OPNET Simulation Model for Small Scale Wind Power Farm Monitoring Based on IEC 61400-25

One of the major trends in the development of next generation Wind Turbines (WTs) is taller turbines with larger capacity. With distance between WTs become larger, wind farm became much greater and the communication network for monitoring and controlling Wind Power Farm (WPF) is the main challenges. This paper proposes the communication network simulator for small scale offshore WPF consists of 12 WT with total capacity of 60MW. The proposed communication model based on WTs technical specifications and current communication architectures in WPF. Different topologies (radial, loop, and star) with different link speed have been configured. The proposed model based on the logical node (LN) concept according to IEC 61400-25 standard. Total number of measurements in one WT are 102 include analogue information and status information. The functions of LNs are modeled by OPNET modeler in order to implement the simulator. Comparative analysis for different configuration were simulated and discussed. The proposed network model was successfully validated by simulations.