Addressing and assessing the issues related to connection of the wind turbine generators to the distribution grid

Integration of wind power generation into power distribution grid may result in stability and power quality challenges. In this way, this paper first reviews the grid integration issues of wind power generation. Then, as the main contribution, the paper develops in-depth theoretical analyses for examination the grid integration issues such as voltage rise, output power fluctuations, and static and dynamic voltage variations created due to grid integration of wind turbines and corresponding aerodynamic power fluctuations. Besides, the paper addresses these issues by proposing elaborate control approaches and by using the static compensator (STATCOM). The paper first addresses the problem of voltage rise by active power curtailment through pitch control. However, this method may result in a large waste of wind energy that may not be cost effective. Next, the STATCOM is implemented and efficient control approaches are proposed for addressing the problem of voltage rise, improvement of voltage profile and suppression of voltage and power fluctuations. At the end, simulation studies for the study distribution grid are given. The study system is an actual distribution grid in Iran with approximately 7.9 MW wind power generation and 21.9 MW load.