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Measuring Wind Power Plants

Wind power has become one of the most important alternative energy sources of the future. Wind power plants are mostly operated in wind parks or as single plants. Each of these wind power plants acts as an independent power plant and must have special features concerning stabilised voltage and electromagnetic influences respectively. These electrical characteristics have to be verified and carried out as individual tests or sample testing.

Task

Wind power plants are thus independent power plants within the grid which they can positively or negatively influence as much as any other supplier or consumer. These influencing parameters (voltage fluctuation, harmonics, frequency, etc.) underlie certain limit values. They have to be especially evaluated according to certain basic requirements such as wind speed and short-circuit power (IEC 61400-21). If the limit values are kept, then all parties of the energy supply system (customer, supplier, plant operator) can expect to have the maximal operation reliability.

Up to 2003, it was required that wind power plants should immediately be disconnected from the grid in case of any disturbances. Today, the amount of energy generated by wind power plants is so high in some regions that plant operators themselves would not be able to switch off wind power plants in case of grid disturbances. Therefore, wind power plants must support the voltage in case of a voltage drop triggered off by e.g. an error in the pre-located power grid, in order to avoid an area-wide switch-off. In open air test sites the entire wind power plant can be tested with the DEWE-PNA/DEWE-PFR as regards its capacity to detect a disturbance and support the voltage.

Solution

Beside the standard functions of fault recorders and power quality monitors several additional measurements are necessary in order to perform a complete analysis of a wind energy plant:

Fault recorders and transient recorders
Power quality monitor and voltage recorders
Power curve and automatic controller action
Electrical features such as harmonics, flicker, reactive power, switching frequencies, identification of voltage drops
Frequencies up to 700 kHz
DC-measurements in the frequency converter
Analysis on the side of the net and the generator
Voltages up to 1400 Vpeak directly measurable (DAQP-HV module)
Long-term analysis with data base storage system and evaluation according to norms of wind energy plants and grids with automated reporting system (IEC 61400-21)
Measuring wind power (wind speed, wind direction, altitude profile, turbulences, etc.)
Mechanical parameters such as rotation and oscillation of the rotor
Forces and impacts (rotors, blades, turbine towers, power train, etc.)
Acoustic emission (sound power level, frequency spectrum)

Hardware

Only one DEWETRON measurement instrument is necessary to perform all these measurements. Based on the new DEWE-XX-PM/PFT-series it is quite easy to define the appropriate hardware solution for you. Several power modules (three-phase systems) with up to 16 input channels supplied by the basic instrument (and 16 extra channels as an upgrade) can be used in order to, e.g., measure the low and mean voltage at the same time. Additionally, wind speed, temperature and acoustic/noise level can be measured as well. Great emphasis was placed on stability and interference resistance when developing this instrument. The frequency converter benefits the strong common-mode rejection voltage.

Software

In addition to the common power quality functions (flicker, harmonics, voltage fluctuation, imbalance), the evaluation of wind power plants requires some special measurement methods. Beside the flicker emission values (current flicker) these are primarily the evaluation of power and harmonics at different wind speed. Especially when evaluating the frequency not only the harmonics and interharmonics are required but also the 200 Hz groups between 2 and 9 kHz. A comprehensive reporting function makes the software perfect.

DEWETRON’s software packages PMT and DEWESoft POWER meet all the requirements and thus offer a comprehensive solution for measurement, ealuation, reporting and completely automised measuring and test procedure.

Some Details

Various Power Modules

With the DEWESoft power module an arbitrary number of power lines can be measured simultaneously. E.g. wind energy plant: UNV / UMV / UHV / UDC

FFT– Harmonics Analysis

U, ULine, I, P, cos and Q
Individual setup of the number of harmonics including DC (Example: sampling rate 20 kHz = max. 200 harmonics @ 50 Hz)
Values adjusted to the actual power frequency
Evaluation of 2-9 kHz in 200 Hz bands

Flicker

According to IEC 61000-4-15
PST and PLT with adjustable intervals
Individual recalculation intervals
Flicker emission (current flicker) according to IEC 61400-21

Remote Control

By using the remote control, instruments can be configured and data can be evaluated from afar. You can do this when being in the office for example.

GPS Sync

With the help of the GPS function several measuring instruments, that are a few kilometers away from each other (e.g. off-shore wind park and on-shore substation), can be synchronized. The highly accurate clock (100 ns) is even available in case of interference with reception. Phase measurements and angle comparisons are a typical application for this function.

Acoustic/Noise Level Measurement

The residents in whose surroundings these wind power plants have been constructed must not be affected by any noise of the power plants exceeding the legally accepted limit values – noise level measurement is also made possible with the help of the DEWE-XXX-PNA/PFR: Accurate and high-resolution noise level measurements following IEC 60651, 60804, 61672. DEWESoft and its user-friendly interface convince and bring the sophisticated noise-/acoustic analysis to the customer.

Customers

Producers of wind energy plants
Non-productive industries in the field of wind power plants
Companies responsible for maintenance and energy supply
Operators of wind power plants

Applications

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