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Analysis of Measured Harmonic Currents and Voltages Contributed by a Commercial Wind Power System
Kuo-Hua Liu and Li Wang, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract--This paper presents the measured results and harmonics generated by a commercial wind power generation system (WPGS) consisting of four identical 660 kW wind-turbine induction generators (WTIGs). The studied WPGS is connected to an 11.4 kV bus inside a large petroleum-chemical industrial mill located around the middle coast of Taiwan. The field measured results of total harmonic distortion (THD) in the current and voltage contributed by the WPGS are analyzed using a probabilistic approach since the measured quantities are random in nature. The IEEE harmonic limit is employed to check the level of penetration due to the WPGS. It is found that the THD in the current at the point of common coupling (PCC) connecting four WTIGs is larger than the 5% limitation of IEEE. Index Terms--wind power generation system (WPGS), total harmonic distortion (THD), probabilistic models.

I. INTRODUCTION HE research of summation of randomly varying harmonics of the same order can be dated back to [1]. Rowe examined the sum of randomly varying harmonic currents of the same order. He assumed that the harmonic vectors or phasors had either fixed or random magnitudes and the uniformly distributed phase angles were resolved into real and imaginary components. The central limit theorem was applied to the real and imaginary sums of the studied harmonic currents in [1] and the analyzed outcomes concluded that the magnitude of the sum of the harmonic current would approach to a Rayleigh distribution when the number of random vectors was large enough. Pierrat [2] extended the work of Rowe to form a general case through revising the phase angle of a phasor to be uniformly distributed in the range of [-, ] and it proved that Rowe's work was a special case. It should be noted that the magnitude and the phase angle of each harmonic vector in [1] and [2] were assumed to be independent. Since the real part and the imaginary part of harmonic currents of the same order were respectively summed up, the sum of the two resolved components would approach to a normal distribution as the number of random vectors was sufficiently large. A bivariate
This work was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan, ROC, under Grant NSC 94-2213-E-006-008. Kuo-Hua Liu and Li Wang are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101 Taiwan, Republic of China (e-mail: liwang@mail.ncku.edu.tw).

normal distribution (BND) [3] model was applied to some studied cases and the BND model contained five parameters, i.e., the mean values and variances of the two resolved sums and their correlation coefficient, which were employed by Kazibwe, et al. [4]. The same BND model was employed to determine the magnitude of harmonic contents generated by ten independent power converters in a distribution system and Monte Carlo simulation was performed to verify their theoretical results [5]. The BND approach was also used to predict voltage distortion in a distributed power system and the analyzed results were examined by using both simulation and field measurements [6]. This paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the configuration of the studied system. The measured results are presented and analyzed in Section III. Statistic analysis of measured harmonic data at the PCC of the studied WPGS is depicted in Section IV. Specific conclusions are summarized in Section V. II. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDIED SYSTEM The one-line diagram of the studied commercial wind power generation system (WPGS) is shown in Fig. 1, where the stator windings of the studied four identical 660 W, 690-V induction generators (IG1, IG2, IG3, and IG4) are connected to an equivalent utility grid (Grid) of 11.4 kV through individual excitation capacitor banks (C), step-up transformers (RTr + jXTr), and underground cables (RLine + jXLine). The rotor shaft of each IG is coupled to the turbine blades through individual gearbox (GB) with variable transmission rations for transforming variable low turbine speeds to near-constant high generator rotor speeds. The distance between two neighboring wind turbines is about 300 m. The equivalent capacitances Cline1 and Cline2 of the underground cables connected between generators are calculated from field measured reactive power. The point A shown in Fig. 1 is the point of common coupling (PCC) connecting four wind generators on the highvoltage side of the transformers. The three-phase line currents and voltages at the point A were recorded from the outputs of current transformers (CTs) and potential transformers (PTs) every five-second interval. The measured data were recorded from December 3-19, 2004 for about 16 days or 25,000 minutes. Since the wind speeds of the northeast seasonal wind of Taiwan were high during the measurement period, the

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studied WPGS had at least 7 days under full-load generation of about 2.5 MW. The values of total harmonic distortion (THD) of both voltage and current were calculated from the measured three-phase voltages and currents. The point B shown in Fig. 1 is for filed measuring the output quantities of a single WTIG. The output data of single WTIG were recorded from 14:20 to 15:20 on January 21, 2005. The three-phase line currents and voltages were recorded from the outputs of CTs and PTs at the 11.4-kV side of the step-up transformer every five-second interval. During the one-hour measurement, the wind speed is high and the WTIG is generally under full-power generation. It is worth noting that total 7680 data points for each current or voltage signal are captured from the output terminals of CTs or PTs in one second. These data points are further processed to obtain 1024 data points for performing fast Fourier transformation (FFT) in order to precisely calculate the contents of current or voltage harmonics with different orders. The calculated harmonic results are averaged to obtain the required total harmonic distortions (THD) for each second. Hence, the values of THD are determined by the written software program in the power recorder. According to the specifications of the power recorder, the highest harmonic order that can be analyzed is the 63rd order. B A

Fig. 1 One-line diagram of the studied wind power generation system.

