Performance Evaluation of Conventional
Protection Systems for Wind Farms
Tamer A. kawady, MIEEE, Naema Mansour and Abd El-Maksoud I. Taalab, Senior MIEEE
Abstract— Wind farms are characterized with some
unique features during their normal and faulty operating condi-
tions. Different factors participate usually into these conditions
such as the distributed generation concept, the own behavior of
the induction generator, varying wind speed, … etc. This, conse-
quently, arises different challenges regarding the behavior of
their protection and control schemes. In this paper, the perform-
ance of the conventional protection schemes (currently in use
with wind farms) is thoroughly investigated. The aimed investiga-
tion study is carried out on a 225 MW wind farm in AL-
Zaafarana-Egypt as a simulation example using MATLAB. The
package represents an ideal candidate for dynamic simulation
purposes with its own highly performance graphical interface
and built-in libraries. The major effective factors that may influ-
ence the fault characteristics are considered such as fault posi-
tion, fault type, fault resistance and pre-fault loading. This ex-
plores the performance of wind farms during faulty conditions
honestly. It also visualizes the performance of their protection
elements and assists enhancing their performance in the future.
Index Wind farms Protection, Dynamic modeling, MATLAB-
Simulink, Fuse.
I. INTRODUCTION
Owing to the rapid increase of the global population and
their energy needs, traditional means to satisfy the burgeoning
energy demands need careful reevaluation. Coupled with the
uneven distribution of resources around the world, economic
impacts of large-scale importation and the environmental im-
pacts of continued dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels,
there is an imminent need to transfer, at least partly, the de-
pendence on to renewable energy resources. Among these re-
sources, wind electric conversion has emerged as the leader at
the present time. The impressive growth in the utilization of
wind energy has consequently spawned active research activi-
ties in a wide variety of technical fields. Moreover, the in-
creasingly penetration of wind energy into conventional power
systems highlights several important issues such as reliability,
security, stability, power quality, … etc. Among these issues,
providing wind farms with the proper protection is quite es-
sential.
The essential benefits from the dedicated protection func-
tions are to avoid the possible local damage resulting from in-
cident faults and minimize the impact of these abnormal con-
Tamer.A. Kawady, is with the Electrical Engineering Dept., Faculty of
Engineering, Menoufiya University (e-mail: t_kawady@ieee.org).
Naema M. Mansour is a Post Graduate Student, Electrical Engineering
Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Menoufiya University (e-mail: n_m_mansour
@yahoo.com). A.I. Taalab is with Electrical Engineering Dept., Faculty of
Engineering, Menoufiya University (e-mail: taalab@yahoo.com).
©2008 IEEE.
ditions on the other sound parts of the network. This reduces
the associated negative impacts of the faults on the service
continuity and the system stability. Consequently, it enhances
the reliability and dependability of the overall grid perform-
ance. These terms continuity, reliability …etc. have recently
received much attention due to the new deregulation policies
and marketing liberalization. Thus, the need for further efforts
to improve the existing relaying devices as well as to develop
new ones is obvious. On the contrary, it surprisingly has not
garnered a sufficient attention tell present. The economic per-
spective plays a major role, in which the enormous cost pres-
sures usually coerce the wind farm designers for economic
causes to remarkably reduce the utilized protection schemes.
As a result, wind farms still utilize simple and none-integrated
protection methodologies [1]. Also, research efforts regarding
wind farm protection are still limited in the literatures [2-5].
As reported by Bauscke et al. in [6], different levels of damage
were recorded resulting occasionally from the drawbacks of
the associated protection system. Thus, the need for revaluat-
ing and improving the existing known protection philosophies
is obvious. Hence, the investigation of the wind farm behavior
under abnormal operating conditions in addition to exploring
its interrelation with other adjacent parts of the overall net-
work is a real demand. Based on these investigations, expres-
sive evaluation of the existing relaying schemes of the wind
farm and possibility of improving their characteristics can be
achieved.
The primary objective of this paper is to examine in detail
the performance of the relaying and protection systems cur-
rently in use with existing wind farms. These investigations
are carried out based on well prepared simulation examples.
Among the known packages for dynamic simulation purposes
MATLAB [7] was employed for developing a successful dy-
namic simulation of a wind farm that is used to carry out this
study due to its modeling capabilities and superior develop-
ment facilities. The major effective factors that may influence
the wind farm behavior during faults are considered such as
fault type, fault resistance, fault location, wind speed, …. etc.
A 225 MW in Al-Zaafarana- Egypt is considered as a simula-
