Transmission System Impact of Wind Energy Harvesting Networks

The increasing emphasis placed upon renewable sources of energy requires that power systems accommodate a roll out of variable, asynchronous generators throughout transmission and distribution networks. High penetration levels of such generation will displace synchronous plant and may cause a challenging scarcity of ancillary service providers, notably in the area of reactive power provision. Consequently, the onus must increasingly be laid upon renewable generators to provide the ancillary services necessary to operate the power system. An emerging practice is to connect adjacent distributed generators in a clustered fashion to a dedicated transmission node, an arrangement that offers rich possibilities for participation in transmission-level control. Performance characterizations of such networks will be helpful in planning transmission system development for reduced synchronous plant availability. This work will examine the effect of increasing penetration of wind generators on transmission system voltage levels and voltage security.