Novel Reactive Power Compensation Technique for Fixed Speed Wind Turbine Generators

Over the last decade, there has been an increase in wind turbine installations across the globe to meet the increasing demand for green energy. Variable speed wind turbine generators have become more popular compared to the fixed speed induction generators (FSIG), however the FSIG still contributes for about 20% of existing wind turbines across the globe. Wind turbine systems based on the FSIG are usually grid connected without any power electronic interfaces. Therefore the terminal voltage may not be precisely controlled and under grid fault conditions there is the need for external support for reactive power to successfully ride through faults and restore system voltage. This paper reviews the current methods for reactive power compensation and introduces a new concept of hybrid wind technology for reactive power compensation in FSIG wind turbines.