Validation of wind power plant models

Wind energy will continue to grow at a rapid pace and will provide an increasingly large portion of the total electricity generation. To achieve its full potential, the industry needs adequate wind-turbine generator (WTG) dynamic models to determine the impact of adding wind generation, and establish how the system needs to be upgraded.For the most part, WTG manufacturers have sponsored the development of WTG dynamic models. Models developed under this paradigm tend to be proprietary and specific to a particular WTG model. They often disclosed under confidential terms for interconnection studies and design of individual projects. However, once the projects are installed, the use of proprietary models is incompatible with critical grid planning activities that are conducted by regional reliability organizations as a collaborative effort among many stakeholders. In this context, the use of generic or simplified models is desirable. To address this industry need, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) has embarked on the development of generic positive sequence WTG models for large- scale power system transient stability analysis. As an integral part of this WECC activity, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is engaged in a model validation effort. This paper discusses the process of model validation against field measurements. The procedure is illustrated with a specific example.