WIND ENERGY

Wind Energ. 2007; 10:379394

Published online 25 April 2007 in Wiley Interscience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/we.228

Research Reactive Power Capability of a Wind

Article Turbine with Doubly Fed Induction
Generator
Key words: Torsten Lund* and Poul Srensen, Ris National Laboratory, Wind Energy Department, VEA-118, PO
DFIG; Box 49, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
grid; Jarle Eek, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Electric Power Engi-
reactive power; neering, Trondheim, Norway
two-port;
wind turbine
The aim of the work is to derive a steady state PQ-diagram for a variable speed wind turbine
equipped with a Doubly Fed Induction Generator. Firstly, the dependency between optimal
rotor speed and wind speed is presented. Secondly, the limitations in reactive power pro-
duction, caused by the rotor current, the rotor voltage and the stator current are derived.
Thirdly, the influence of switching from D to Y coupling of the stator is investigated. Finally,
a complete PQ diagram for a wind turbine is plotted. It is concluded that the limiting factor
regarding reactive power production will typically be the rotor current limit, and that the
limit for reactive power absorption will be the stator current limit. Further, it is concluded
that the rotor voltage will only have a limiting effect at high positive and negative slips, but
near the limitation, the reactive power capability is very sensitive to small changes in the
slip. Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 29 May 2006; Revised 9 February 2007; Accepted 6 March 2007

Introduction
The interaction with the power grid has become a major issue for modern wind turbines. From the grid point
of view, the main concern of the first wind power development through the 1980s has been on the impact that
wind turbines have on the power quality in the distribution system where the wind turbines were connected.
However, with the present and planned large-scale wind power development, the impact of wind power is also
seen on the transmission system level. For that reason, transmission system operators (TSOs) in many coun-
tries have issued grid codes with requirements for grid connection of wind power installations.
The main focus in the grid codes has been on the fault ride-through issue, where the TSOs require that the
wind power installations are able to stay connected to the grid during and after a fault in the transmission
system. Another important requirement to wind power installations is on active and reactive power control
capability, to make the wind power installations able to support the control of grid frequency and grid voltage.
The reactive power capability is the subject for this paper.
In the Danish grid code for wind farms connected to the transmission system,1 it is required that a wind
farm owner supplies a PQ diagram showing the regulation capability for reactive power of the installation in
the connection point. This is understood as the steady-state capability, because there are other requirements to
the dynamic behavior during grid faults.

* Correspondence to: T. Lund, Ris National Laboratory, Wind Energy Department, VEA-118, PO Box 49, DK-4000 Roskilde,
Denmark.
E-mail: torsten.lund@risoe.dk

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

380 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 1. Principle layout of a wind turbine with a DFIG

Figure 2. Power flow in the doubly fed generator for subsynchronous operation (s > 0) and supersynchronous operation
(s < 0)

The reactive power capability of a wind farm depends a lot on the capability of the wind turbines, although
the impact of the grid should also be considered in a PQ diagram for the whole wind farm. The reactive power
capability of the wind turbines depends on the type or concept for grid connection of the wind turbines.
The first generation of commercial grid connected wind turbines in the 1980s was dominated by the fixed
speed concept using squirrel cage induction generator, which was soon supplemented with a capacitor bank
for reactive power compensation. Through the 1990s, different types of variable speed concepts became an
increasing share of the market. According to Hansen et al.,2 the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) concept
was the most successful variable speed concept with more than 45% market share in 2002.
For the synchronous generator, the boundaries defined by the field current limitation, the armature current
limitation and the mechanical power limitation can easily be calculated from the ratings and the reactances.
This is typically presented in a so-called PQ diagram.3 A similar description of a DFIG is not found in text-
books. The scope of this paper is the reactive power capability of a DFIG, taking into account the influence
of a typical speed control of a wind turbine. Other concepts are not considered here, and the impact of the grid
including the step-up transformer is not included.
The advantage of the DFIG concept is mainly that variable speed control is obtained with a minimum of
power converter capacity. The connection of the main electrical components is shown in Figure 1, based on
the description of a commercial wind turbine in Bolik.4 The DFIG exchanges power with the grid through the
stator windings as well as the rotor windings. The main part of the power passes from the generator through
the stator into the grid, whereas only a fraction of the power is passed from the rotor windings through the
power converter. Besides, a stardelta switch is used to increase the speed control interval as discussed below.
To characterize the DFIG, the rotor speed should be taken into consideration, because the electromechani-
cal characteristic of the generator strongly depends on the slip and consequently the rotor speed.
The fraction of the active power, which flows through the rotor, depends on the slip, s, of the generator as
illustrated in Figure 2. When the slip is positive (i.e. the rotor speed is below synchronous speed), power flows