III. ANALYSIS OF FILED MEASURED RESULTS Fig. 2 shows the filed measured results at point B of the WPGS shown Fig. 1 for one hour. It is seen from Fig. 2(a) that the point B has line voltage around 11.65 kV which is higher than the nominal value of 11.4 kV since this WTIG is generating near full power to the system under high wind speeds. The measured line current shown in Fig. 2(b) is around full-load current of about 33 A while the line active power shown in Fig. 2(c) is around an upper limit of 450 kW. This active power reduction could be resulted from the action of pitch control under high wind speed to limit the output

active power of the wind induction generator. The reactive power shown in Fig. 2(d) also has higher negative limit of about 500 kVAR under high wind speeds. The apparent power shown in Fig. 2(e) reaches its upper bound of about 660 kVA under high wind speeds. Combing the results of active power, reactive power, and apparent power shown in Fig. 2, it is realized that the rated 660 kVA apparent power is obtained from the maximum active power output of 450 kW with reactive power upper bound of 500 kVAR. The frequency shown in Fig. 2(f) is severely varied between 59.9 Hz to 60.125 Hz due to randomly varying wind speeds. The power factor shown in Fig. 2(e) has the lowest value of 0.68 lagging and the highest value of 0.95 lagging. It is well known that the power factor of a WTIG is controlled by the internal capacitor bank inside the wind tower. Each capacitor bank has 5 capacitance values for maintaining output power factor. The total harmonic distortion (THD) in the line current shown in Fig. 2(h) is varied from 4% to 16% and the highest THD value is due to very low wind speeds with low line currents. Fig. 3 shows the measured voltage, current, active power and reactive power at point A of the studied WPGS shown in Fig. 1 for about 16 days. It is seen from Fig. 3(a) that the values of the line voltage are varied between 11 kV to 11.3 kV and these values are below nominal value of 11.4 kV. Sudden voltage peak and dip on special dates can be clearly observed from Fig. 3(a). The measured waveforms of both current and active power are similar as shown in Figs. 3(b) and 3(c). The total duration of full-power generation of about 2.5 MW and full line current output of 139 A is about 7 days. The reactive power variation shown in Fig. 3(d) has a maximum negative peak value of 600 kVAR under full power generation since four induction generators require larger reactive power for magnetizing under higher power output. Comparing the maximum reactive-power value of 600 kVAR at point A for 4 WTIGs with the maximum reactive-power value of 500 kVAR at point B for only one WTIG, it can be found that the total reactive power supplied from the combined underground cables with large capacitance and switched capacitors inside the wind tower is not enough to supply the required reactive power of four induction generators under full power generation. Additional reactive power could be supplied by the grid side to which the four WTIGs are connected. Figs. 4 and 5 respectively show the time-domain variations of THD in the measured current and voltage shown in Fig. 3 for about 25000 minutes. The THD is a measure of the effective value of the harmonic components in a distorted voltage or current waveform and it can be calculated by
hmax

THD =

M
h >1

2 h

M1

(1)

where Mh is the rms value of h-th harmonic component of the quantity M and M can be either voltage or current. The values of THD in the measured voltage and current of the studied WPGS are generally not constant and they depend on windspeed variations.

(a) Line voltage

(b) Line current

(c) Active power

(d) Reactive power

(e) Apparent power

(f) Frequency

(g) Power factor (h) THD in the line current Fig. 2 Filed measured results at point B of the studied WPGS.

Fig. 4 Time-domain variation of THD in the measured current. (a) Line voltage

(b) Line current Fig. 5 Time-domain variation of THD in the measured voltage.

Consider a time-varying random process shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the definitions of basic statistical concepts are employed. If N independent measurements random variables are X = X(t1), , Xi = X(ti), , XN = X(tN), the average or mean value Xavg and standard deviation x can be written in the following form [6-7]

X avg =
(c) Active Power

X
i =1

(2)

and

X =

(X
i =1

X avg )2

N 1

(3)

For a given mean value of Xavg and an associated standard deviation of x, a time-varying random variable XN whose data spread according to the Gaussian distribution can be written in the following form
f X (x) =
(d) Reactive power Fig. 3 Filed measured results at point A of the studied WPGS.

1
2 2X

exp(

( X Xavg )
2 2X

(4)

The cumulative frequency curve is computed to demonstrate the computation of the 95th percentile value. It is economical to consider THD magnitude exceeding some level. These levels can be used for comparison with the maximum levels recommended by IEEE Standard 519 [11]. The probability of the phasor magnitude K not exceeding some harmonic level Kmax can then be determined numerically:
P(K Kmax ) = cdf (Kmax ) =

Kmax 0

pdf (K )dK

(5)

IV. ANALYSIS OF MEASURED DATA USING A PROBABILISTIC APPROACH A computer program using statistical techniques is employed in this section to determining the harmonic contribution of the studied WPGS at the point A shown in Fig. 1. A useful method of summarizing the characteristics of the THD results shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is to sketch histograms of probability density that are respectively shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Once the histograms are plotted, the associated cumulative probability graphs shown in Figs. 8 and 9 can be obtained. The cumulative frequency curves are to demonstrate the computation of the 95th percentile value, known as 95%. Table 1 lists the mean values and the standard deviations of the associated THD in the measured current and voltage as well as the corresponding 95th percentile values.
Fig. 8 Cumulative probability graph for calculating the 95% value of THD in the measured current.

