Dynamic Reactive Power Compensation of Large-Scale Wind Integrated Power System

Due to progressive displacement of conventional power plants by wind turbines, dynamic security of large-scale wind integrated power systems is significantly compromised. In this paper we first highlight the importance of dynamic reactive power support/voltage security in large-scale wind integrated power systems with least presence of conventional power plants. Then we propose a mixed integer dynamic optimization based method for optimal dynamic reactive power allocation in large-scale wind integrated power systems. One of the important aspect of the proposed methodology is that unlike static optimal power flow based approaches, the proposed method considers detailed system dynamics and wind turbine grid code compliance while optimizing the allocation of dynamic reactive power sources. We also advocate that in large-scale wind integrated power systems, 1) better utilization of existing wind turbines especially wind farms with additional grid support functionalities like dynamic support (e.g., dynamic reactive power support, etc.) and 2) refurbishment of existing conventional central power plants to synchronous condensers could be one of the efficient, reliable and cost-effective option to address not only the issue of dynamic voltage security but also to strengthen other dynamic capabilities of the system including system inertia, etc. that are also significant challenges in large-scale wind penetrated power system. The proposed methodology is applied to the detailed model of the western Danish power system which is characterized by large-scale wind integration and least presence of central power plants.