Patent Application
20140117948
The present invention relates to a voltage control apparatus, a control method therefor, and a voltage control program therefor.
In a wind turbine generator interconnected to a utility grid, it is difficult to systematically provide a stable power supply due to the influence of wind; therefore, reactive power has been conventionally adjusted to control the voltage at an interconnection point, in order to satisfy the interconnection regulations. For example, in an interconnected wind turbine generator, reactive power is adjusted by using a reactive-power compensation capability of the wind turbine generator and a reactive-power compensation device that is separately provided for the wind turbine generator by using a semiconductor device such as an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor), thereby controlling the voltage at the interconnection point of the utility grid, to satisfy the interconnection regulations (see PTLs 1 to 5).
Furthermore, PTL 6 describes a technology for calculating the reactive power to be adjusted, on the basis of a resistance value of a power supply system serving as a communication line connected to the utility grid and an electrical constant of the communication line, such as the reactance.
However, the semiconductor device, such as an IGBT, used in the methods described in PTLs 1 to 5 is expensive, thus increasing the cost. Furthermore, since the utility grid requires, for example, the condition that “a permissible value should be obtained within a predetermined period of time (for example, five minutes)”, there is a problem in that the fast response of the semiconductor device is not fully utilized.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a voltage control apparatus, a control method therefor, and a voltage control program therefor capable of providing voltage control having responsiveness without causing any problem in the operation of the utility grid, by using inexpensive equipment that has been conventionally used.
In order to attain the above-described object, the present invention provides the following solutions.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a voltage control apparatus to be used in a generator system that includes a wind turbine generator having a switching device for controlling a generator; and a capacitor bank for improving power factor provided between the wind turbine generator and a utility grid, the voltage control apparatus including: a control-amount separating unit that separates, when it is determined that an interconnection-point voltage at an interconnection point where the wind turbine generator is connected to the utility grid deviates from a target value, a target control amount for reactive power for matching the interconnection-point voltage with the target value into a first control amount and a second control amount, the first control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in active power at the interconnection point, the second control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a change in a power flow in the utility grid; a wind-turbine control unit that controls the switching device on the basis of the first control amount; and a capacitor-bank control unit that controls the capacitor bank on the basis of the second control amount.
According to this aspect, the voltage control apparatus to be used in the generator system that includes the wind turbine generator in which the generator is controlled by the switching device; and the capacitor bank for improving power factor provided between the wind turbine generator and the utility grid is provided. When it is determined that an interconnection-point voltage at an interconnection point where the wind turbine generator is connected to the utility grid deviates from a target value, a target control amount for reactive power for matching the interconnection-point voltage with the target value is separated into a first control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in active power at the interconnection point and a second control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a change in a power flow in the utility grid; the switching device controls the reactive power on the basis of the first control amount; and the capacitor bank provided for power factor improvement controls the reactive power on the basis of the second control amount.
Although control of the reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in the active power requires responsiveness, since the switching device used to control the generator of the wind turbine generator is used therefor, the responsiveness requirements can be satisfied. Furthermore, control of the reactive power that is caused by a change in the power flow in the utility grid does not require responsiveness: for example, “a permissible value should be obtained within a predetermined period of time (for example, five minutes)”. Therefore, by using the capacitor bank, which does not have better responsiveness but is less expensive than the switching device, it is possible to expect voltage control having responsiveness without causing any problem in the operation of the grid and to handle a large control amount.
Furthermore, when it is determined that the interconnection-point voltage deviates from the target value, in order to match the interconnection-point voltage with the target value, feedforward control is performed such that the switching device and the capacitor bank are controlled on the basis of the target control amount to adjust the reactive power. Therefore, it is possible to promptly make the interconnection-point voltage follow the target value.
Furthermore, the capacitor bank has been conventionally used for power factor improvement, and, in the present invention, the capacitor bank is also used for voltage control; therefore, it is possible to reduce time and cost required for additional construction etc.
The above-described voltage control apparatus may further include calculation unit that determines the target control amount on the basis of the target value, the interconnection-point voltage, active power at the interconnection point output from the wind turbine generator, and a predetermined equation.
