Dynamic Analysis of Small Wind Turbines Frequency Support Capability in a Low-Power Wind-Diesel Microgrid

When wind power accounts for a large portion of the islanded microgrid power, it may need to support the ac bus frequency regulation. The increasing penetration of variable speed wind turbines (WTs) in microgrids leads to a lower inertia, as the rotational speed of the turbine and the grid is decoupled by power electronic converters. Lower system inertia results in a larger and faster frequency deviation after occurrence of abrupt variations on generation and load. It is possible to implement control loops in the WT converters to provide a virtual inertia and support frequency regulation in the microgrid. This paper investigates the variables related to the frequency compensation capability of WT, such as kinetic energy, dc-link capacitance, turbine size, wind penetration, number of turbines, operating region along the power curve, power reserve and droop control gain, etc. The analysis is structured as a design of experiment (DOE) to have a clear and organized comparison of multiple system configurations. An optimal control technique is applied to provide fair comparison among the system variables. A flowchart explaining how the DOE and controllers gains were defined is provided.