STATCOM-based virtual inertia control for wind power generation

A novel virtual inertia control utilizing cascaded multilevel inverter (CMI) based STATCOM for wind power generation is presented in this paper. Although wind power is a promising renewable energy source, its intermittent character has caused some difficulties for grid-connected and islanded operation. As wind plants (WP) installations are at an emergent pace, they must also contribute to maintain stability and reliability of the power system. However, the rotating mass of variable-speed wind turbines is decoupled from the grid frequency. Thus, it does not inherently exhibit an inertial frequency response (IFR) unless controlled for that specific purpose. In this paper, the comparison between traditional synthetic inertia control (SIC) and proposed novel virtual inertia control (VIC) is demonstrated. A Matlab/Simulink model of DFIG-based WP equipped with CMI-based STATCOM is presented. Both theoretical and simulated results are provided.