20 I 0 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution

The impact of large-scale offshore wind farm on the power system

Yuancheng Miao 1
1, Shanghai Pudong Power Supply Company, No. 1671, South Pudong Road, Shanghai 200122
E-MAIL: miaoyuancheng@gmai1.com
Abstract: With a series problems such as global energy
and resource shortage, several countries have begun to
increase investment for new energy development. Because
wind energy is renewable, clean and pollution-free, it is
widely used in the entire world. Offshore wind farm does
not take up valuable land resources, and the sea has
abundant wind energy resources so that the wind turbine
can achieve greater unit capacity. Therefore, the
development of offshore wind farm has become a new
direction of China's Green Energy Development. In this
context, the study of large-scale offshore wind farm and the
impact on the power system is necessary. Based on the
analysis of Shanghai Nanhui wind farm's operation, this
paper discusses the interconnection of the Donghai Bridge
offshore wind farm and the short-circuit capacity, power
quality, as well as the reactive power.
Keywords: large-scale offshore wind farm; power
quality; power dispatching
1. Introduction
The wind power technology in China has developed
rapidly in recent years. It is predicted that at the end of 20 I 0,
the installed capacity of wind power will reach 20GW, and in
2020 it will reach 80GW. The largest offshore wind power
project in China, Donghai Bridge ofshore wind farm has
completed the installation in the frst half of 201 0 and was
ofcially put into operation. The wind farm is located 1 to 4 km
east of Shanghai East Sea Bridge, 8 to 13 km south of Shanghai
Pudong coastline. It consists of 34 wind turbine and has a total
installed capacity of 102000 k W. It can meet the electricity
needs of more than 20 million residents in Shanghai.
Compared to the land-based wind farm in Shanghai,
Donghai Bridge wind farm has not only large-scale power
capacity, but also a unique connection method to the main
power grid. Therefore, the large offshore wind farm will bring
some new problems to the power system. We must attach great
importance to its impact on network security and economical
operation.
2. Short Circuit Capacity
The short circuit capacity of a point in the power grid
equal to the product of three-phase short-circuits current and
rated voltage of that point. The short circuit capacity is
represented as following:
Sse = JU1 MA
The short circuit capacity could be used to determine
whether the network is strong or not. The great short circuit
capacity (corresponding to low impedance) indicates that the
network is strong. Load, capacitor or reactor switching does not
cause large changes in voltage amplitude. On the contrary, the
small short circuit capacity indicates a weak network.
In power system analysis, the installed capacity of wind
farm is compared with the strength of the power system. A
simple method is to dividing the system's short circuit capacity
by the installed capacity of the wind farm. The result is called
short circuit ratio. The bigger the short circuit ratio is, the better
performance the power system has. On the contrary, the small
short circuit ratio means that some risks exist in the system.
Usually, the network is considered as strong when the short
circuit ratio is more than 20 to 25, considered as weak when it's
less than 8 to 10. As Donghai Bridge wind farm is located at the
end of the supply network, and interconnects to the weak point
2 20 I 0 China Interational Conference on Electricity Distribution
of the power grid, it is necessary to pay attention to its infuence
and interference on the network.
3. Power Quality
The uncertainty of the wind resource and the
characteristics of the wind turbine lead to fuctuating power
output. It may afect the power quality of the grid, such as
voltage fuctuation and ficker, harmonics and so on.
3.1 Voltage fuctuation and ficker
Voltage fuctuation and ficker are major negative impacts
on power quality. Voltage fuctuation would cause fashing
lights, quality drop in TV picture, uneven motor speed and
impact on computer, automatic control equipment and so on.
Voltage fuctuation is presented as a series cyclical change
In voltage or frequency. Flicker is one of the light intensity
fuctuations in the subjective sensation. Although most of the
offshore wind turbines are connected to the grid as sof mode,
but in the startup it will still cause a great impact current. When
the wind speed exceeds the cut-out wind speed, the wind
turbines will automatically exit from their rated condition. In
the large-scale offshore wind farm, if all the fans action at the
same time, it will cause a very signifcant impact on the power
system. Moreover, the variability of marine wind speed and the
infuence by the tower shadow will also lead to fuctuations,