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 381

from the grid to the rotor, and when the slip is negative (i.e. the rotor speed is above synchronous speed), the
power flows in the opposite direction, from the generator rotor to the grid. In both cases, the power flow in
the rotor is approximately proportional to the slip. The reactive power capability of the DFIG also depends on
the slip. Therefore, the reactive power capability depends on the rotor speed control of the wind turbine.
Variable speed control is mainly used in pitch-controlled wind turbines, because stall-controlled wind tur-
bines benefit very little from variable speed. A major benefit of speed control combined with pitch-controlled
wind turbines is the ability to reduce the mechanical loads and power fluctuations at high wind speeds.5 The
first generation of pitch-controlled wind turbines using fixed speed experienced very large torque fluctuations
on the drive train, especially when the wind turbine was operating at high wind speeds in the power limita-
tion area. These torque fluctuations appear because the power is not limited by stall effects on the blades, and
at the same time, the pitch system is not able to respond to the fast aerodynamic torque fluctuations caused by
wind speed fluctuations. The variable speed concept uses the turbine rotor inertia to absorb the fast aerody-
namic torque fluctuations. This removes the fast torque variations from the drive train, including the gearbox
and the electrical power output from the generator. The necessary absorption of the aerodynamic torque fluc-
tuations can be obtained with a relatively small rotor speed interval, and the DFIG concept can obtain this with
a relatively small power converter.
However, in DFIG wind turbines, the power converter is normally also used to support maximum power
production by tracking the optimal rotor speed depending on the current wind speed. Generally, the steady-
state rotor speed is determined by the power optimization, but on top of that, there is a need for dynamic speed
variations to reduce the mechanical loads.
The three main limiting design parameters for the reactive power capability of the DFIG are stator current,
rotor current and rotor voltage. The stator voltage is given by the grid, and is not influenced by the wind turbine
design. The stator current limit depends on the generator design, whereas the rotor voltage and rotor current
limits depend on generator as well as power converter designs. The rotor voltage limitation is essential for the
rotor speed interval, because the required rotor voltage to provide a certain field is directly proportional to the
slip. Thus, the possible rotor speed is limited by the possible rotor voltage.
The idea of the Y/ switch in Figure 1 is to switch from - to Y-coupling of the stator and thereby reduce
the stator winding voltage when the wind speed and consequently power are low. With reduced stator winding
voltage, less voltage is required on the rotor, and the voltage capacity of the power converter and the rotor
windings can be utilized to increase the slip approximately with a factor 3 compared to connection. Another
advantage of operating the stator at lower voltage when the production is low is that the magnetizing losses
are reduced. The Y-coupling of course limits the current capacity, which also influences the reactive power
capability as will be shown below.

Wind Turbine Control Strategy

A typical steady-state strategy for rotor speed control of a wind turbine is illustrated in Figure 3. The control
strategy is divided into three modes: minimum rotor speed, rotor speed optimization and maximum rotor speed.
The curve for the rotor speed optimization mode can be obtained by the power equation
1
Pmech Paero =
Cp r A v 3 (1)
2
where the power coefficient Cp = Cp (l, q) depends on the tip speed ratio l and the pitch angle q. Inserting
the wind speed, v, from the tip speed ratio relation:
w WT R
l= (2)
v
Equation (1) can be rewritten to

( w R
)
3
1
Pmech C p r A WT (3)
2 l

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382 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 3. Steady-state control strategy for variable speed wind turbine with DFIG

In the power optimization mode, the maximum power coefficient Cp = Cpmax is used together with the cor-
responding optimal tip speed ratio l = lopt. In that case, equation (3) will provide the relation between Pmech
and wWT in the optimization mode.
The wind turbine is designed for a certain maximum steady-state speed, wmax, which is determined by
mechanical loads, noise emission and other design issues. For a given DFIG and converter, the synchronous
speed and consequently the gear ratio should be selected so that the DFIG can operate at the speed wmax plus
an intervale.g. 5%for dynamic speed variations. The minimum speed wmin is then given by the slip limi-
tations in the DFIG, taking into account the possibility to switch to star connection at low speeds.

