ECE 333

Renewable Energy Systems

Lecture 10: Wind Power Systems

Prof. Tom Overbye

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
overbye@illinois.edu
Announcements

• Read Chapter 7
• Quiz today on HW 4
• HW 5 is posted on the website; there will be no quiz
on this material, but it certainly may be included in the
exams
• First exam is March 5 (during class); closed book,
closed notes; you may bring in standard calculators
and one 8.5 by 11 inch handwritten note sheet
– In ECEB 3017 and 3002

1
Variable-Slip Induction Generators

• Purposely add variable resistance to the rotor

• External adjustable resistors - this can mean using a
wound rotor with slip rings and brushes which
requires more maintenance
• Mount resistors and control electronics on the rotor
and use an optical fiber link to send the rotor a
signal for how much resistance to provide

2
Effect of Rotor Resistance on Induction
Machine Power-Speed Curves
Real Pow er
Real Pow er
0.9
1.6
0.8
1.4 0.7
1.2 0.6
1 0.5

0.8 0.4

0.6 0.3
0.2
0.4

Real Power
0.1
Real Power

0.2
0
0
-0.1
-0.2 -0.2
-0.4 -0.3
-0.6 -0.4
-0.8 -0.5

-1 -0.6
-0.7
-1.2
-0.8
-1.4
-0.9
-1.6
-0.95
-0.9
-0.85
-0.8
-0.75
-0.7
-0.65
-0.6
-0.55
-0.5
-0.45
-0.4
-0.35
-0.3
-0.25
-0.2
-0.15
-0.1
-0.0500.050.10.150.20.250.30.350.40.450.50.550.60.650.70.750.80.850.90.951
-0.95
-0.9
-0.85
-0.8
-0.75
-0.7
-0.65
-0.6
-0.55
-0.5
-0.45
-0.4
-0.35
-0.3
-0.25
-0.2
-0.15
-0.1
-0.0500.050.10.150.20.250.30.350.40.450.50.550.60.650.70.750.80.850.90.951 Slip
Slip
Real Pow er
Real Pow er

Left plot shows the torque-power curve from slip of -1 to

1 with external resistance = 0.05; right plot is with
external resistance set to 0.99 pu.

3
 Variable Slip Example: Vestas V80
1.8 MW
• The Vestas V80 1.8 MW turbine is an
example in which an induction
generator is operated
with variable rotor resistance
(opti-slip).
• Adjusting the rotor resistance
changes the torque-speed curve
• Operates between 9 and 19 rpm

Source: Vestas V80 brochure

4
Induction Machine Circuit

• I, S into the machine (motor convention)

• Rs = stator resistance (small)
• Xls = stator leakage flux
• Xm = magnetizing reactance, Xm >> Xls
• Xlr = inductance of rotor referred to stator
• Rr/s = represents energy transfer between electrical and
mechanical side 5
Induction Motor Thevenin Equiv.

Find VTH and ZTH

looking into the
left

VTH = VOC

jX m
VOC =Va
R s  jX ls  jX m

If Rs = 0, expression simplifies: V =V Xm
X ls  X m
OC a

6
Induction Motor Thevenin Equiv.

Short circuit Va to
find ZTH

ZTH =  R s  jX ls  ||  jX m 

If Rs = 0, expression simplifies: ZTH =jXls ||jXm

jX ls  jX m X ls X m
ZTH = j Call this XTH
j  X ls +X m   Xls +X m 
7
Simplified Circuit

• Assuming Rs = 0 simplifies the induction machine

equivalent circuit and obtains this circuit which is
easy to analyze
Rr (1  s ) Rr
• We can rewrite Rr/s as = Rr 
in which the first term s s
represents the rotor losses (heating) and the second
term represents the mechanical power transfer

8
Equivalent Circuit Example

• 2 pole, 60 Hz machine Find the input power.

• Rs = 0 Ω Step 1: Calculate the
• Xls = 0.5 Ω equivalent circuit parameters
• Xm = 50 Ω VTH =Va
Xm
• Xlr = 0.5 Ω X ls  X m
50
• Rr = 0.1 Ω VTH =500  495V
0.5  50
• Slip = 0.05
XTH =Xls ||Xm
• VLN = 5000° V 0.5  50
X TH =0.5||50=  0.495
0.5  50
X TH +X lr = 0.495  0.5  0.995
9
Equivalent Circuit Example

Step 2: Draw the

circuit

Step 3: Analyze the equivalent circuit

equivalent circuit
4950
I=  198  j98.71A
2  j0.995
S=VI*=98.2  j 48.9 kVA
10
Motor Starting

• Now let s=1 (standstill)

Inew =50  j 497.5 A

S=VInew *=25+j 248.7 kVA

• Looks like a load to the system

• A lot of reactive power is being transferred!
• Ever notice that the lights dim when your air
conditioner comes on? 2
Q=V / X
11
Calculating Torque-Speed Curve

