Mitigation of wind power fluctuations in smart grids

Abstract

Future's penetration of more distributed generation will have an effect on the power system's stability and controllability. In general, wind power as a distributed generator does not have inertial response and does not supply control power. A third characteristic of wind power is that it is not conventionally controlled and its main resource is fluctuating. This paper describes a methodology to calculate wind power fluctuations in the frequency domain to compare it with load fluctuations for higher frequency power fluctuations. In relation, the approach of wind power smoothing is mentioned to mitigate the grid impact of power fluctuations. To smooth power, the concept of inertial wind power smoothing is briefly discussed for the low wind speed range of wind turbines, between the cut-in and rated wind speed. A smart grid could be equipped with a control system to control the power output of wind turbines and wind farms to mitigate the grid impact of wind power fluctuations on the frequency stability of a power system.