Energy Storage and Reactive Power Compensator in a Large Wind Farm: Preprint

NOTICE The submitted manuscript has been offered by an employee of the Midwest Research Institute (MRI), a contractor of the US Government under Contract No. DE-AC36-99GO10337. Accordingly, the US Government and MRI retain a nonexclusive royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. Abstract—The size of wind farm power systems is increasing, and so is the number of wind farms contributing to the power systems network. The size of wind turbines is also increasing— from less than 1 MW a few years ago to the 2-to 3-MW machines being installed today and the 5-MW machines under development. The interaction of the wind farm, energy storage, reactive power compensation, and the power system network is being investigated. Because the loads and the wind farms' output fluctuate during the day, the use of energy storage and reactive power compensation is ideal for the power system network. Energy storage and reactive power compensation can minimize real/reactive power imbalances that can affect the surrounding power system. In this paper, we will show how the contribution of wind farms affects the power distribution network and how the power distribution network, energy storage, and reactive power compensation interact when the wind changes. We will also investigate the size of the components in relation to each other and to the power system.