improve voltage stability and
to improve recovery from network faults and mitigate
voltage flicker [3]. Frequently wind parks are connected to
weak systems, as they are typically located far from major
load centres and central generation. This reflects itself in the
short circuit ratio (SCR) of the interconnection. For weak
systems the SCR will usually be less than 6 having over
speed of generator [4].Reactive power is the most important
aspect in todays condition. Reactive power consumption in
a Wind farm is mainly due to the use of induction generators
for energy conversion. The basic principle of induction
generator is that they consume reactive power in order to
Copyright to IJIREEICE

generate real power. The magnetizing currents drawn by step

up transformers also contribute to reactive power
consumption to some extent. This reactive power
consumption leads to increased T & D losses, poor voltage
profile over loading of T & D equipment and blocked
capacity and over loading and reduction in life of T & D
equipment [5].Issue related to fixed speed wind turbine
equipped with squirrel cage induction generators is the fault
ride through capability. When connected to a weak power
grid and during a grid fault, the over speeding of the wind
turbines can cause voltage instability. As a result, utilities
typically disconnect the wind turbines immediately from the
grid when such a contingency occurs. With the rapid
increase in penetration of wind power in power grids,
tripping of many turbines in a large wind farm during grid
faults may begin to influence the overall power system
stability [6].
Today India is a major player in the global wind energy and
as compared to develop countries Indian grid system is very
weak also having poor infrastructure. Considering the
increasing share of wind generation interfaced to grid it is
necessary to study an overall prospective on various types of
existing wind generator systems and possible generator
configuration, critical power quality issues, problems related
with grid connections [7].Use of more intelligent controller
for STATCOM and its interface to large power systems
addressing various issues such as security, stability, and

www.ijireeice.com

172

ISSN (Online) 2321 2004

ISSN (Print) 2321 5526

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 1, Issue 5, August 2013

A
V

P = 77.98
P = 78.08
Q = 135.3 100.0 [MVA]
Q = 130.3
220 [kV] / 132 [kV] V = 128.4
V = 220.1
A
V

RL

#1

A
V

P = 42.8
Q = 107.2
V = 128.4

A
V

#2

P = 89.89
Q = 44.34
V = 105.7
P+jQ

P = 35.27
Q = 23.15
V = 128.4

Load

P = 59.42
Q = -38.97
V = 28.7

150 [MVA]
132 [kV] / 33 [kV]

P = 39.57
Q = 86.36
V = 105.7

#1

#2

Is
Es

15

15

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

X3

F = 50 [Hz]
dc1

dc2

Ph3
(15)
dc3

y (Kv)

0.0

V_thd3 Voltage in Phase C

1
2

X1
X2
X3

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

...
...
...

Voltage Sag at Generator Side

total : Graphs
Vload

120
100
80
60
40
20
0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

...
...
...

Voltage Sag at Load Side

Main : Graphs
140.0

Vgrid

135.0
130.0
125.0

A
V

115.0
110.0
WIND_FARM_1

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

...
...
...

Fig.2. Voltage sags at different locations.

WIND_FARM_3
I_thd1

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

15

I_thd2

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

gen4
WIND_FARM_4
I_thd3

Mag1 Mag2 Mag3

(15) (15) (15)
Ph1
(15) ph1
FFT
Ph2
(15)

1
2
3

X2

Mag1 Mag2 Mag3

(15) (15) (15)
Ph1
(15) Eph1
FFT
Ph2
(15)

gen2
WIND_FARM_2

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

V_thd2 Voltage in Phase B

Is

X1

20

Voltage Sag at Grid Side

15

Es

40

A
A
V 4.0 [ohm] 0.082 [H] V

V_thd1 Voltage in Phase A

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

60

gen

gen3

15

80

120.0

A
V

Total
Harmonic
Distortion
15
Individual

100

100 [ohm] 0.157 [H]

P = 50.32
Q = -42.03
V = 105.7

15

total : Graphs
Vtotal

120

y (kV)

