Improving voltage of remote connection using wind-solar farms equipped with new voltage control strategy based on virtual impedance monitoring enabled by IEC 61850 communication

Abstract

This study explores how the voltage control of a remote part of the utility gird can be improved using more sophisticated voltage control on wind-solar farms equipped with fast communication platforms. The idea is to make renewable plant the master voltage controller during large disturbance events in the grid. This is done by proposing an enhanced voltage droop control strategy based on instantaneous reactive power consumption by monitoring the virtual impedance of the point of connection using a new customised data class model of IEC 61850 communication protocol. The conventional centralised voltage droop control strategy and the proposed instantaneous direct voltage control method are both implemented on the White Rock Solar Wind Farm in NSW, Australia and their performances are compared using both MATLAB Simulink simulations under 5% voltage step disturbances, single-phase-to-ground and three-phase-to-ground faults as well as some tests conducted in the field.