Proceedings of 2015 IEEE International Conference on
Applied Superconductivity and Electromagnetic Devices
Shanghai, China, November 20-23, 2015
Application of SFCL to Improve the Transient
Voltage Stability of Grid-Connected Wind Farm with
DFIG during Grid Faults
Ran Ou1, Xian Yong Xiao2, Zhi Ce Zou3, Chang Song Li5
College of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
Sichuan University
Chengdu 610065, China
carolinou@163.com
Abstract—A novel superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL)
based transient voltage stability scheme is presented for use in
wind farms driven by doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)
during grid faults. The proposed scheme consists of active and
passive self-acting voltage compensators. The active compensator
is carried out by allocating the reactive power references between
the stator and the grid side converter automatically. The passive
compensator utilizes a SFCL to improve the reduced stator
voltage, which in turn considerably improves the controller
performance of the active voltage compensator. Simulation
results verify that both the output reactive power for grid voltage
support and the stator voltage level for efficient grid-connection
strictly satisfy with the grid code requirements.
Keywords-wind farm; DFIG; SFCL; transient voltage stability
I. INTRODUCTION
Since wind farms driven by doubly-fed induction generator
(DFIG) usually lack of transient voltage support capability
during grid faults, the security and stability of the grid are
seriously influenced by the increasing penetration of large wind
power in modern power system. As a result, the transient
voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) is adopted by
almost all the grid code requirements to determine whether to
allow connection of wind farms to the grid under fault
conditions. A dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) or dynamic VAr
compensators (STATCOM) [1] are sometimes employed to
compensate the reduced PCC voltage, but these increase the
complexity and unreliability of the wind turbine systems.
Another common method to improve the transient voltage is to
modify the controllers of DFIG converters to participate the
voltage control [2], but reactive power provided is inadequate
to support the PCC voltage due to low converters power rating
and lower voltage condition. Although a superconducting fault
current limiter (SFCL) could improve the PCC voltage to a
certain extent [3], it fails to satisfy with the reactive power
requirements for efficient voltage support. Facing this problem,
this paper proposes a novel SFCL-based transient voltage
stability scheme combined with improved reactive power
support.
II. BASIC PRINCIPLE
Within a typical DFIG system, the rotor side converter
(RSC) controls the active and reactive power of the stator (Ps,
978-1-4673-8107-9/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
ID5168
Dan Yue Wu4
State Grid Fujian Electric Power Research Institute
State Grid Corporation of China
Fuzhou 350007, China
Qs) into the grid independently, while the grid side converter
(GSC) maintains the dc-link voltage and generates an
independent reactive power (Qg) injected into the grid. Since
the stator voltage-oriented vector control is used, the stator and
GSC output reactive powers can be expressed as [2]
⎧ 3 3
⎪⎪Qs = − 2 (Vsq isd − Vsd isq ) = 2 Vs isq
⎨ (1)
⎪Q = − 3 (V i − V i ) = 3 V i
⎪⎩ g 2
sq gd sd gq
2
s gq
where V, i are the voltage and current; Subscripts s, g represent
the stator and GSC sides; Subscripts d, q represent the d axis
and q axis components.
From (1), the DFIG output reactive power to the grid is
restrained by the stator voltage Vs and the maximum converter
currents (isq,max, igq,max). At the instant of the grid faults occur,
the stator voltage amplitude drops to a lower value, which
would largely reduce the output reactive power capability of
the DFIG. So, a SFCL is suggested to improve the fault stator
voltage and to collaborate with the reactive power control
strategy to reinforce the transient voltage stability.
Figure 1. A grid-connected wind farm system with SFCL.
X′ ZSFCL Z T1 Z2
+ +