• If you continue this analysis for different values of

s, and plot the results, you’ll get the torque speed
curve: torque * speed = power
• What if s = 0? (synchronous)
• Like a jet flying at the same speed as another jet –
there is no relative motion
• Rotor can’t see the stator field go by, so Rr looks
infinite and I is zero (open circuit)

12
Induction Generator Example

• Now let s = -0.05 (a generator)

• The negative resistance means that power is being

transferred from the wind turbine to the grid
495
I=  200.4  j 99.7 A
-2  j 0.995
S=VI*= 100.2+j 49.8 kVA
• A generator producing P but absorbing Q!
13
Reactive Power Support

• Wind turbine generators can produce real

power but consume reactive power
• This is especially a problem with Types 1 and
2 wind turbines which are induction
machines, like this model
• Capacitors or other power factor correction
devices are needed
• Types 3 and 4 can provide reactive support,
details beyond the scope of this class

14
Induction Generator Rotor Losses

• What about rotor losses?

2
Rr = 0.1 P= I R r =5 kW

• This means before getting out to the stator and

producing the 100 kW, there are 5 kW being lost in
the rotor.
• That means what was actually captured from the
wind was 105 kW, but 5 was lost!

15
Doubly-Fed Induction Generators

• Another common approach is to use what is called a

doubly-fed induction generator in which there is an
electrical connection between the rotor and supply
electrical system using an ac-ac converter
• This allows operation over a wide-range of speed, for
example 30% with the GE 1.5 MW and 3.6 MW
machines
• Called Type 3 wind turbines

16
GE 1.5 MW DFIG Example

GE 1.5 MW turbines were the

best selling wind turbines
in the US in 2011
Source: GE Brochure/manual 17
Indirect Grid Connection Systems

• Wind turbine is allowed to spin at any speed

• Variable frequency AC from the generator goes
through a rectifier (AC-DC) and an inverter (DC-
AC) to 60 Hz for grid-connection
• Good for handling rapidly changing windspeeds

18
Wind Turbine Gearboxes

• A significant portion of the weight in the nacelle is due

to the gearbox
– Needed to change the slow blade shaft speed into the higher
speed needed for the electric machine
• Gearboxes require periodic maintenance (e.g., change
the oil), and have also be a common source of wind
turbine failure
• Some wind turbine designs are now getting rid of the
gearbox by using electric generators with many pole
pairs (direct-drive systems)

19
Average Power in the Wind

• How much energy can we expect from a wind

turbine?
• To figure out average power in the wind, we need to
know the average value of the cube of velocity:
1 3
   Av    A  v 3 
1
Pavg
2 avg 2 avg

• This is why we can’t use average wind speed vavg to

find the average power in the wind

20
Average Windspeed

 v   hours @ v 
i i
miles of wind
vavg   i

total hours   hours @ v 

i
i

vavg   vi   fraction of total hours @ vi 

i

• vi = wind speed (mph)

• The fraction of total hours at vi is also the probability
that v = vi

21
Average Windspeed

vavg   vi   fraction of total hours @ vi 

i

vavg   vi   probability that v = vi 

i

• This is the average wind speed in probabilistic terms

• Average value of v3 is found the same way:

 
v 3
avg
  vi 3   probability that v = vi 
i

22
Example Windspeed Site Data

23
Wind Probability Density Functions

Windspeed probability density function (pdf):

between 0 and 1, area under the curve is equal to 1

24
Windspeed p.d.f.

• f(v) = wind speed pdf

• Probability that wind is between two wind speeds:
v2

p  v1  v  v2    f (v)dv
v1

p  0  v      f (v)dv = 1
0

• # of hours/year that the wind is between two wind

speeds:
v2

hrs / yr  v1  v  v2   8760   f (v)dv

v1
25
Average Windspeed using p.d.f.

• This is similar to earlier summation, but now we have a

continuous function instead of discrete function
vavg   vi  p  v = vi 

i
discrete vavg   v  f (v)dv
0 continuous

• Same for the average of (v3)

 
v 3
avg
  vi 3  p  v = vi 
i


 
discrete
v 3
  v3  f (v)dv
avg
0 continuous

26
Weibull p.d.f.

• Starting point for characterizing statistics of wind

speeds
k
k-1 v
k v - 
f (v )     e c
Weibull pdf
cc
• k = shape parameter
• c = scale parameter
• Keep in mind actual data is key. The idea of
introducing the Weibull pdf is to see if we can get a
an equation that approximates the characteristics of
actual wind site data
27
Weibull p.d.f.

k=2 looks
reasonable
for wind

Weibull p.d.f. for c = 8

28
Where did the Weibull PDF Come From

• Invented by Waloddi Weibull in 1937, and presented in

hallmark American paper in 1951
• Weibull's claim was that it fit data for a wide range of
problems, ranging from strength of steel to the height
of adult males
• Initially greeted with skepticism – it seemed too good
to be true, but further testing has shown its value
• Widely used since it allows a complete pdf response to
be approximated from a small set of samples
– But this approximation is not going to work well for every
data set!!
Reference: http://www.barringer1.com/pdf/Chpt1-5th-edition.pdf
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