Grid-Compliance Testing of Wind Turbines through Virtualized Component Tests

Testing Concept and Test Bench

Abstract

As the proportion of inverter-connected wind turbines increases, test methods for evaluating their grid behavior are becoming increasingly important. This paper presents a Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHiL)-based method for grid connection testing of wind turbines. For the first time, geographically distributed simulations of aerodynamics via the Internet and of the grid model via a fiber-optic connection
are integrated into certification-relevant tests. The concept expands upon the methods described in IEC TS 61400-21-4.
Initial experimental results confirm high emulation quality and sufficiently low latencies, and meet the requirements for a standards-compliant grid emulation.