The target control amount can be easily calculated on the basis of the target value, the interconnection-point voltage, active power output from the wind turbine generator, and a predetermined equation.
According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a voltage control method for a voltage control apparatus to be used in a generator system that includes a wind turbine generator having a switching device for controlling a generator; and a capacitor bank for improving power factor provided between the wind turbine generator and a utility grid, the voltage control method including: separating, when it is determined that an interconnection-point voltage at an interconnection point where the wind turbine generator is connected to the utility grid deviates from a target value, a target control amount for reactive power for matching the interconnection-point voltage with the target value into a first control amount and a second control amount, the first control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in active power at the interconnection point, the second control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a change in a power flow in the utility grid; controlling the switching device on the basis of the first control amount; and controlling the capacitor bank on the basis of the second control amount.
According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a voltage control program for a voltage control apparatus to be used in a generator system that includes a wind turbine generator having a switching device for controlling a generator; and a capacitor bank for improving power factor provided between the wind turbine generator and a utility grid, the voltage control program causing a computer to execute: a first process of separating, when it is determined that an interconnection-point voltage at an interconnection point where the wind turbine generator is connected to the utility grid deviates from a target value, a target control amount for reactive power for matching the interconnection-point voltage with the target value into a first control amount and a second control amount, the first control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in active power at the interconnection point, the second control amount serving as a control amount for reactive power that is caused by a change in a power flow in the utility grid; a second process of controlling the switching device on the basis of the first control amount; and a third process of controlling the capacitor bank on the basis of the second control amount.
According to the present invention, an advantage is afforded in that it is possible to provide voltage control having responsiveness without causing any problem in the operation of a utility grid, by using inexpensive equipment that has been conventionally used.
A voltage control apparatus, a control method therefor, and a voltage control program therefor according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In the wind turbine generator system 100, an interconnection-point voltage Vr at the interconnection point Y is measured by a voltage measuring section (not shown), and the voltage value of the interconnection-point voltage Vr is output to the central monitoring system 10. Furthermore, in the wind turbine generator system 100, power (Pn+jQn) (Pn: active power, Qn: reactive power) at the interconnection point Y is measured by a power measuring section (not shown), and the measured power value is output to the central monitoring system 10. Note that, in this embodiment, a description is given of an example case where the wind turbine generator system 100 includes just one wind turbine 2; however, the wind turbine generator system 100 may include a wind farm having a plurality of wind turbines 2. The number of wind turbines is not particularly limited.
As shown in
When the active power at the interconnection point Y is Pn, the reactive power thereat is Qn, the interconnection-point voltage, which is voltage at the interconnection point Y, is Vr, and the difference in phase of the interconnection-point voltage Vr relative to that of the bus voltage Vs is θ, a power equation shown in Equation (1) is obtained by the wind turbine generator system 100 shown in
When Equation (1) is solved in terms of Qn, Equation (2) is obtained.
It is assumed that the active power Pn is a value that depends on the output power of the wind turbine 2 and is an uncontrolled variable, and x (=the grid impedance) and Vs (=the bus voltage) are grid constants. By solving Equation (2), the reactive power Qn used to obtain a desired interconnection-point voltage Vr can be calculated as a variable of the active power Pn.
Furthermore, components of the reactive power Qn can be separated into controllable reactive power and uncontrollable reactive power. Specifically, the reactive power Qn is composed of reactive power Q_reg that can be controlled by the wind turbine 2 and the capacitor bank 5 and uncontrollable reactive power Q_wf that is determined on the basis of the impedance jx_wf on the wind turbine 2 side, so that Equation (2) can be rewritten as in Equation (3).
In this embodiment, a description is given of a voltage control apparatus 20 in which a target control amount for the reactive power Qn, which is composed of the reactive power Q_reg that can be controlled by the wind turbine 2 and the capacitor bank 5 and the uncontrollable reactive power Q_wf that is determined on the basis of the wind turbine 2, is determined on the basis of Equation (3), and the interconnection-point voltage Vr is controlled so as to have a desired value through feedforward control. Specifically, the wind turbine generator system 100 includes the voltage control apparatus 20 in the central monitoring system 10.
