Grid integration of Wind Energy Converter — Experiences of measurements and status Quo of certification procedures

New strategies have to be defined for the grid integration of Wind Energy Converters (WEC) to ensure system stability in today's power grids. On the high voltage level, grid codes have been introduced to ensure a low voltage fault ride through (LVFRT) of WECs during grid faults. These grid codes will be adapted to the transmission voltage level in the near future. The main goal of these activities is to ensure power generation unit characteristics of dispersed power plants and, hence, to support the stability of power systems and a high quality of power supply in power systems with wide-scale integration of renewable resources such as wind, solar or biomass. An increasing number of utilities ask for a certified compliance testing with respect to their grid codes. Corresponding certification procedures for the grid integration of WEC have been established in many countries over the last few years. The experiences of all parties involved, (grid operators, manufacturers, wind park operators) are quite positive. Due to planning, coordination and logistics involved with LVRT testing, it is not practical to implement this for each customer/wind power plant. The results presented in this paper show that type testing of turbine platforms is the most practical approach. If WEC can demonstrate the LVRT capabilities in a single type-test, at a selected plant, or perhaps at a dedicated test facility, then the results can be shared and transferrable to other customers/wind power projects using that particular turbine platform and test certificates.