Simulation package for simulating wind power drives

Simulation of static and transient behaviour of wind power plants is important both for grid companies and the power plant suppliers. Simulating a full-power converter based wind power drive includes the simulation of a large electrical circuit. Building such a model with a circuit simulation program requires details which are not necessary from the application point of view. We present an add-on package to Matlab/Simulink, which hides the detailed electrical circuit but nevertheless includes the accurate models inside. A unique feature of this package is its graphical user interface, which concentrates the usage to parts relevant to wind power systems. An efficiency analyzer is also included. This tool analyzes the overall efficiency of a wind power drive train in different operating points using the same model which can be used in technical functionality testing. Simulation results are compared to measurements in a fault ride through test of a full power converter based wind power drive. The correspondence of the results is found satisfactory.