The control-amount separating section 21 compares the interconnection-point voltage Vr obtained from the voltage measuring section with an interconnection-point voltage Vr′ serving as a target value, to determine whether the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the target value Vr′. If it is determined that the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the target value Vr′, the control-amount separating section 21 separates the target control amount for the reactive power Qn, for matching the interconnection-point voltage Vr with the target value Vr′, into a first control amount Q_devi serving as a control amount for the reactive power Qn that is caused by a fluctuation in the active power Pn at the interconnection point Y and a second control amount Q_shift serving as a control amount for the reactive power Qn that is caused by a change in power flow in the utility grid 1.
A description will be given below of a method used by the control-amount separating section 21 to calculate the first control amount Q_devi and the second control amount Q_shift.
The control-amount separating section 21 substitutes typical numerical values (for example, grid impedance x of 0.06, wind-turbine-side impedance x_wf of 0.23, bus voltage Vs of 1.0) that are disclosed in books etc in the related art, and a desired interconnection-point voltage Vr of 1.0, which serves as a target value, into Equation (3), to derive the thus-obtained relationship between the active power En and the reactive power Qn. It is assumed that the reference capacity is 200 MVA. Furthermore, the reactive power Q_wf in Equation (3) is a value determined on the basis of the impedance x_wf on the wind turbine 2 side.
On the basis of the above-described calculation, the relationship between the active power Pn (variable value) at the interconnection point Y and the reactive power Qn corresponding thereto is obtained as shown in
As shown in the P-Q curve of
Furthermore, if the control-amount separating section 21 determines that the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the target value Vr′ of 1.0, the control-amount separating section 21 derives a P-Q curve on the basis of the relationship between the measured interconnection-point output power (active power) Pn and the measured interconnection-point reactive power Qn to calculate the difference from the optimum P-Q curve.
For example, when the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the target value Vr′ of 1.0 to be 0.95, the control-amount separating section 21 generates a P-Q curve such as that indicated by a curve A (with diamond symbols) shown in
As a target control amount, the control-amount separating section 21 uses a control amount for the reactive power for matching the P-Q curve generated in the case of the interconnection-point voltage Vr of 0.95 (the curve A in FIG. 3) with the P-Q curve generated in the case of the target value Vr′ of 1.0 for the interconnection-point voltage (the curve B in
More specifically, the control-amount separating section 21 separates the target control amount into a first control amount (Q_devi) serving as a control amount for the reactive power Qn that is caused by a fluctuation in the active power Pn at the interconnection point Y and a second control amount (Q_shift) serving as a control amount for the reactive power Qn that is caused by a change in the power flow in the utility grid 1 and controls the first control amount and the second control amount, thereby achieving the target control amount.
Since the first control amount Q_devi in response to a fluctuation in the active power Pn at the interconnection point Y, requires responsiveness, a reactive-power control function of the wind turbine 2 is used. Specifically, the first control amount Q_devi is made to correspond to the reactive power Q_wf in Equation (3), calculated on the basis of the impedance jx wf on the wind turbine 2 side. In other words, the control-amount separating section 21 outputs the reactive power Q_wf calculated from the impedance jx_wf on the wind turbine 2 side to the wind-turbine control device 22 as the first control amount Q_devi.
Furthermore, since the second control amount Q_shift in response to a change in the power flow in the utility grid 1, does not require responsiveness, the second control amount Q_shift is made to correspond to the reactive power Q_reg, which can be controlled by the wind turbine 2 and the capacitor bank 5, whose responsiveness is slower than a switching device such as an IGBT. In other words, the control-amount separating section 21 substitutes, into Equation (3), the calculated first control amount Q_devi, typical numerical values (the grid impedance x and the bus voltage Vs), measured active power. Pn, and the interconnection-point voltage Vr of 1.0 serving as the target value, to calculate the second control amount Q_shift and output it to the capacitor-bank control device 23.
