Wind Turbine Modeling: Comparison of Advanced Tools for Transient Analysis

This paper presents a comparative study between two commercial programs considering transient analysis of custom power devices based on voltage source converters. The programs investigated were SABER and PSCAD/EMTDC. PSCAD/EMTDC and SABER models of a multi-megawatt wind turbine - Gamesa G80 - has been implemented and the obtained results are presented in this paper. Both models take into account the real G80 mechanical, electrical and electronic parameters, together with the same algorithms implemented in the real wind turbine, such as the power converter - IGBTs control level - or active crowbar algorithms. Comparison of steady-state and transient situations have been carried out, and a high degree of agreement in most of the cases has been observed.