The DFIG
In the following, a mathematical model of the DFIG is used both for exact calculations and for derivation of
simplified rules of thumb. The basic idea is to derive the boundaries defined by the rotor current, the rotor
voltage and the stator current separately and compare them in the end.

Mathematical Model
In this paper, a steady-state T-equivalent model is used to derive the operation diagrams of the DFIG. Equa-
tions (4) and (5) describe the relation between rotor and stator voltages and currents.6 The rotor voltage and
current are referred to the stator side which means that the physical rotor voltage is obtained by multiplying
the model rotor voltage with the turns ratio, and the physical rotor current is the model rotor current divided
by the turns ratio.
( Rs + jw ss s Lm ) Is + jw s Lm ( Is + Ir ) = Vs (4)
( Rr + j (w s w r )s r Lm ) Ir + j (w s w r ) Lm ( Is + Ir ) = Vr (5)
To transform the inductances into reactances, equation (5) is normalized by the slip, equation (6), which
leads to equation (7):
ws wr
s=
ws (6)

( Rs + jw s L )I + jw L
r
s r m r s I + Ir ) =
m( s
Vr
s (7)

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 383

Figure 4. Steady-state T-equivalent circuit for the DFIG

Figure 5. Modified equivalent which shows the influence from the mechanical power

Equations (4) and (7) can be represented by the equivalent circuit in Figure 4. Compared to the standard
equivalent circuit for the short-circuit induction generator (SCIG), a rotor voltage which is dependent of the
slip, has been introduced.
For the SCIG, it is common to split the dissipation in the virtual rotor resistance into losses in the physical
resistance and a mechanical power contribution from the prime mover. Figure 5 shows a similar transforma-
tion for the DFIG.
Vr I*r represents the actual apparent power delivered by the rotor converter. The active power dissipation in
the virtual resistance and the virtual voltage source in the dashed box represent the mechanical power from
the prime mover.
The power exchange through the stator and the rotor is considered positive out of the generator. This leads
to equations (8) and (9):
Ss = Vs Is* (8)
Sr = Vr Ir* (9)
The mechanical power is considered positive into the generator, which gives equation (10):

{ ( 1s 1)I*} I I* R ( 1s 1)
Pmech = Re Vr r r r r (10)

The active power taken out through the rotor converter must be transferred to the grid through the grid-side
converter. The total apparent power delivered to the grid can be described by equation (11), where Sloss covers
the active and reactive losses in the transformer, the inverters and the filters, and Qgc is the reactive power,
delivered to the grid from the grid-side converter:
Stot = Ss + Re{Sr } + Qgc Sloss (11)
The reactive power output from the grid-side converter can in principle be controlled independently of the
active power output with the constraint that the rated power is not exceeded (equation (12)):
Qgc max = Sgc2 max Pgc2 (12)

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384 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 6. The principle of the two-port parameters

However, in normal operation, the grid-side converter is usually providing a power factor of 1.7

Two-port Parameters
In the investigation of the influence of limitations, the equivalent circuit (Figure 4) is transformed into a two-
port model like the one in Figure 6.
Equations (13)(15) allow calculation of any two of the following three values: Ir, Is and Vr/s, when Vs and
one of the three values are known. These equations will be used below to quantify the limitations in a conve-
nient way.
Vs
Is = Y Vr
(13)
Ir s
Is Vs
Vr = G (14)
s Ir

Vr Vs
s = B (15)
Ir Is

The calculation of the matrices is described in Appendix C.

The Influence of Limitations

If the DFIG is connected to a strong grid, the voltage on the primary side of the transformer will be close to
1 p.u. If the impedance of the transformer is neglected or included in the stator impedance in Figure 5, a con-
stant stator voltage can be assumed. The only degree of freedom is therefore the magnitude and the angle of
the rotor voltage. The rotor voltage is constrained by the current and voltage ratings of the rotor-side converter
and the current rating of the stator windings.

