Evaluation of Power Quality of Wind Turbines for AL Maqrun city in Libya

Abstract

RACT
The operation of wind turbines has an
impact on the power quality of the electrical grid.
The term power quality refers to voltage stability,
frequency stability, and the absence of various
forms of electrical noise (e.g., flicker and
harmonic distortion) on the electrical grid. The
power quality will vary from location to location,
depending on the nature of the wind resource, the
turbine/generator technology used, and the
condition of the local electrical grid. The power
will fluctuate due to wind speed variations. Power
fluctuation is affected by the number of wind
turbines and power control technology (pitch and
stall regulation).
It is important to study power fluctuations
in order to reduce these fluctuations that could
affect electrical networks, and therefore to choose
a proper wind turbine. Power fluctuations from
wind turbine generators can be predicted using
two methodologies. The first method is the
turbulence intensity in the power output of wind
turbines, and the second method uses statistical
data to analyze power output of wind turbines.
In this paper the above mentioned
parameters are studied through a statistical model
using the above two methodologies. Wind data
for AL Maqrun city in Libya was used for the
analysis. This data was of ten minutes average for
the year 2003.
The results show that using two wind
turbines instead of one turbine will improve the
power quality. Similar results are noticed for pitch
controlled against stall controlled.
The results were compared with results
available in the literature showing a good
agreement.