Power quality measurements on a 500 kW variable speed VAWT
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Bushland, TX (United States)
Power quality tests have been conducted with the DOE/Sandia 34-m VAWT Test Bed located at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Bushland, Texas. These tests were conducted in conjunction with the local electric utility, Southwestern Public Service Company, to determine the effects of the turbine on the 13.2 kV utility line. The Test Bed consists of a 34-m diameter wind turbine coupled, via a mechanical transmission, to a 500 kW electric synchronous motor/generator. The motor/generator is controlled by a load-commutated inverter (LCI) variable-speed motor drive. This AC-DC-AC LCI system converts the variable output voltage and frequency of the motor/generator to dc and then converts the dc to the voltage and frequency of the utility line. The LCI is also used as a variable-speed motor drive to rotate the turbine up to operating speed. The turbine is connected to a feeder line that is 25 km from the first substation. The line is one branch of three feeders that are common to the same substation breaker. The total peak load on this feeder is approximately 1.4 MW. The minimum penetration of the turbine at rated power into the feeders is 35% with the possibility existing of penetration into the utility transmission grid. This soft line'' is an ideal configuration to test the effects that a wind generating system may have on a remote or isolated utility line. As a result of this testing, the harmonic distortion present before and after the LCI isolation transformer has been quantified and the damping effect the isolation transformer has on the distortion has been observed. Also, the operating conditions that produce the maximum distortion have been determined. The data taken comparing power factor with rotor torque and generator speed indicate that the LCI's power factor increases with rotor torque but is limited by the speed of the generator.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 7024495
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-92-1607C; CONF-910154-2; ON: DE93002459
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 10. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) wind energy symposium, Houston, TX (United States), 20-24 Jan 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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