Rotor Current as Limitation

The PQ diagram of a DFIG in rotor current limitation is derived by assuming a rotor current with the rated
magnitude and a variable angle relative to the stator voltage. The rotor voltage and the stator current can be
calculated using the G matrix (Appendix C, equation (48)).
The apparent stator power, given the stator voltage and the rotor current, can be found by inserting the cal-
culated stator current in equation (8). This gives the expression in equation (16):
V Zm Ir *
Ss _ Ir = Vs Is* = Vs (G11Vs + G12 Ir )* = Vs s (16)
Zs + Zm
To illustrate the dependency of the rotor current, equation (16) is reformulated in equation (17):
V Zm Ir * 1 * Zm *
Ss _ Ir = Vs s = Vs Vs* + Ir* Vs (17)
Zs + Zm Zs + Zm Zs + Zm

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 385

Since the slip is not a part of equation (16) or (17), the stator power with a given rotor current and a given
stator voltage is independent of the slip. When magnitude of the rotor current is kept constant and the angle
is changed, equation (17) can be expressed as a circle in the complex plane with a center in equation (18) and
a radius defined by equation (19):
1 *
cSsIr = Vs 2 (18)
Zs + Zm
Zm
rSsIr = Vs Ir Vs Ir (19)
Zs + Zm
Since |Zm| >> |Zs| when the generator is connected to a strong grid, and Zm is almost purely imaginary, the
center of the circle is located close to the negative imaginary axis. Intuitively, this offset corresponds to the
no load magnetizing losses of the generator.
The radius of the circle can be approximated by the product of the magnitude of the stator voltage and the
rotor current. It should be noted that the physical rotor current is typically two to four times smaller than Ir
due to the turns ratio between the stator and the rotor.
The power taken out through the rotor converter can be calculated by inserting the expression for Vr in equa-
tion (9).
Zm Vs + Ir (( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr )
Sr _ Ir = Vr Ir* = (G21Vs + G22 Ir ) s Ir* = s Ir* (20)
Zs + Zm
( Z + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
Ir* Vs s
Zm
Sr _ Ir = Ir Ir* s r (21)
Zs + Zm Zs + Zm
Equation (21) can be transformed into a circle with a center described by equation (22) and a radius given
by equation (23):
+ Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
( Zr
cSrIr = Ir 2 s (22)
Zs + Zm
Zm
rSrIr = Vs Ir s Vs Ir s (23)
Zs + Zm
Since no reactive power is transferred through the DC link, only the real part of equation (21) is of
interest.
Because the reactances are typically much larger than the resistances, the first term in equation (21) will
mainly be imaginary with the opposite sign of the slip. Comparing equations (17) and (21), it can be seen that
the active rotor power can be approximated by equation (24):
Pr sPs (24)
Figure 7 shows the circles defined by equations (22) and (23). It can be seen that the centers of the circles
are located close to the imaginary axis.
The total power from the DFIG is the sum of the power from the stator and the active rotor power. It can
be calculated directly by adding equation (16) and the real part of equation (20). However, a simplified expres-
sion can be derived using equation (24):
Ptot = Pr + Ps Ps (1 s) (25)
Qtot = Qs (26)
Combining equations (18), (19), (25) and (26), the total apparent power at the rotor current limitation can
be expressed as an ellipsis in the complex plane:
1 *
Ptot + jQtot = Vs 2
Zm
+ Vs Ir ((1 s) cos(g ) + j sin(g )) (27)
Zs + Zm Zs + Zm

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386 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 7. Rotor power with a constant rotor current magnitude

Figure 8 shows a PQ diagram of the DFIG in rotor current limitation. At 0 active production, no active
power is transferred through the rotor which means that the reactive capacity is determined by equation (16)
and that it is independent of the slip. When the slip is zero, the current limitation simply forms a circle which
is similar to the field current limit of a synchronous generator.

Rotor Voltage Limitation

Given the stator voltage and the rotor voltage, the stator and rotor current can be calculated from the admit-
tance matrix, Y (Appendix C, equation (45)). The apparent stator power, equation (28), for a rotor voltage with
fixed magnitude and varying angle can be described by a circle with a center in equation (29) and a radius
given by equation (30):

Vs ( Zr + Zm ) Vr Zm *
( V
s
*
)
Ss _ Vr = Vs Is* = Vs Y11Vs + Y12 r = Vs s
( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
(28)