tion example for this study.
The paper was organized as follows. The description of the
basic wind farm protection systems is outlined in section II.
The description of the Al-Zaafarana wind farm, that is used as
a simulation example, as well as its dynamic model prepara-
tion are explored in section III. Section V highlights the simu-
lation results and its corresponding fault analysis study. Fi-
nally, the paper recommendations and conclusions are summa-
rized in section VI.
 Aerodynamic maining sound parts of the farm supplying the power. On the
part Generator other hand, the protection of the wind farm substation collec-
tor bus and main power transformer consists of multi-function
Point of
Common
numerical relay system including main transformer differential
Tower
Cable Coupling Grid- relay, transformer backup overcurrent relay, collector bus dif-
Connection ferential relay and breaker failure relay. Further details are
C.B C.B
Local available in the literatures [2]-[4]. It should be considered that,
Cotroller
Local Collector the wind farm interconnection would be applied to MV distri-
Transormer feedr bution network, HV system ... etc. Therefore, the coordination
Other coll. Main Step-
of utility relays and the wind farm will be quite different.
Other wind feeders up Communication system with dedicated SCADA is quite im-
turbine units Transormer portant for wind farm operation. Nowadays, the data from
Grid
each wind generator control is transmitted via optic cables and
Generator Feeders
area collecting area Interconnection spread to the main substation for general control and monitor-
area ing purposes. This provides an ideal situation for providing
them with an integrated monitoring and control system.
Fig. 1 Principle layout of a typical wind farm system.
III. MODELING OF AL-ZAAFARANA WIND FARM
II. CONVENTIONAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS FOR WIND FARMS A. Al-Zaafarana wind farm description
Fig. 1 shows a schematic of a typical wind farm consisting A 225 MW wind farm was recently established in Al- Zaafa-
of (n) units of wind turbines. Nowadays, modern wind farms rana (220 south east of Cairo, Egypt) and connected to the 220
include 20 to 150 units with typical size from 0.5 MW to 3 kV Egyptian grid. This promising area is distinctive with dif-
MW wind turbine generators. Larger sizes up to 5 MW are re- ferent superior features such as an average annual wind speed
cently available in the market, in which they were successfully of 9.5 m/s, and its excellent geographical and environmental
installed in some European countries. The use of induction features. The farm was structured through five stages of 30,
generator in wind farm installations is today a standard prac- 33, 30, 47 and 85 MW respectively as illustrated in Fig. 2. Ex-
tice, due to its suitable characteristics for the wind turbines. cept the latter one, other stages are with fixed speed and vari-
The typical generator’s terminal voltage may range from 575 able pitch operation. Currently, two further stages are being
to 690 V with frequency of 50 (or 60) Hz. The generator ter- constructed adding extra 205 MW to the farm.
minal voltage is stepped up to the Collector Bus system with
typical voltage of 22 to 34.5 kV. The step up transformer is an
oil cooled, pad mounted located at the base of the wind turbine
unit. Sometimes, the step up transformer is mounted in the
turbine nacelle. Certain considerations should be applied for
avoiding the harmonic effects. The typical wind farm collector
system consists of a distribution substation collecting the out-
put of the distributed wind turbine generators through the in-
coming feeders. Usually some reactive power compensation
units are provided by a collection of switched capacitors. Fi-
nally, the collected power is transferred to the utility side via
an interconnection step up transformer.
The wind farm protection system is usually divided into dif-
ferent protection zones including the wind farm area, wind
farm collection system, wind farm interconnection system and
the utility area. First, the induction generator protection is
typically accomplished via the generator controlling system
covering some certain protection functions such as under/over
voltage, under/over frequency, and generator winding tem-
perature (RTDs). The generator control system does not con-
tribute for the interconnecting system or the utility zone. The
generator is protected against short circuits with its circuit
breaker, which is practically dimensioned to 2-3 times the
Fig. 2 Geographical outline of Al-Zaafarana wind farm
generator rated current. The generator step up transformer is
usually protected with fuses dimensioned to 2-3 times its rated
current. The collector feeder protection is simplified consider- The fourth stage of the farm was selected as a simulation ex-
ing it as a radial distribution feeder using overcurrent protec- ample in the paper. It consists of 71 wind turbines (with a
tion (50/51). A basic challenge arises due to the distributed 660KW squirrel cage induction generator for each turbine)
generators connected together to the radial feeder in determin- providing a total power of 47MW. Fig. 3 illustrates its distri-
ing the minimum faulty zone. That is in order to keep the re- bution schematic, in which the associated wind turbines are
compounded at feeders 1,2,3 and 4 of the farm collecting A
B
a
b
A
B
A
aA
bB
B

