Abstract:
Wind energy is perhaps the most nature of the various renewable energy technologies and has recently gained much favor both worldwide. Proposals for wind developments in the hundreds of MWs are currently being considered. Interconnection of these developments into the existing utility grid poses a great number of challenges. In this paper, an overview of wind farms and issues concerning their integration into major electric utility grids is presented. Wind power production introduces more uncertainly in operating a power system; it is variable and partly unpredictable. To meet this challenge, there will be need for more flexibility in the power system. How much extra flexibility is needed depends on the one hand on how much wind power there is and on the other hand on how much flexibility there exists in the power system. Pakistan possesses about 50,000 MW of economically exploitable wind-power potential. Pakistan has a considerable potential of wind energy in the coastal belt of Sindh, Balochistan and as well as in the desert areas of Punjab and Sindh. It is estimated that more than 5000 villages can be electrified through wind energy in Sindh, Balochistan and Northern areas. In this research a substation of 132 KV has been proposed to be built by the purchaser NTDC at an appropriate location to connect to and evacuate the power from proposed wind power plant and other wind farms going to be built in the same vicinity in Jhimpir area. Wind Farm proposed has been modeled by using WTG unit sizes of 1.5 MW. Load flow analysis has been carried out for before and after interconnection and the issues of power quality like flicker and voltage unbalance have been calculated. The results have indicated that the load flow, level of flicker and voltage unbalance are within the permissible limits of IEC and other international standards. It is concluded that there are no technical constraints whatsoever in the way of brining in the 50 MW of proposed wind power plant at proposed site in any respect of steady state (load flow) or power quality issues related to this plant.
Page(s):
34-40
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: New Horizons: Journal of the Institution of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Pakistan, Volume: 63, Issue: 1, Year: 2009