The fraction in equation (29) corresponds to the first diagonal element of the admittance matrix (equation
(45)). The center of the circle therefore denotes the apparent stator power when the rotor voltage is zero. For
values of the slip which lay far beyond the stalling point of an equivalent SCIG, zero rotor voltage will cause
a high reactive power consumption of the generator:
Zr + Zm *
cSsVr = Vs 2 (29)
( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
The radius of the circle is the product of the mutual admittance of the rotor and the stator, the stator voltage,
the rotor voltage and the reciprocal slip:
Vr Zm
rSsVr = Vs (30)
s ( Zr + Zs Zm + Zs Zr
)

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 387

Figure 8. Total apparent power with different values of the slip and a constant rotor current magnitude

The power from the rotor-side converter is calculated analogously to the stator power:
Vs Zm + Vr ( Zs + Zm ) *
(
Sr _ Vr = Vr Ir* = Vr Y21Vs + Y22
V
s
)
r *
= Vr s
( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
(31)

Figure 9 (left panel) shows the PQ curves for the stator for a constant stator voltage and a constant rotor
voltage magnitude. The voltage rating of the rotor converter is set to the same value as the grid voltage. Only
relatively high values of the slip have been plotted, since this is where the rotor voltage has a limiting effect.
Because of the large offset in the center of the circles, even small relative changes in the radius will have a
large impact on the reactive power capacity. If the slip is changed form 02 to 03, the reactive capacity goes
from 1 to 09 p.u. at no load. Figure 9 (right panel) shows the PQ curves for the total power. The dashed box
shows the normal operation area of the DFIG. It can be seen that the lowest reactive capacity is available at
large positive slips, i.e. subsynchronous operation.

Stator Current Limitation

The PQ curve for the stator power in stator current limitation is straight forward, since both quantities in equa-
tion (8) are given. The curve will form a circle with a center in 0 and a radius of the product of the stator
current and the stator voltage (equations (32)(34)):
Ss _ Is = Vs Is* (32)
cSsIs = 0 (33)
rSsIs = Is Vs (34)

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388 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 9. Power taken out through the stator with different values of the slip and a constant rotor voltage magnitude
(left). The sum of rotor and stator power (right)

The power of the rotor converter with a fixed magnitude of the stator current can be calculated from the
matrix B (Appendix C, equation (50)):

Sr _ Is = Vr Ir* = s( B11Vs + B12 Is )( B21Vs B22 Is )* =

V I Z * (35)
r + 1 Vs Zr + s r + Zs Is s Is + s s s
Z ZZ
Zm Zm Zm
Figure 10 shows PQ curves for the stator current limitation calculated from equations (32) and (35). It can
be seen that equation (25) provides a good estimate of the power taken out of the rotor, since the active losses
in the generator are relatively small. A comparison between the PQ curves for the stator current limitation
(Figure 10) and the PQ curves for the rotor current limitation (Figure 8) shows that the main difference between
the two is the offset from the no load magnetizing current with open rotor.

Comparison of the Three Limitations

The resulting PQ curve for the DFIG is formed by the minimum absolute value of the three previously men-
tioned limiting curves. Figure 11 shows all three limitations for different values of the slip. At 22% slip, the
upper limit of the reactive capability is defined by the rotor voltage limit up to an active power production of
065 p.u. where the rotor current limit takes over. The lower limit is determined by the stator current limita-
tion. In the remaining curves, the upper limit is determined by the rotor current limit and the lower limit is
determined by the stator current limitation.

The Influence from Y- to -Coupling of the Stator

As described in Petersson8 and Bolik,4 it is common to operate the stator of the DFIG with a -coupling at
high wind speeds and a Y-coupling at low wind speeds. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the Y-coupling
at lower wind speeds and thereby lower power production makes it possible to lower the magnetizing level of
the machine and thereby reducing the losses. Secondly, the Y-coupling makes it possible to operate at higher
slips with the same rotor voltage. This, however, comes at the expense of the rotor and stator current
limitations.

