Operating Experience with an Induction Wind Generator On a 12.5 kV Distribution System

This paper describes operating experience with a 900 kW wind generator connected to a 12.5 kV distribution feeder. The generator is an induction machine with thyristors for soft starting. The primary focus of the paper is the impact of generator startup on power quality. System recordings of actual generator starting events are used to demonstrate the issues. Two problems are discussed: voltage dip due to reactive power consumption, and harmonics generated by the thyristors. An approach is presented for sizing a dynamic reactive supply to address the voltage dip problem