Reactive power control of grid-connected wind farm based on adaptive dynamic programming

Optimal control of large-scale wind farm has become a critical issue for the development of renewable energy systems and their integration into the power grid to provide reliable, secure, and efficient electricity. Among many enabling technologies, the latest research results from both the power and energy community and computational intelligence (Cl) community have demonstrated that Cl research could provide key technical innovations into this challenging problem. In this paper, a neural network based controller is presented for the reactive power control of wind farm with doubly fed induction generators (DFIG). Specifically, we investigate the on-line learning and control approach based on adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) for wind farm control and integration with the grid. This controller can effectively dampen the oscillation of the wind farm system after the ground fault of the grid. Compared to previous control strategies, this controller is on-line and "model free", and therefore, can reduce the control complexity. Simulation studies are carried out in Matlab/Simulink and the results demonstrated the effectiveness of the ADP controller. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.