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 389

Figure 10. Power delivered to the grid (disregarding transformer and converter losses) with different values of the slip
and a constant stator current magnitude

Disregarding the impedance in the grid and the transformer, a change from - to Y-coupling of the stator
will have the same effect as lowering the stator voltage with a factor of 3. An estimate of the reactive capac-
ity in rotor voltage limitation at 0 active power production can be derived from equations (29) and (30).
The reactive power output is approximately equal to the sum of the center and the radius of the circles in
Figure 9. This gives the expression in equation (36) which describes a parable with a top point which is
dependent on Vr :
s
Zr + Zm
Vs 2 *
V Zm
Qmax p=0 Vs r (36)
s ( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr ( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr
Figure 12 shows the relation between the stator voltage and the reactive power limit caused by the rotor
voltage and the rotor current. At zero active production, the limitation from the rotor current is independent
of the slip. It can be seen that at 22% slip, the maximal reactive capacity is about 05 p.u. both when the stator
is - and Y-coupled. At the -coupling, the limiting factor is the rotor voltage, and at Y-coupling, the rotor
current defines the limit. Since the current limit is less sensitive to changes in the slip than the voltage limit,
it is best to operate the machine with Y-coupled stator at slips above 20%.
In a real wind turbine, a certain hysteresis is required to keep the number of couplings low.

Reactive Power from the Grid-side Converter

In periods where only little active power is transferred through the rotor, the grid-side converter could in prin-
ciple provide some reactive power to the grid. Equation (37) can be derived from equation (25):

Pgc Ptot (1 s s ) (37)

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390 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

Figure 11. PQ-limiting curves for the DFIG with different slips. At a slip of 01, the rotor voltage limit is not relevant

Figure 12. The influence of - or Y-coupling of the stator

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Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 391

Inserting equation (37) in equation (12) gives equation (38):

(
s 2
Qgc max Sgc2 max Ptot
1 s
) (38)

Looking at Figure 3, it can be seen that the wind turbine used for the investigation has a slip of zero at a
production of 03 p.u. Therefore, the grid-side converter would have the highest capacity at zero production
and at 03 p.u. power production. If reactive power is needed at full power production, the grid-side converter
must be over-dimensioned.

Reactive Power from a Wind Turbine

For a wind turbine, the steady-state slip is given by the optimal utilization of the wind as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 13 shows a PQ diagram of a wind turbine with the parameters given in Appendix B. It is a fictive gen-
erator which is used only for illustration. The stator is Y-coupled when the slip is lower than 20%. The reac-
tive power production is limited by the rotor current and the reactive absorption is limited by the stator current.
The PQ diagram in Figure 13 is for a single wind turbine on the low voltage terminals. If a PQ diagram for
a wind farm in the connection point is needed, the effect of step-up transformers, wind farm grid and auxil-
iary equipment should also be taken into account.

Conclusion
The aim of the article has been to derive a PQ diagram for a wind turbine with a DFIG, similar to the one typ-
ically used for a synchronous generator. A set of general steady-state equations for the PQ relations of the
DFIG under rotor current, rotor voltage and stator current limitation has been presented. Further, the effect of
switching between - and Y-coupling of the stator has been investigated. The theory has been used to gener-
ate a PQ diagram for an example wind turbine model. The following observations have been made:

Figure 13. Working diagram for a 2 MW, 22 MVA wind turbine with DFIG

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392 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

1. The limiting factor for the production of reactive power will typically be the rotor current, since the rotor
converter will have to provide the reactive power consumed by the generator.
2. The limiting factor for absorption of reactive power will be the stator current.
3. At high slips, the rotor voltage will limit the reactive power production. It is, however, not advisable to
operate the generator close to the rotor voltage limit, since the reactive power capacity is very sensitive to
small changes in the slip.
4. Changing from to Y connection of the stator at low wind speeds with large subsynchronous slips will give
a better utilization of the rotor voltage. This, however, narrows the limits caused by the rotor and stator current.
5. If the grid-side converter is used to deliver reactive power to the grid in no load periods, it must have a
rating corresponding to the required reactive power. If the reactive power is delivered by the rotor converter,
through the rotor and the stator, each MVA of converter capacity can provide nwinding MVA (minus the reac-
tive consumption of the generator).

