The requirements for wind turbines and services for grid code compliance

The advancement in offshore wind power technology has led to larger turbines and larger wind farms being deployed throughout Europe. Where previously wind farms had been thought of as single distributed power generators, they must now be considered as integral components of the overall energy supply system, and be subject to the same regulations as other types of power generation.
The European Wind Energy Association (1) estimates that by 2020 between 14.4% and 16.7 % of the EU’s electricity supply will be sourced from wind energy, both on land and offshore. The European Commission’s energy strategy for Europe (2) suggests that up to 12% of this will be supplied by offshore wind farms.
Due to the increase in the size of wind farms, and the requirement of Europe’s TSO’s (Transmission System Operators) to integrate them into the network, grid code compliance rules have been implemented to ensure that offshore wind farms contribute to the system, and behave in the same way as conventional generators. Before connection to the grid, wind turbines and wind farms must certify that they comply with regulations surrounding frequency dependant active power supply (frequency control), Voltage control – both steady state and dynamic, Voltage dependant reactive power injection and absorption, and fault ride through stability.
While the European grid as a whole must undergo rapid redevelopment to access and integrate offshore wind power, the responsibility of turbine manufacturers and wind farm construction companies is to ensure that their equipment, when connected, has a positive impact on the overall system.
Grid code requirements for wind turbines and wind farms
The European Wind Energy association is working towards the harmonisation of grid code compliance across Europe, and in late 2009 issued the first template for a generic grid code (3) format for wind power plants. The organisation is in continued collaboration with the EU and with Europe’s TSO’s to develop a fully continental-wide harmonised grid code.
Want to learn more about grid integration of offshore wind energy? Check out further articles here.
References
(1) http://www.ewea.org/index.php?id=196
(2) http://ec.europa.eu/energy/publications/doc/2011_energy2020_en.pdf
(3)http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/ewea_documents/documents/publications/091127_GGCF_Final_Draft.pdf