Impact of Wakes on Wind Farm Inertial Response

Inertial response from wind generators is important since it limits the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) during generation and load imbalance. It is automatically provided by synchronous machines due to their direct coupling with system frequency. When synchronous generators are replaced by asynchronous generators, the RoCoF deteriorates. The asynchronous generators can be made to offer inertial response through suitable control action. The amount of response is dependent on the wind speed at the turbine. The wind speed at a turbine blade is influenced by the upstream turbine known as the wake effect. This paper models and quantifies the impact of the wake on the inertial response of the wind farm. The modeled wake effect is compared with the measured data from a wind farm. The research contribution demonstrates that the wake effect has a significant influence on the actual inertial response capacity.