which can produce ficker within a frequency range (less than
25HZ). So, wind turbines in normal operation will also bring
the ficker to the power grid and therefore affect the power
quality.
The short circuit ratio of the common coupling point and
the X I R ratio of the power line are two important factors
which affect the voltage fuctuation and ficker. The bigger the
short circuit ratio is, the smaller the voltage fuctuation and
ficker would be. If the X/R ratio is appropriate, the voltage
fuctuation caused by active power can be compensated by the
voltage fuctuations which caused by reactive power. So that the
average value of fickers have been reduced.
3.2 Harmonic pollution
There are two major approaches that bring the harmonics
from the wind farm to the power system. One is the power
electronic devices which are equipped by the wind turbine itself
Another is the resonance which is caused by the parallel
compensation capacitor of the wind turbine. It produces
harmonics at the transformer's low voltage side.
If the wind farm is connected with the power grid as AC
transmission mode, it will produce some harmonics at the sof
start-up phase because of the power electronic devices it owns.
Because this process is very short, and the number of
occurrences is quite small, therefore it can be usually ignored.
But if the wind farm is connected as DC transmission mode, the
harmonics could be no longer ignored. The wind turbines access
the system through rectifer and inverter devices. If the
switching frequency of power electronic devices is within a
frequency range that could produce harmonics, it will lead to a
very serious harmonics problem. But with the development of
the power electronic devices, this problem is gradually resolved.
For Donghai Bridge wind farm, it doesn't have a serious
problem of harmonics because it uses AC transmission mode as
connection method.
4. Reactive Power
In normal operation, the wind turbine usually absorbs
reactive power from the power grid, which therefore increases
the reactive power burden of the system. Now, however, wind
turbines are ofen equipped with a capacitor group, which can
compensate the reactive power according to the power output
automatically, so no additional equipment is required. For
example: The existing Shanghai Nanhui wind farm does not
need to absorb a large amount of reactive power from the
system. On the contrary, because Shanghai Nanhui wind farm is
connected with "DaZhi" transformer substation through mixed
overhead lines and cables, which could produce reactive power
back into the grid. Therefore. it increases the 35kv busbar
voltage in "DaZhi" transformer substation and decreases the
voltage percent of pass.
As the connection between Donghai Bridge wind farm
2010 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution 3
and the substation on the land is pure submarine cable, the
considerable length of the cable line will produce reactive
power much higher than the overhead lines, which requires the
regional power grid in certain operating condition the ability to
absorb a considerable amount of reactive power.
5. Analysis of the connection method
The form of grid connection of large offshore wind farm
IS a very important factor which impact on power system
operation, therefore it is necessary to analyze.
5.1 Connection method of Donghai Bridge wind farm
This fgure is a simplifed network diagram of Donghai
Bridge wind farm.
Wid O,69{35k
Tuif
Se. Land
110v b4$b
35/110kv
10k . cal
Figure I.network diagram of Donghai Bridge wind far
As the wind turbine terminal voltage is unstable, a
box-type transformer is installed inside the generator cabin to
raise the fan port 0.69kv voltage to 35kv, which is a part of the
wind turbine.
Afer the wind generator gains the electricity, it needs a
submarine cable in order to transmission the power to land. The
main connection cables of Donghai Bridge wind farm project
are submarine cables between the fan and fan, between the fan
and the transformer substation, with a total length of about 76
km.
Afer the power was transmitted from Donghai Bridge
wind farm to land, it needs a step-up substation to continue
transfer the energy to grid. Afer a step-up substation on shore,
the voltage level reaches 110kv and then access the 110kv
busbar through two parallel 11 km-long cable in 220kv
"HaiYang" substation.
5.2 Connection method of Shanghai Nanhui wind
farm
Since May 2005, Shanghai Nanhui wind farm has been
put into operation and accumulated a great amount of operating
experiences. It could be a valuable reference to the analysis of
Donghai Bridge wind farm. It is equipped with 11 wind turbines
and the installed capacity is 16,500 kilowatts. The voltage level
rises to 35kv in wind farm and then transferred through the
mixed overhead lines and cables to 35kv "DaZhi" substation.
[
"Dazhi" substation
]
C