II. WIND FARM MODELLING

A wind farm typically consists of a large number of
individual wind turbine generators (WTGs) connected by an
internal electrical network. To study the impact of wind
farms on the dynamics of the power system, an important
issue is to develop appropriate wind farm models to
represent the dynamics of many individual WTGs. The
major issues considered for the work for grid connected
wind turbine generators (WTGs), equipped with squirrel
cage induction generators (SCIGs) are sag/swell during three
phase fault condition. The model is developed and compared
by simulation studies in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment
under different wind velocity and fluctuation conditions to
obtain the reactive power burden on grid. Wind generators
are primarily classified as fixed speed or variable speed.
With most fixed speed units, the turbine drives an induction
generator that is directly connected to the grid. For the
studies carried out in this paper, it focuses on modeling the
fixed speed unit. In this case study, large scale wind farm
with squirrel cage induction generator having capacity 75
MW is connected to 33/132 kV substation to 220 kV electric
grid system is modelled by PSCAD as shown in figure 1.

III. VOLTAGE SAG

Although the main issues of power quality are common to
grid connected induction generator system are as voltage
sag. Voltage Sag: Sag is a decrease to between 0.1 and 0.9
p.u. rms voltage and current at the power frequency for
duration from 0.5 cycles to less than 1 minute. Fixed speed
wind turbines have a high sensitivity to voltage sags due to
the fact that a generator is directly connected to the main
grid.

y (Kv)

voltage profile improvement and power quality [8].It was

found that STATCOM considerably improves the stability
during and after disturbances especially when network is
weak [9].FACTS devices provide an effective means of
dynamic voltage control of wind farm, dynamic power
control of the transmission lines, improving power
oscillations damping and transient stability [10].

F = 50 [Hz]
dc1

dc2

Ph3
(15)
dc3

gen5
WIND_FARM_5

In case of a voltage drop, resulting from a fault on the main

grid, the electromagnetic torque of the generator reduces
significantly while mechanical torque is still applied. This
leads to the unbalanced torque, accelerating the rotor, which
may, in turn, result in the rotor instability.
In this case study, voltage sag is developed due to
symmetrical & unsymmetrical fault at different location. As
per Math J. H. Bollen seven types of sag are analysed.
Voltage sag is developed at generator, load & grid side due
to faults are shown in figure 2.

Fig.1. Large scale wind farm

Copyright to IJIREEICE

www.ijireeice.com

173

ISSN (Online) 2321 2004

ISSN (Print) 2321 5526

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 1, Issue 5, August 2013

Table I indicates fault location, percentage Sag & I SC/IL at like a rotating synchronous compensator and improve the
different location. If any fault developed near to generator, it voltage and conversely if lower it will remove reactive
also affects voltage profile of load as well as grid and vice power. Figure 3 indicates large scale wind farm with SQIG
versa.
connected to the grid with STATCOM is modelled.
TABLE I
% SAG & ISC /IL AT DIFFERENT LOCATION

A1 A1
A2 A2
SAG
S_G
GENERATOR

10 [ohm] 0.157 [H]

PS2PS2

VS1VS1

g1 2

QS2QS2
RRL

RRL B
RRL

100.0 [MVA]
220 [kV] / 132 [kV]

A
V

A
V

#1

#2

A
V

4.0 [ohm] 0.082 [H]

g3 2

g5 2

150 [MVA]
132 [kV] / 69 [kV]

VS2VS2

A
V

A
V

A
V

#1

300.0 [uF]

Isc /IL
5.34

A
V

QS1QS1

#2

Pm
Pm Active Power

Qm
Qm Reactive Power

20.3

g6 2

g2 2

Vpu

Phase

A11

g4 2

A
V

Vpu

Vn

Vn

Ptotal
Ptotal

A12
Qtotal

150.0[MVA]
132 [kV] / 33 [kV]

gen

A13
VtotalVtotal

0.28
3.19

#1

#2

V V

qm
Q
Vpu

gen2

Voltage
Control
Loop

PWM

dcVltg

dc vtg DC Voltage

dcCur

dc curt DC Current

Control

g1

g2

Statcom & Generator

1.67

[PWMControl] g1

Igto2 Igto4 Igto6

Igto1 Igto3 Igto5
Idi2
Idi4
Idi6
Idi1
Idi3
Idi5

GTO Currents
gen3

[PWMControl] g2
Diode Currents

g3

g4
g5

Grid

g6

3.0
1.71

[PWMControl] g3

[PWMControl] g4
[PWMControl] g5

gen4

[PWMControl] g6

loadflow

gen5

6.16

Fig.3. Large scale wind farm connected by STATCOM

0.4
2.2
19.2

A.

