Ancillary Services from

Wind Turbines and

Related Grid Codes
December 6th 2012
Dipl.-Ing. Eckard Quitmann
ENERCON GmbH
Head of dept. Sales Grid Integration

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 1

Ancillary Services from Wind Turbines and Related Grid Codes

1. Technical concept of ENERCON Wind Energy

Converter (WEC)
2. Possibilities to provide ancillary services to power
systems
3. Requirements of Grid Codes regarding Ancillary
Services from Renewable Generation devices
some examples
4. Outlook: Which ancillary services do we need in
future

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 2

Basic design of the ENERCON WEC

Controls
Generator

Excitation

Rectifier

G
E
N
E
R
A
T
I
O
N
Yaw Drives
Pitch Drives

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 3

Basic electrical design of the ENERCON WEC

UPS (optional)

Control cabinet

LV Switchgear

Transformer
MV Switchgear

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Inverters

C
O
N
V
E
R
S
I
O
N

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Slide 4

Basic electrical design of the ENERCON WEC

Electrical design characteristics
No gear box, type 4 WEC
Ring generator completely decoupled from grid by full scale power converter
Performance on grid mainly determined by inverter (current source)

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 5

Similarities in the Electrical Design

Electrical design characteristics
Type 4 WEC is electrically towards power system very similar to PV
Performance on grid mainly determined by inverter (current source)

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Slide 6

Operational range of an ENERCON WEC

Operating modes in terms of frequency and voltage

With FRT Option:

Up to 5 seconds
per event

max.
60
sec.

Normal continuous
operation

With FRT Option:

Up to 5 seconds
per event

Frequency [Hz]

fR + 7 Hz

fR

80

90

100

120

145

fR - 7 Hz

Voltage at low voltage terminals [% of rated]

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 7

Reactive Power Capability of the individual ENERCON WEC

Standard capability
Active power output depends on wind
Reactive power output depends on inverter control
Maximum reactive power depends on sizing of full-converter
and transformer rating

Standard

Active power

Operating
point

Apparent power S:
important for inverter,
physical current limit
of IGBTs

STATCOM Option

Reactive power
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Slide 8

Reactive Power Capability of the Wind Power Plant

Example: required
0.95 exp < cos > 0.95 imp

Active
power

20kV
400V

400V

At the 400V
terminals
of the WEC

20kV

at PoC

PoC
400V

QExport

20kV
110kV

Result

QImport

Qoffset due to internal cabling

PQ range of a sum of WECs is different from PQ-range of the whole Wind Power Plant at PoC!!!
Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 9

Wind Power Plants Q-Capability used for Voltage Control

Wind Power Plant Edinbane, Scotland, 41,1 MW, 132 kV connection
Structure: PI-Voltage Controller
Voltage-Droop-Control Q(U), 6% droop
Fast response to voltage changes (<1sec required)
Grid characteristics important for a defined response time
without Wind Power Plant: 207 MVA, X/R=2,5, SSC/PWF = 5,04

U disturbance
(external reasons)

With Voltage Setpoint

Setting
U = Uref - Uact

Q(U)-Controller
response <1s

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Slide 10

Inertia Emulation by WECs is possible

Measurement dynamic performance

Pactu al

Pref

kW

Optional active power boost, using the

9 50
9 00

inertia of the rotor.

8 50
8 00

Pboost = 10%Prated

7 50

Available as soon as Pactual 4%Prated

6 50

Pboost available within 800ms

5 50

7 00

6 00

5 00

ENERCON E-82
operating at
partial wind
conditions

4 50

Boost for max. 10 seconds

4 00
3 50

Recovery time after boost 2 x Tboost

3 00
2 50
2 00
0.0

2.0

4 .0

6.0

8.0

10 .0

1 2.0

14.0

16 .0 1 8.0

20.0

2 2.0

24.0
s

Performance achieved by changing excitation, using rotor inertia.

Activation is based on local frequency measurement of the WEC.

