Integration of Wind Power into the German High Voltage Transmission Grid

This paper deals with the integration of wind power into the German high voltage grid. In Germany the installed wind power capacity already exceeded 19 GW and expected to reach 50 GW by the year 2020. For the connection of large offshore wind farms to the onshore AC grid DC transmission technologies can be used for which suitable submarine cables are necessary. German utilities defined grid code requirements on wind turbines spelling out the necessary grid-conform behavior. The most important obligations on wind generation plant operators concern fault-ride through and reactive power supply in steady state and during grid faults. The authors discuss the main issues contained in the revised German Grid Code released in 2006. For incorporating wind turbines and wind farms into power system stability studies, suitable models are presented. The behavior of a typical wind farm during three phase grid fault based on simulation results is shown.