Appendix A: Nomenclature
Symbol Unit Description

A m2 Turbine rotor area

wr rad s1 Mechanical rotor speed of the generator multiplied with the number of pole pairs
ws rad s1 Grid frequency
wWT rad s1 Wind turbine rotor speed
s Slip = (ws wr)/ws
Cp Power coefficient
Cpmax Power coefficient at optimal tip speed ratio
r kg m3 Air density
R M Rotor radius
l
w R
Tip speed ratio = WT
v
q Rad Pitch angle
v m s1 Wind speed
Vs p.u. Stator voltage
Vr p.u. Complex rotor voltage with the stator voltage as reference
Is p.u. Complex stator current with the stator voltage as reference (motor sign)
Ir p.u. Complex rotor current with the stator voltage as reference (motor sign)
Ss, Ps and Qs p.u. Apparent (complex), active and reactive stator power (generator sign)
Sr, Pr and Qr p.u. Apparent (complex), active and reactive rotor power (generator sign)
Sgc, Pgc and Qgc p.u. Apparent (complex), active and reactive power of the grid-side converter (generator sign)
Stot, Ptot and Qtot p.u. Apparent (complex), active and reactive total power (generator sign)
Lm p.u. Main inductance
ss p.u. Stator stray coefficient
Rotor impedance =
Rr
Zr p.u. + jXr
s
Zs p.u. Stator impedance = Rs + jXr
Zm p.u. Main impedance = jXm
Ss_Ir p.u. Apparent (complex) stator power given the stator voltage and the rotor current magnitude.
Sr_Ir p.u. Apparent (complex) rotor power given the stator voltage and the rotor current magnitude.
Ss_Vr p.u. Apparent (complex) stator power given the stator voltage and the rotor voltage magnitude.
Sr_Vr p.u. Apparent (complex) rotor power given the stator voltage and the rotor voltage magnitude.
Ss_Is p.u. Apparent (complex) stator power given the stator voltage and the stator current magnitude.
Sr_Is p.u. Apparent (complex) rotor power given the stator voltage and the stator current magnitude.
radians Generic angle for description of ellipsis
* Complex conjugate
Re{}
Real part

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Wind Energ 2007; 10:379394
DOI: 10.1002/we
Reactive Power Capability of a Wind Turbine with DFIG 393

Appendix B: Generator Parameters

Symbol Value Unit

Pn 2000 kW Nominal active power

Sn 2210 kVA Nominal apparent power
Vsn 690 V Nominal stator voltage
Vrn 2760 V Rotor voltage with blocked rotor
nwinding 4 Turn ratio between rotor and stator
Rs 00059 p.u. Stator resistance
Xs 01107 p.u. Stator leakage reactance
Xm 47351 p.u. Main reactance
Rr 00066; p.u. Rotor resistance (referred to stator side)
Xr 01193 p.u. Rotor leakage reactance (referred to stator side)

Appendix C: Derivation of Two-port Matrices for the DFIG

The following section briefly shows the derivation of the two-port parameters which are used to derive the
limits. The theory of two-port matrices is described in Johnstone and Deane.9
As a basis for the derivations, the Z matrix is used. The Z matrix has been constructed per inspection from
the equivalent circuit in Figure 4. The first column corresponds to the stator and rotor voltage when a stator
current of 1 p.u is injected and the rotor current is zero. The second column is derived by injecting a rotor
current of 1 p.u. with an open stator:
Vs Is
Vr = Z (39)
s Ir
Zs + Z m Zm
Z= (40)
Z m Z r + Z m
Rr
Zr = + jXr (41)
s
Zs = Rs + jXs (42)
Zm = jXm (43)
The remaining derivations are made by inserting the Z matrix in the transformation equations from
Johnstone and Deane:9
Vs
Is = Y Vr
(44)
Ir s

Zr + Zm Zm
1 Z22 Z12 det(Z) det(Z)
Y = Z 1 = = (45)
det(Z) Z21 Z11 Zm Zs + Zm
det(Z) det(Z)
det(Z) = ( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr =
RR
X m ( Xr + Xs ) + s r Xs Xr + j m r
s
(
X R + Xs Rr
s
+ Rs ( Xr + Xm ) ) (46)

Is Vs
Vr = G (47)
s Ir

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Wind Energ 2007; 10:379394
DOI: 10.1002/we
394 T. Lund, P. Srensen and J. Eek

1 Zm
1 1 Z12 Zs + Zm Zs + Zm
G= = (48)
Z11 Z21 det(Z) Zm ( Zr + Zs ) Zm + Zs Zr

Zs + Zm Zs + Zm

Vr Vs
s = B (49)
Ir Is

Zr + Zm Zr + Zs + s r
ZZ
1 Z22 det(Z) Zm Zm
B= = (50)
Z12 1 Z11 1 Zs + Zm

Zm Zm

Acknowledgements
This work has been financed by the Danish transmission system operator, Energinet.dk and Nordic Energy
Research.

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Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Wind Energ 2007; 10:379394
DOI: 10.1002/we