Fault Ride-through Capability of Wind Farm (Case Study of Adama Wind Farm Project, Dynamic Modeling and Simulation)

Large scale megawatt wind farms like the Adama wind farm and Ashegoda is being integrated into the Ethiopian Electric Power System. The location of Adama wind farm is about 95 km from Addis Ababa (the capital city of Ethiopia) and 3km from Adama town, with an altitude elevation of 1824 similar to 1976m. The central geographical position of the wind farm is 39 degrees 13'48 '' E, 8 degrees 32'41 '' N. The Adama wind farm has two parts named by Phase-1 and Phase-2 with installed capacity of 51 MW and 153 MW respectively. Both Wind farms use variable speed wind turbines. However, the wind turbine type of Adama Phase-1 wind farm is a permanent magnet synchronous generator direct derive wind turbine (PMSG WT) while Adama phase-2 wind turbine is doubly fed induction generator wind turbine (DFIG WT). In this study the dynamic behavior of these wind turbines under fault conditions is discussed. The dynamic modeling of major components involved in wind energy conversion systems like aerodynamic modeling of the turbine rotor, dynamic modeling of generator, shaft system, drive train, controllers, converters, and other components that are involved in wind energy conversion process is done. Modeling and simulation of wind turbines (both PMSG WT and DFIG WT) are done by the DigSILENT PowerFactory Simulation tool. The wind farms (both phase-1 and phase-2) are modeled by aggregated modeling approach and tested for Fault Ride-through capability during three phase short circuit fault on the electric grid near to the wind farms. The simulation results showed that the integration of the wind farms to Ethiopian Electric Power Utility (EEU) network is feasible with respect Fault ride-through capability.