The wind-turbine control device 22 controls the switching device, which controls the generator of the wind turbine 2, on the basis of the first control amount Q_devi.
The capacitor-bank control device 23 controls the capacitor bank 5 on the basis of the second control amount Q_shift.
Next, the operational effect of the wind turbine generator system 100 of this embodiment will be described with reference to
The interconnection-point voltage Vr is detected (Step SA1 of
The interconnection-point voltage Vr is compared with the desired interconnection-point voltage Vr′ serving as the target value to determine whether the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the desired interconnection-point voltage Vr′ (Step SA4 of
The voltage control apparatus 20 of the above-described embodiment may have a configuration in which all or part of the above-described processing is performed by separate software. In that case, the voltage control apparatus 20 includes a CPU, a main storage unit, such as a RAM, and a computer-readable recording medium having a program for realizing all or part of the above-described processing recorded therein. The CPU reads the program recorded in the recording medium and performs information processing and calculation processing, thereby realizing the same processing as that performed by the voltage control apparatus 20.
Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a magnetic disc, a magneto optical disc, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and a semiconductor memory. Furthermore, this computer program may be distributed to a computer through a communication line, and the computer may execute the program.
As described above, according to the voltage control apparatus 20, the control method therefor, and the voltage control program therefor of this embodiment, if it is determined that the interconnection-point voltage Vr at the interconnection point Y, where the wind turbine 2 is connected to the utility 1, deviates from the target value, the target control amount for the reactive power for matching the interconnection-point voltage Vr with the target value is separated into the first control amount serving as a control amount for the reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in the active power at the interconnection point Y and the second control amount serving as a control amount for the reactive power that is caused by a change in the power flow in the utility grid 1; the switching device controls the reactive power on the basis of the first control amount; and the capacitor hank provided for power factor improvement controls the reactive power on the basis of the second control amount.
Although control of the reactive power that is caused by a fluctuation in the active power requires responsiveness, since the switching device used to control the generator of the wind turbine 2 is used for this purpose, the responsiveness requirements can be satisfied. Furthermore, control of the reactive power that is caused by a change in the power flow in the utility grid 1 does not require responsiveness: for example, “a permissible value should be obtained within a predetermined period of time (for example, five minutes)”. Therefore, by using the capacitor bank 5, which does not have better responsiveness but is less expensive than the switching device, it is possible to expect voltage control having responsiveness without causing any problem in the operation of the grid. Furthermore, since a large capacity of reactive power can be supplied by using the capacitor bank 5, a large fluctuation, as indicated by Q_shift in
Furthermore, when it is determined that the interconnection-point voltage Vr deviates from the target value, in order to match the interconnection-point voltage Vr with the target value, feedforward control is performed such that the switching device and the capacitor bank 5 are controlled on the basis of the target control amount to adjust the reactive power. Therefore, it is possible to promptly make the interconnection-point voltage Vr follow the target value.
Furthermore, the capacitor bank 5 has been conventionally used for power factor improvement, and, in the present invention, the capacitor bank 5 is also used for voltage control; therefore, it is possible to reduce time and cost required for additional construction etc.
Note that, in this embodiment, as grid constants, such as the grid impedance jx, the impedance jx_wf on the wind turbine 2 side, and the bus voltage Vs, typical numerical values that have been conventionally disclosed are substituted into Equation (2) and Equation (3); however, the values of grid constants are not limited thereto. For example, in Equation (2), simultaneous equations in which the grid impedance jx and the bus voltage Vs are variables may be generated on the basis of measured interconnection-point voltage Vr, and two or more combinations of measured active power Pn and reactive power Qn, a high-precision grid impedance jx and a high-precision bus voltage Vs may be obtained by solving the simultaneous equations, and these values of grid constants may be used.
In this way, when a high-precision grid impedance jx and a high-precision bus voltage Vs are obtained, the P-Q curves shown in
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2012/064231 | May 2012 | US |
| Child | 14151044 | US |