E′d Vs Vg
− Zf −
Figure 2. Grid fault analysis model with SFCL.
Fig. 1 shows a grid-connected wind farm system driven by
6-@ 1.5MW DFIGs. The corresponding simplified grid fault
analysis model with SFCL considering a three-phase to ground
short-circuit on the grid is shown in Fig. 2. Based on the
circuitry analysis, and neglecting the relatively small fault
240
impedance Zf and transient electromotive force E′d , the variation requirements strictly, the lower stator voltage restrains the
of the DFIG stator voltage before and after the fault can be output reactive power to ~0.085 pu resulting in just a small
expressed as voltage improvement, i.e., from ~0.016 pu to ~0.062 pu. With
SFCL only, the stator voltage can reach ~0.091 pu, but leads to
X′ Z (Zf + Z 2 ) X ′  a disappointing ~ 0.025 pu reactive power absorption from the
ΔVs ≈ ( − f )Vg (2) grid. When both the voltage control and SFCL are applied, the
X ′ + ZSFCL + Z T1 + Z 2 X ′ + ZSFCL + Z T1
DFIGs can output ~ 0.140 pu reactive power so that the
where X ′ is the equivalent transient impedance of the DFIGs; minimum stator voltage is improved to ~ 0.251 pu satisfying
ZSFCL, the equivalent SFCL impedance; ZT1, the transfer with the highest minimum voltage level 0.250 pu required
impedance of transformer T1; Z2, the sum of the transmission worldwide for efficient grid-connection. Thus the transient
line impedance, the transfer impedance of transformer T2, and voltage stability of the overall system can be well improved.
the grid impedance; Vg , the grid voltage. From (2), a higher
No Protection
SFCL impedance suits to a lower voltage drop, subsequently a 1.5
Voltage Control
higher transient stator voltage conduces to achieve an improved 1
SFCL

Reactive Power (pu)

SFCL and Control
reactive power controller performance.
0.5
Fig. 3 shows a modified control diagram of the RSC and
0
GSC with transient voltage control capability. Under normal
condition (N), due to low power rating of DFIG converters, -0.5
unity power factor operation is usually prior, i.e., the reactive -1
power references of the RSC and GSC are both set to zero 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45
Time (s)
( Qs∗ = 0 , Qg∗ = 0 ), to reduce the currents and losses in both the Figure 5. Variation of reactive power.
converters. Under fault condition (F), the reactive power 3
reference Qs∗ is obtained by a transient voltage PI controller, Stator Side

Reactive Current (pu)

2 GSC Side
which uses the difference between the stator reference voltage DFIG
1
Vs∗ and the actual stator voltage Vs as an input signal. The
0
coordination principle is to preferentially use RSC for reactive
power support until its power rating is reached, and then the -1
GSC is also required to generate additional reactive power.
-2
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45
Qs∗ = 0 Time (s)
N
+
∗
irq + ′+
vrq ∗
vrq Figure 6. Variation of capacitive reactive current.
PI PI RSC
F − +
+ Qs∗ Qs − irq sωsσ Lr ird IV. CONCLUSIONS
Vs∗ PI
− − Qg∗ + ∗
igq ′ −
vgq ∗
vgq A novel SFCL-based transient voltage stability scheme
+ +
Vs PI PI GSC with improved reactive power support has been proposed and
F − −
N
+ verified through a 9 MW DFIG-based wind farm case. The
Qg∗ = 0 Qg igq −ωs Lg igd
active voltage controller compensates the transient stator
Figure 3. RSC and GSC control with transient voltage control capability. voltage from the view of energy equilibrium level, while the
passive SFCL suits to improve the transient stator voltage from
III. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION the view of physical circuit level, which in turn considerably
To evaluate the effects of SFCL on the transient voltage improves the active controller performance. With the proposed
stability of the wind farm shown in Fig. 1, the simulation scheme, not only the output reactive power for grid voltage
conditions are set that, a three-phase fault occurs at t = 0.1 s at support is largely improved, but also the DFIG stator voltage
bus 2, and the fault duration/impedance is 0.15 s/1 Ω. In this level for efficient grid-connection strictly satisfy with the grid
study, ZSFCL = 5 mΩ. Figs. 4-6 show the variation of the stator code requirements. Thus the transient voltage stability of the
voltage, reactive power, and reactive current of the DFIG. overall system has been well improved.
1.2
REFERENCES
1
Stator Voltage (pu)

[1] W. Qiao, R. G. Harley, and G. K. Venayagamoorthy, “Coordinated

0.8
reactive power control of a large wind farm and a STATCOM using
0.6 heuristic dynamic programming,” IEEE Transactions on Energy
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Volt age Control [2] D. L. Xie, Z. Xu, L. H. Yang, J. Ostergaard, Y. S. Xue, and K. P. Wong,
0.2 SFCL
“A comprehensive LVRT control strategy for DFIG wind turbines with
SFCL and Control
0 enhanced reactive power support,” IEEE Transactions on Power
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 Systems, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 3302-3310, 2013.
Time (s)
[3] M. E. Elshiekh, D. E. A. Mansour, and A. M. Azmy, “Improving fault
Figure 4. Variation of stator voltage. ride-through capability of DFIG-based wind turbine using
With the transient voltage control only, although the DFIGs superconducting fault current limiter,” IEEE Transactions on Applied
Superconductivity, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 5601204, 2013.
can supply ~ 1 pu reactive current to fulfill the grid code

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