Performance of LR-type solid-state fault current limiter in improving power quality and transient stability of power network with wind turbine generators

This paper aims to investigate the performance of an inductive-resistive-type solid state fault current limiter (SSFCL-LR) that captures the features and advantages of inductive SSFCLs (SSFCL-Ls) and resistive SSFCLs (SSFCL-Rs) on an electric power network with the doubly-fed induction generator wind-turbine (DFIG-WT), which is a representative renewable energy source. Its connection to a power network simply increases the short-circuit current during a fault toward its maximum nominal level, which is closer to the rating of the circuit breaker, when compared to the case without the DFIG-WT system. This can aggravate the reliability of the overall power system. Detailed laboratory experiments and simulations are performed to demonstrate the capability of SSFCL-LR in simultaneously controlling the fault current, improving the power quality and enhancing the transient stability of the IEEE benchmark four-machine two-area system with induction generator wind turbines (IG-WT) and DFIG-WTs. PSCAD/EMTDC was used in order to analyze the power system characteristics of the SSFCL-LR unit.