Impacts of Wind Generators on the Supply Network

Wind power operation is characterised by large power fluctuations causing the following problems in grid operation: Voltage level variations, Voltage fluctuations, Primary and secondary control demand, High balancing energy demand due to difficult to schedule forecasts, Load flow problems, Reactive power compensation problems, Harmonic and inter-harmonic voltages, The main reason for these problems is the fact that the utilisation period of the installed wind power is only around 2000 hours per year, meaning that for a portion of 4% in produced energy (which is the target of the Renewable Act in Austria 2002 for the planned share of “new renewables”) a portion of around 20% in wind power must be installed and that the corresponding high load flows must be managed in the grid, on the one hand, and the necessary power plant reserves and control capacities must be available, on the other. The problem of the additional control demand due to the fluctuating generation must be analysed in detail from the technical and economical point of view. The department developes appropriate simulation models and programs to solve these problems.