Reliability evaluation with cost analysis of alternate wind energy farms and interconnections

The increasing wind penetration into power systems has brought about the problem to have accurate planning and suitable connection of wind farms. Reliability and cost issues become more of concern for evaluating an interconnected wind farm. In this paper, AC systems, HVDC transmission systems, and low frequency AC transmission systems, typically at 20/16.7 Hz, is considered as alternative technologies for interconnection of remote wind farms to the power grid. Eight alternative configurations are discussed. Reliability analysis and cost analysis are performed on each of the eight configurations. Case studies with 30 wind turbines for each configuration are given and the results are compared.