y

.
"Nanhui"
wind farm
,

10kv
busb.r
Figure 2.network diagram of Shanghai Nahui wind f
Overall, the connection method of Donghai Bridge wind
farm is similar to that of Shanghai Nanhui wind farm. The
operating experiences of Shanghai Nahnhui wind farm could be
used as a source of reference. However, they use difrent
voltage levels to access the grid, and the connection method
between the two are also not the same, therefore their impact on
the power system are also different.
First of all, the biggest difference between the two is that
the offshore wind farm must use a long submarine cable to
transport the power. As the long cable will generate a lot of
reactive power, so we must be aware and pay attention to this
feature.
Second, the power of Donghai Bridge wind farm is
4 20 I 0 China Interational Conference on Electricity Distribution
transferred directly into the II Okv busbar of a 220kv substation,
but the power of Shanghai Nanhui wind farm is transferred into
the 35kv busbar of a 35kv substation. As the voltage level
difference, the impact to the voltage fuctuations of distribution
network by Donghai Bridge wind farm is smaller than that by
Shanghai Nanhui wind farm.
6. Operation analysis of Shanghai Nanhui wind farm
Compared to Donghai Bridge offshore wind farm, the
installed capacity of Shanghai Nanhui wind farm is much
smaller, but its impact on the grid is an important reference for
the study of large-scale ofhore wind farm. Tn actual operation,
the Nanhui wind farm has almost no effect on power peaking
and frequency modulation, but it has played a signifcant role in
regional distribution network for power quality, especially
voltage fuctuation.
The voltage qualifcation rate of 35kv busbar in "DaZhi"
substation could be a good example. From January 1, 2009 to
May 31, 2009, in the fve months, a total of 8928 times voltage
had been collected, which qualifed 6969 times. The voltage
qualifcation rate was 78.06%. In the same period of time, the
voltage qualifcation rate of 35kv busbar in Shanghai East grid
was 95.23%. The voltage qualifcation rate of "DaZhi"
substation is far below the average level. We can see that
Shanghai Nanhui wind farm has a great impact on voltage
fuctuations in the regional distribution network.
Tn Shanghai, the typhoon will largely infuences the
operation of the wind farm. When typhoon comes, it is ofen
accompanied by wind up. At this time, the wind farm operates
as full power output mode. But as the wind continues to
increase over the fan cut-out wind speed, the wind farm would
stop all turbines within a short time. A sudden change of output
power could have a great impact on power grid such as voltage
fuctuations. Because of the smaller capacity, Nanhui wind farm
has not a great impact on power grid. But if all fans stop
simultaneously, it will reduce absorbing reactive power from
the grid, which cause the reactive power that generated by the
cable fed into "Dazhi" substation. Therefore the voltage at the
35kv busbar in "DaZhi" subtation is abnormally increased.
This picture depicts the voltage curve of 35kv busbar in
Shanghai Nanhui wind farm on Sept. 19,2007. (When Typhoon
"Wipha" strikes Shanghai) Under the infuence of the typhoon,
the voltage qualifcation rate was 48.78%. The voltage reached
even 38.86kv, seriously affected the voltage quality of regional
distribution network.
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7. Operation analysis ofDonghai Bridge wind farm
As the Donghai Bridge wind farm has been put into
operation only a short time, it did not reach its maximum output.
It also hadn't withstood the test of severe weather such as
typhoons, so we can not verify it's impact on power system in
extreme conditions.
Under normal operating conditions, because the Donghai
Bridge ofhore wind farm has not yet reached its maximum
output, it had little impact on the power peaking and frequency
modulation. By reactive power management, since the Donghai
Bridge offshore wind farm is connected with II0kv bubar in
220kv substation, the short circuit ratio of the connection point
is much larger than that ofNanhui wind farm. The fuctuation in
reactive power is easier to compensate by the power grid and
therefore cause small voltage fuctuations in regional
distribution network.
2010 China International Conference on Electricity Distribution 5
8. Impact on power dispatching management
Based on land-based wind farms operating experience and
its own characteristics, the impact of large offshore wind farm
on power system is concentrated in the following two aspects:
8.1 Impact on reactive power management
Compared to the land-based wind farm, the ofshore wind
farm must use long submarine cables to transfer the power. This
would bring new problems to reactive power management. For
example: As the wind is very small, the wind turbine will be
stopped and the wind farm has a very small demand of reactive
power. The reactive power which generated by cable will fed
into the power grid, and it may lead the voltage in distribution
network too high, thus affecting the voltage stability.
8.2 Impact on power peaking and frequency
modulation
As the wind energy is unpredicted, the change in wind
power output is also at a considerable degree of unpredictability.
Meanwhile, the change of the wind power and change of the
network load are ofen opposite, that is, if the wind power is
reduced, the power load is ofen increased, especially in the
summer, when the air conditioning cooling load plays a
signifcant role in the grid. When the weather is abnormally hot,
the sea wind is ofen small, which further lead to increased heat,
therefore cause the continuously rising of cooling load.
As the Shanghai power grid is quite large and has enough
reserve capacity, it is generally no need to consider the
frequency stability problem which is caused by Donghai Bridge
wind farm. However, because its location is in the sea, its
possibility to hit by the typhoon is also larger than land-based
wind farm. Once the typhoon hit Shanghai, wind turbines may
stop in a very short time, so the grid will lost 100MW power
within a few minutes. It will cause a great impact on power grid
and may even lead to serious voltage collapse. Therefore, the
dispatcher must develop emergency plans and pay close
attention to weather conditions. Once the typhoon is
approaching, the dispatcher should not increase the power
output from the offshore wind farm. Conversely, they should
selectively shut down part of the wind turbines in order to
prevent sudden decrease of power, thereby affecting the power
grid stability.
9. Conclusions
The successful operation of Donghai Bridge ofhore
wind farm indicates that China's wind power development is
expanded from land to sea. In the future, the scale of ofshore
wind farm will be much larger, even to be compared to the size
of conventional power plant. In a network power supply system,
the offshore wind power could account for a large proportion.
Such network has put higher requirements on power dispatching.
The development of offshore wind power industry has a bright
future, and the wind power control technology is becoming hot
topic.
References
[1] Deutsches Windenergie-Institut. Wind turbine grid
connection and interaction, 2001
[2] European Wind Energy Association. Large scale
integration of wind energy, 2005
[3] $it. fnlFxF[XiDr. '!Fn, 2004
[4] *:,*. 5\::: 4RJ:tj 4IXDII[. 0 4
n, Vo1.9, No.3, June, 2005
[5]\l,H. lfF*[X;R*E"lJR. FnJ Ei01t,
$ 271,$ 8 ]A, 2003
Biography
Yuancheng Miao
26.10.1983
Educational background:
Doctoral candidate, Shanghai Jiaotong University
Master of Science in electrical engineering, Technical
University of Munich
Current Job:
Power dispatcher, Shanghai Pudong Power Supply Company
Email:
miaoyuancheng@gmail.com