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 11

Todays and near future Grid Codes

French RTE Requirements for Wind Power Plants

Wide Q range required, always used for Q(U)-control

STATCOM performance required, but hardly possible

to participate in Ancillary Services market

FRT required, but no matter what is done during FRT
P(f) control: Reducing P at f>flimit

German Requirements for Wind Power Plants (SDL, MS RL, Transm.Code)

Wide Q range required, poorly used for effective U-control

FRT requirement very detailed, in particular what to do during FRT
P(f) control: Reducing P at f>flimit
ENTSO-E NC RfG (still under discussion)
Opens lots of possibilities what a system operator can ask for.
Some examples:

P(f) control: Reducing P at f>flimit (solving 50,2 Hz problem)

Preserve at f<flimit may be required; Artificial Inertia may be required
Wide Q range may be required (incl. STATCOM), several ways indicated how to be used
Negative sequence impedance may be required
Minimum Requirements in ENTSO-E NC RfG fully decoupled from an Ancillary Services concept

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Slide 12

Ancillary Services Today and in Future

Ancillary Services Today (some):

P(f): Primary, Secondary, Tertiary control

Reactive power and U-control
Black start capability

The traditional understanding of Ancillary Services assumes several

inherent physical features of rotating, synchronous machines.
These can not be assumed to exist in future
with high penetration of inverter based generation.

Inherently assumed Ancillary Services Today (some):

P(f): Inertia
Balancing: Low negative sequence impedance
Power Quality: Sink for low order harmonics
System security: High short circuit current contribution
(Damping: Mitigation of P oscillations by PSS)

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Slide 13

Ancillary Services from Inverter Based Generation

Ancillary Services in future

Provision from volatile, inverter based

generation possible?

At least:

P(f): Primary, Secondary, Tertiary control

Primary: partly possible

Sec. + Tertiary need storages

Reactive power and U-control

U&Q possible today

Black start capability

Need storages

P(f): Inertia

Inertia emulation: possible today

Balancing: Low neg. sequence impedance

Could be made available

Power Quality: Sink for low order harmonics

Active filtering possible today

Security concept: High short circuit current

contribution

Possible but expensive. Smart?

Technically almost all is possible

Nothing is inherently with inverters,
software defines the performance
All such features cost money

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Slide 14

New Questions due to Inverter Based Generation

Example: What is the system frequency?

For the max. benefit of the

power system FRT response
or inertial response should be
very fast.
Power electronics need to
distinguish by software
between noise and real
events.

50,03 Hz

48,19 Hz

50,03 Hz

Consequence:
Agreement of power system
operators and industry is
desirable on how to filter
measured signals, to
determine meaningful U and f.

Noise! No real f-signal to respond to

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Slide 15

Looking ahead: What is needed When?

Decentralized, inverter based, volatile generation will most probably increase
When will which technical feature be neccesary to run the system stable?

Instantaneous penetration with

inverter based generation

Installed inverter based

generation capacity

100%

Instantaneous
penetration

Smooting
of P?
Neg.sequence?

80%

Primary
response?

Black Start
Capability?

Inertia?
FRT

Damping
Control?

50,2 Hz

20%

Going up and down daily, depending on load and volatile generation

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 16

Looking ahead: What is needed When?

Decentralized, inverter based, volatile generation will most probably increase
When will which technical feature be neccesary to run the system stable?

Instantaneous penetration with

inverter based generation

Installed inverter based

generation capacity

100%

Instantaneous
penetration

Smooting
of P?
Neg.sequence?

80%

Primary
response?

Black Start
Capability?

Inertia?
FRT

Damping
Control?

50,2 Hz

20%

Going up and down daily, depending on load and volatile generation

Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

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Slide 17

The Roadmap to the Power System Transition

Conclusions:
In the past FRT and 50,2Hz showed that these specific challenges for the power
system transition were seen to late.
Changing requirements to existing assets causes expensive retrofitting
Power System Operators and industry need to investigate together which
challenge comes when.
What technical features will be necessary when the system runs on
40%...60%...80% power electronics and volatile sources?
Industry needs clear roadmap of priorities in order to focus R&D resources
accordingly.
ENERCON is happy to contribute
to this joined research effort

Thank you very much

for your attention
Sales - Grid Integration 6.12.2012

Copyright ENERCON GmbH. All rights reserved.

Slide 18