Fig. 9 Cumulative probability graph for calculating the 95% value of THD in the measured voltage. Table 1 Statistical computed results of THD in the measured current and voltage at point A of Fig. 1. X Xavg 95% X Current THD(%) 0.7835 1.3155 3.543 Voltage THD(%) 1.6682 0.04312 1.747

Fig. 6 Histogram of THD in the measured current.

It can be concluded from the statistical computed results listed in Table 1 and shown in both Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 that the values of THD in the measured current and voltage are evidently lower than 5% limitation using 95% cumulative probability approach. V. CONCLUSIONS This paper has presented the field measured results and probabilistic approach to evaluate the total harmonic distortion in the measured current and voltage contributed by a commercial wind power generation system with four identical wind-turbine induction generators. Since wind speed is a random quantity, the measured quantities are also random varied with wind speeds. The proposed probabilistic method is for analyzing the characteristics of measured harmonic data. Statistical measurement techniques and histograms are the most commonly used methods for random quantities. Such

Fig. 7 Histogram of THD in the measured voltage.

probabilistic approach is very important to evaluate harmonic contents contributed by wind power generation systems. VI. REFERENCES
[1] N.B. Rowe, The summation of randomly-varying phasors or vectors with particular reference to harmonic levels, IEE Conference Publications, No. 110, pp. 177-181, 1974. [2] L. Pierrat, A unified statistical approach to vectorial summation of random harmonic components, The 4th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, Florence, Italy, pp. III 100-105, 1991. [3] E. Parzen, Modern Probability Theory and Its Applications, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1960. [4] W.E. Kazibwe, T.H. Ortmeyer, and M.S.A.A Hammam, "Summation of probabilistic harmonic vectors," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 621-628, 1989. [5] Y.J. Wang, L. Pierrat, and L. Wang, "Summation of harmonic currents produced by ac/dc static power converters with randomly fluctuating loads," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1129- 1135, 1994. [6] S.R. Kaprielian, A.E. Emanuel, R.V. Dwyer, and H. Mehta, "Predicting voltage distortion in a system with multiple random harmonic sources," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 1632-1638, 1994. [7] G.M. Masters, Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems, New York: John Wiley, 2004. [8] R.C. Dugan, M.F. McGranaghan, and H.W. Beaty, Electrical Power Systems Quality, 2nd Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. [9] G. Bucci, E. Fiorucci, and C. Landi, Digital measurement station for power quality analysis in distributed environments, IEEE Trans. Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 52, no. 1, 2003, pp.75-84. [10] L. Miegeville and P. Guerin, Identification of the time-varying pattern of periodic harmonics, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 21, no. 2, 2006, pp.845-851. [11] Y. Baghzouz, R.F. Burch, A. Capasso, A. Cavallini, A.E. Emanuel, M. Halpin, and A. Imece, Time-varying harmonics. I. Characterizing measured data, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 13, no. 3, 1998, pp.938944. [12] Z. Peyton and Jr. Peebles, Probability, Random Variables and Random Signal Principles, 4th Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

[13] S.L. Meyer, Data analysis for scientists and engineers, New York: John Wiley, 1975. [14] F.D. Kanellos, and N.D. Hatziargyriou, The effect of variable-speed wind turbines on the operation of weak distribution networks, IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 17, no. 4, 2002, pp.543-548. [15] N.D. Hatziargyriou and A.P.S. Meliopoulos, Distributed energy sources: technical challenges, IEEE Power Engineering Society Winter Meeting, vol. 2, 2002, pp.1017-1022. [16] X. Wilsun, Application of steady-state harmonic distortion limits to the time-varying measured harmonic distortions, IEEE Power Engineering Society Summer Meeting, vol.2, 2002, pp.955-957. [17] IEEE, Recommended Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electric System, IEEE Standard 519-1992, Apr. 1993.

VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Kuo-Hua Liu was born in Taichung, Taiwan, on December 30, 1975. He obtained his M.Sc. degree from Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan in June 2003. He is currently pursuing his PhD degree at Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. His interests are harmonics and probability.

Li Wang (S'87-M'88-SM05) was born in Changhua, Taiwan, on December 20, 1963. He graduated from Department of Electrical Engineering, National Kaohsiung Institute of Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1983. He received a PhD degree from Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, in June 1988. He has been an associated professor and a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan in 1988 and 1995, respectively. He was a visiting scholar of School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, from Feb. 2000 to July 2000. He was also a visiting scholar of School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA, from August 2003 to January 2004. At present, his interests include power systems dynamics, power system stability, AC machines analyses, renewable energy, distributed generation, and power electronics. He is an IEEE Senior Member.