Static VAR compensation of a fixed speed stall control wind turbine during start-up

An installed 900 kW fixed speed stall controlled soft-started wind turbine connected to a weak distribution grid was modeled under start-up conditions. Generator and soft-start control and design parameters were not available, so a modeling process independent of this information was developed. Field measured transients were closely reproduced in simulation using a full-order generator model with generic parameters and a thyristor-based graduated interconnection to the grid. A Static VAR Compensator model was then added to the wind turbine model to explore a method of reducing start-up transients. It was found that for the specific transients modeled, a 300 kVAR SVC supplied sufficient reactive power to limit line voltage variations to within 3% of steady state values. Model details and simulation output are presented in this paper.