Hierarchical voltage control of a wind power plant using the adaptive I_Q-V characteristic of a doubly-fed induction generator

Because wind generators (WGs) in a wind power plant (WPP) produce different active powers due to wake effects, the reactive power capability of each WG is different. This paper proposes a hierarchical voltage control scheme for a WPP that uses a WPP controller and WG controller. In the proposed scheme, the WPP controller determines a voltage error signal by using a PI controller and sends it to a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). Based on the reactive current-voltage (IQ-V) characteristic of a DFIG, the DFIG injects an appropriate reactive power corresponding to the voltage error signal. To enhance the voltage recovery capability, the gains of the IQ-V characteristic of a DFIG are modified depending on its reactive current capability so that a DFIG with greater reactive current capability may inject more reactive power. The proposed scheme enables the WPP to recover the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) to the nominal value within a short time after a disturbance by using the adaptive IQ-V characteristics of a DFIG. The performance of the proposed scheme was investigated for a 100 MW WPP consisting of 20 units of 5 MW DFIGs for small and larger disturbances. The results show the proposed scheme successfully recovers the PCC voltage within a short time after a disturbance.