Voltage Sag Mitigation

Figure 4 indicates the voltage profile with STATCOM

connected. The DC side capacitor charges to higher value to
compensate reactive power requirement during sag and to
maintain system stability. From the simulation results, the
designed wind farm with STATCOM responded well in
mitigating voltage sag caused by symmetrical and
asymmetrical fault.
total : Graphs
Vtotal

1.0k
0.8k
0.6k
0.4k

0.2k
0.0
-0.2k
-0.4k
-0.6k
-0.8k

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

...
...
...

10.0

...
...
...

Voltage Sag Mitigation at Generator Side

total : Graphs
1.0k

Vload

0.8k
0.6k
0.4k

y (KV)

IV.STATCOM
The Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is a
shunt connected reactive compensation equipment which is
capable of generating and/or absorbing reactive power
whose output can be varied so as to maintain control of
specific parameters of the electric power system. It consists
of VSC connected in shunt to a bus through a coupling
transform. The objective of the STATCOM is to provide fast
and smooth voltage regulation at the point of common
coupling. In this paper, the VSC is modeled as a six-pulse
IGBT converter with a dc-link capacitor. The static
compensators are devices with the ability to both generate
and absorb reactive and active power, but the most common
applications are in reactive power exchange between the AC
system and the compensator. The compensator control is
achieved by small variations in the switching angle of the
semiconductor devices, so that the fundamental component
of the voltage produced by the inverter is forced to lag or
lead the AC system voltage by a few degrees. This causes
active power to flow into or out of the inverter, modifying
the value of the DC capacitor voltage, and consequently the
magnitude of the inverter terminal voltage and the resultant
reactive power. If the developed voltage is higher than
system voltage the STATCOM will supply reactive power
Copyright to IJIREEICE

P+jQ

PS1PS1
Vs Vs

2.0 [uF]

Fault Location: Near to Generator

Location
% Sag
After Generator
68.35
Transformer
Before Generator
52.91
Transformer
Load
66.85
After Grid Transformer
10.80
Fault Location: Near to Load
After Generator
9.98
Transformer
Load
10.80
After Grid Transformer
1.78
Fault Location: Near to Grid
After Generator
66.62
Transformer
Load
59.83
After Grid Transformer
90.88
Before Grid Transformer
54.47

Ps Ps

Qs Qs

www.ijireeice.com

0.2k
0.0
-0.2k
-0.4k
-0.6k
-0.8k

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

Voltage Sag Mitigation at Load Side

174

ISSN (Online) 2321 2004

ISSN (Print) 2321 5526

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS, INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING
Vol. 1, Issue 5, August 2013
source1 : Graphs
VS1

400
300
200

y (KV)

100
0
-100
-200
-300

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

...
...
...

10.0

Voltage Sag Mitigation at Grid Side

Fig.4. Voltage sag mitigation by STATCOM.
TABLE II
% SAG MITIGATION BY USING STATCOM
% Sag

