Practical Considerations regarding Implementation of Wind Power Applications into Real-Time Hardware-In-The-Loop Framework

This paper addresses the system implementation of voltage control architecture in wind power plants into a Real-Time Hardware-In-The-Loop framework. The increasing amount of wind power penetration into the power systems has engaged the wind power plants to take over the responsibility for adequate control of the node voltages, which has previously been accomplished by conventional generation. Voltage support at the point of common coupling is realized by an overall wind power plant controller which requires high-performance and robust control solution. In most cases the system including all controls is reproduced in continuous-time domain using Laplace transform, while in practical implementation digital control systems are employed. The scope of this paper is to elaborate on the practical implementation of the voltage control architecture into a Real-Time Hardware-In-The-Loop framework, where the focus is laid on the model development in a real-time simulator. It enables to verify the functionality of developed controls, which is one of the research priorities due to the increased complexity of large wind power plants requiring high level of communication between plant control and a large number of assets such as wind turbines and FACTS devices.