DEVELOPMENT OF A FULL-SCALE-LAB-VALIDATED DYNAMIC SIMULINK© MODEL FOR A STAND-ALONE WIND-POWERED MICROGRID

Isolated hybrid wind microgrids operate within three distinct modes, depending on the wind resources and the consumer grid demand: diesel-only (DO), wind-diesel (WD) and wind-only (WO). Few successful systems have been shown to consistently and smoothly transition between wind-diesel and wind-only modes. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) has constructed a full scale test bed of such a system in order to evaluate technologies that facilitate this transition. The test bed is similar in design to the NREL Power Systems Integration Laboratory (PSIL) and sized to represent a typical off-grid community. The objective of the present work is to model the ACEP test bed in DO and WD modes using MATLAB (TM) SIMULINK (c) and then validate the model with actual full-scale laboratory measurements. As will be shown, the frequency responses are grouped into three classifications based on their behavior. The model is shown to be successful in describing the frequency response of relatively small (0.15 per unit) steps in load. Modifications to the excitation system model are discussed which could improve the accuracy for larger steps in load. The ACEP test bed and associated SIMULINK (c) model are to be used in future work to support investigating WO operation.