Harmonics in a wind power plant

Wind power generation has been growing at a very fast pace for the past decade, and its influence and impact on the electric power grid is significant. As in a conventional power plant, a wind power plant (WPP) must ensure that the quality of the power being delivered to the grid is excellent. At the same time, the wind turbine should be able to operate immune to small disturbances coming from the grid. Harmonics are one of the more common power quality issues presented by large WPPs because of the high switching frequency of the power converters and the possible non-linear behavior from electric machines (generator, transformer, reactors) within a power plant. This paper presents a summary of the most important issues related to harmonics in WPPs and discusses practical experiences with actual Type 1 and Type 3 wind turbines in two WPPs.