After STATCOM

Generator

Load

Grid

Location

Location

Location

54.71 %

43.00 %

10.02 %

Before STATCOM

68.35 %

66.85 %

10.80 %

Reduced after STATCOM

13.64 %

23.85 %

0.78 %

Table II indicates how sag is reduced by using STATCOM

at different fault location.
V.CONCLUSION
This paper has investigated the application of STATCOM to
wind farm equipped with Squirrel Cage Induction
Generators to study reactive power supporter during wind
variation and symmetrical & unsymmetrical fault condition.
A simulation on model of large scale wind farm is designed
in PSCAD software to study the voltage sag mitigation using
STATCOM. The study has demonstrated that an additional
active voltage/var support produced by a STATCOM can
significantly improve the recovery of wind turbines from
fault since this device can make a faster restoration of the
voltage, improving the stability limit conditions of the
induction generators. The simulation results provide a clear
qualitative verification of transient margin increase in the
wind energy conversion system with STATCOM when
compared to the system without the STATCOM support.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Author thanks ...To Prof. Dr. B.E. Kushare, Prof. & Head,
Electrical Engineering Department, K.K.Wagh Institute of
Engineering Education and Research, Nasik, Principal Prof.
Dr. K. N. Nandurkar and management for supporting to
conduct such research work.
REFERENCES
[1]
J. G. Slootweg and W. L. Kling, Modelling of Large Wind Farms in
Power System Simulations, Paper published in IEEE Conference, PP. 503508, 2002.
Copyright to IJIREEICE

[2]
J. Bhagwan Reddy, D. N. Reddy, Reliability Evaluation of a Grid
Connected Wind Farm-A case Study of Ramgiri Wind farm in Andhra
Pradesh, India, Paper published in IEEE Conference, PP. 659-662, 2004.
[3]
R. Grunbaum, P. Halvarsson, D. Larsson, P. R. Jones, Conditioning
of Power Grids serving Offshore Wind Farms based on Asynchronous
Generators, ABB Power Technologies, Sweden, PP. 34-39, 2004.
[4]
Mazen Abdel- Salam, Adel Ahmed Mahmoud Mahrous, Steadystate and transient analyses of wind farm connected to an electric grid with
varying stiffness, Proceedings of the 14th International Middle East Power
Systems Conference, Cairo University, Egypt, Dec. 19-21, 2010 PP. 203208, 2010.
[5]
R. Venkatesh, Power Quality issues and Grid interfacing of wind
Electric Generators and Design of an Optimal reactive Power Compensation
System for Wind farms
[6]
Kadam D. P. and Dr. Kushare B. E. Dynamic Behaviour of Large
Scale Wind Farm, International Journal of Electrical Engineering, Volume
5, Number 6, PP. 757-764, 2012.
[7]
Kadam D. P. and Dr. Kushare B. E. Overview of Different Wind
generator Systems and their comparisons, International Journal of
Engineering Science & Advanced Technology, Volume 2, Issue-4, PP.
1076-1081, 2012.
[8]
S. M. Muyeen, Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Mohd. Hasan Ali, Rion
Takahashi, Toshiaki Murata, Junji Tamura, Stabilization of Grid
Connected Wind Generator by STATCOM, Paper published in IEEE
PEDS 2005 Conference, PP. 1584-1588, 2005.
[9]
Lie Xu, Yao and Christian Sasse, Comparison of Using SVC and
STATCOM for Wind Farm Integration, IEEE Proceedings of the
International conference on Power System Technology, PP. 1-7, 2006.
[10] Wei Qiao, Ronald G. Harley, Ganesh K. Effects of FACTS Devices
on a Power System Which Includes a Large Wind Farm, Paper accepted
for IEEE PSCE 2006 Conference, PP. 2070-2076, 2006.

BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Kadam D.P graduated in Electrical
Engineering from Government College of
Engineering, Amaravati in 1997 & his
Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering
from Walchand College of Engineering
Sangli, Shivaji University, Kolhapur with
Power System as a specialization. He is
working as an Associate Professor at K.K.Wagh Institute of
Engineering Education and Research, Nasik, Maharashtra,
India. He is pursuing Ph.D from Pune University.
His
research area includes Optimization of Reactive Power,
Power Quality & FACTS. His total experience spans over 13
years.
Prof. Dr. B. E. Kushare graduated in
Electrical Engineering from Government
College of Engineering, Aurangabad and
obtained Gold Medal for University
Topper in 1989. He completed his ME
Electrical
Control
System
from
Government College of Engineering, Pune, Pune University
in 1992 and obtained Ph.D. in Power Quality from Pune
University in 2006. He is also a Certified Energy auditor. He
Published around 100 International and National Papers. He
is also a consultant to various industries in India and abroad.
He is working as Professor & Head of Electrical Engineering
Department at K.K.Wagh Institute of Engineering Education
& Research, Nashik, Maharashtra, India.

www.ijireeice.com

175