Permanent magnet synchronous condenser for wind power plant grid connection support

A synchronous condenser (SC) using a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is proposed for providing necessary reactive power to a wind power plant to support its connection to a weak grid. A PMSG has the advantage of higher efficiency and reliability. Because of its lack of a field winding, a PMSG is typically controlled by a full-power converter, which can be costly. In the proposed system, the reactive power of the SC is controlled by a serially connected compensator operating in a closed-loop configuration. The compensator also damps the PMSG´s tendency to oscillate. The compensator´s VA rating is only a fraction of the rating of the SC and the PMSG. In this initial investigation, the proposed scheme is shown to be effective by computer simulations.