Minimising wind power curtailments using OPF considering voltage stability

Abstract

As the amount of wind power in power systems has increased, it has become necessary to curtail wind power in some high-penetration situations. In order to assess the need for curtailment arising from voltage stability considerations the authors develop a security constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF) for minimising the expected curtailment. The authors find that with a very high wind penetration and wind farms operating at unity power factor curtailment becomes necessary to satisfy voltage limits. In this case, the optimal solution in the studied system is to curtail at a single bus rather than curtailing by a smaller amount at several buses. However, allowing for reactive power production from wind farms reduces the need for curtailments.

Keywords

• load flow
• wind power plants
• wind power
• reactive power
• power system security
• power factor
• minimising wind power curtailments
• opf considering voltage stability
• power systems
• high-penetration situations
• voltage stability considerations
• optimal power flow
• expected curtailment
• high wind penetration
• wind farms
• unity power factor curtailment
• voltage limits
• reactive power production