Analysis of the STATCOM use to mitigate the effects of voltage sags on the wind farms operation. A study case

The increasing on the interest for the renewable energy stimulated Brazil to invest on the development of the wind energy. However, the increased integration of wind power on the interconnected national system brings some complications due to the reliability of this source of power. This work shows, through simulations, the consequences that voltage variations on the grid can cause to the operation of a wind farm. The simulation was made in two parts. Firstly, three scenarios that may cause failures on the wind farm operation are simulated: a fault on the grid, variations on the wind speed and a resistive load of high power. The scenarios of fault on the grid and the resistive load showed variations strong enough to cause the shut-down of the wind farm on. Thus, the second part of the simulations evaluated the use of the compensation device, the STATCOM, to mitigate the negative effects caused to the wind farm, where it was partially effective.