A study of the mitigating effect comparison of voltage sags by WTG types based on the concept of area of vulnerability

In modern society, the number of industrial customers using equipment sensitive particularly to voltage sags is rapidly increasing. As voltage sags can cause loss of information as well as false operation of the control device, it results in the vast economic damage in industrial processes. One way to mitigate voltage sags in the sensitive loads is the installation of distributed generation (DGs) on the periphery of these loads. In addition, renewable energy sources are currently in the spot light as the potential solution for the energy crisis and environmental issues. In particular, wind power generation which is connected to a grid is rising rapidly because it is energy efficient and also economically feasible compared to other renewable energy sources. On the basis of the above information, in this paper, with Wind Turbine Generators (WTGs) installed nearby the sensitive load, the analysis of the mitigating effect comparison by types of WTGs is performed using voltage sag assessment on the IEEE-30 bus test system. That is, the areas of vulnerability according to types of WTGs are expected to be different by how much reactive power is produced or consumed as WTG reactive power capability is related to the types of WTGs. Using the concept of 'Vulnerable area' with the failure rate for buses and lines, the annual number of voltage sags at the sensitive load with the installation of WTGs per type is studied. This research will be anticipated to be useful data when determining the interconnection of wind power generation in the power system with the consideration of voltage sags. Copyright © The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers.