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Title: Controlling Wind Turbines for Secondary Frequency Regulation: An Analysis of AGC Capabilities Under New Performance Based Compensation Policy: Preprint

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1172284

As wind energy becomes a larger portion of the world's energy portfolio there has been an increased interest for wind turbines to control their active power output to provide ancillary services which support grid reliability. One of these ancillary services is the provision of frequency regulation, also referred to as secondary frequency control or automatic generation control (AGC), which is often procured through markets which recently adopted performance-based compensation. A wind turbine with a control system developed to provide active power ancillary services can be used to provide frequency regulation services. Simulations have been performed to determine the AGC tracking performance at various power schedule set-points, participation levels, and wind conditions. The performance metrics used in this study are based on those used by several system operators in the US. Another metric that is analyzed is the damage equivalent loads (DELs) on turbine structural components, though the impacts on the turbine electrical components are not considered. The results of these single-turbine simulations show that high performance scores can be achieved when there is sufficient wind resource available. The capability of a wind turbine to rapidly and accurately follow power commands allows for high performance even when tracking rapidly changing AGC signals. As the turbine de-rates to meet decreased power schedule set-points there is a reduction in the DELs, and the participation in frequency regulation has a negligible impact on these loads.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Wind Power Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1172284
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5D00-62815
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at the 13th International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power Into Power Systems as Well as on Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Power Plants, 11-13 November 2014, Berlin, Germany
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English