feeders with 21, 17, 18 and 15 turbines for each feeder. Each C
220 kV/22 kV
85 MVA
c C C
4.8 km line cC
B22_18
Wind Generation1
wind turbine is connected to a 690V:22- KV local step-up a
b
c
A
B
C
N
(22 kV)2
18WTG
10.8MW
transformer. The collected power are then fed to the 220 kV Grounding
Transformer
X0=4.7 Ohms
3.3ohms

network through two 75 MVA, 22/220 kV step-up transform- aA

ers. The rest step-up transformers are shared with other feed- A
B
C
220 kV/22 kV
a
b
c
A
B
C
A
B
C
5.5 km line1
bB
cC
A aA

ers of other wind farm stages.

A A
B22_15
N B B
C
B bB
cC
85 MVA2 Wind Generation1
C C (22 kV)1
220 kV 2500 MVA B220 a
b
A
B
15WTG
X0/X1=3 (220 kV) C
c N 9MW1
Grounding
Transformer 3.3ohms 2
X0=4.7 Ohms2

aA
Main Step up transformers A
B
C
a
b
c
A
B
C
A
B
C
bB
220 kV/22 kV 4km line2 cC
85 MVA1 B22
Wind Generation1
(22 kV)1
a A
B
2 feeder
b C
c N 21WTG 1 13.86MW
Grounding 3.3ohms 1 17WTG 11.22MW
Transformer
X0=4.7 Ohms1

(a)
Feeder 1 Generator speed (pu) [wr]
pitch
Tm (pu) Pitch angle (deg) PI

Wind speed (m /s) 1 Rate Limiter

Wind (m/s)
Feeder 3 Wind Turbine

Pmec/Pnom

Feeder 4 1 [Vabc _B1] Tm

Feeder 2 A
cA
[Iabc_B1]
A wr
2 aB
B
m <Rotor speed (wm)>
b B
Fig. 3 Schematic of the fourth stage of Al-Zafarana wind farm. 3 cC
C
C
B1
Asynchronous Machine
B. Dynamic model Development [Vabc_B1] Vabc_B1

Fig. 4(a) illustrates the developed model of the fourth stage Pmes
of Al-Zaafarana wind Farm in MATLAB-Simulink using the
[Iabc _B1] Iabc_B1
SimPower toolbox. Three masked blocks were utilized for
each collecting bus including its own connected turbine units. Data acquisition

These buses were assigned as B22_18, B22_15, Bus22 respec- (b)

tively. Each of them was connected to the 220 kV bus system
“B220” via its related 22/220 kV step-up transformer. The 220
kV grid was modeled with its equivalent constant voltage be-
hind its equivalent impedance.
Fig. 4(b) shows the detailed schematic of each wind unit
constructed with the built-in wind turbine model in MATLAB.
The turbine operation was characterized with the wind speed,
the generator speed and its individual pitch control via fixed
speed – variable pitch mode of operation. The nominal wind
speed was assigned to 9.5 m/sec “the annual average wind
speed in its corresponding location”, whereas the “cut-in”
wind speed was assigned to be 4.5 m/sec. Each wind turbine
was equipped with its induction generator model based on the
asynchronous machine built-in model in MATLAB.
The relatively large number of wind turbine units, in which
each of them was constructed with different individual items
“Turbine, generator, local transformer, feeding cable, …” in-
creased remarkably the corresponding source of code. This is
characterized with a huge operation time (around 105 min. for
each single running on a 3.2 GHz, 2GB-RAM machine). This
resulted in impractical testing profile for those simulation pur-
poses that are characterized with huge amounts of simulation
cases. Moreover, the aforementioned problem is significantly
exaggerated for larger systems. Therefore, the need for reduc-
ing the overall wind farm model is obvious.
On the other hand, reduced model should be conditioned
with the following restrictions:
• Model Accuracy for each individual power sys-
tem element should be kept in its higher level
Fig. 4 Simulink-based diagram of Al-Zaafarana wind farm
(a) Overall wind farm diagram
(b) Single unit diagram
• The essential concepts for distributed generation
must be satisfied.
• Equivalence of currents for each individual unit
as well as overall farm currents for both detailed and re-
duced model should be realized
• Equivalence of the generated power for each in-
dividual unit as well as for the overall farm for both de-
tailed and reduced model should be realized.
• Total power losses (due to connecting cables)
should be considered.
Fig. 5 illustrates the proposed reduced model for the fourth
stage of Al-Zafaranna wind farm. The first three collecting
feeders were lumped with their power equivalency with total
lumped equivalent generators of 21, 18, and 15 units for each
one respectively. For the latter collecting feeder, among its
wind turbine generators, 14 generators were represented with
their equivalent lumped generator, whereas the rest ones (the
first, second and last units) were represented individually for
keeping the distributed generation concept. For those lumped
units, cable lengths were considered for keeping the total
power losses equal to those resulted with the corresponding
detailed model. The response of the reduced model was vali-
dated compared with the corresponding detailed one via dif-
ferent simulation examples for both faulty and non-faulty op-
erating conditions. Details for the proposed modeling method-
ology were fully addressed in [8].
 ing the generator currents, voltages and power were demon-
strated in Fig. 7(a), whereas the corresponding pitch angle
WT1
15*660KW variation was illustrated in Fig. 7(b). As remarked, no pitch
control reaction was recognized since the wind was still with
WT1 the nominal wind speed range. The measured electrical quanti-
1*660KW
WT2 ties including the currents, voltages and power at the 220KV
18*660KW
grid bus were demonstrated in Fig. 7(c) to indicate the total
WT2 power from the 71*660Kw units.
1*660KW

WT3
21*660KW 1000
WT3

I b690
14*660KW 0

WT4 -1000
WT17 17 units 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
1*660KW
800
Fig. 5 Schematic of the reduced wind farm model.

V b690
0

-800
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
6
x 10
Depending on the developed reduced model in the preceding 1 P
0.5
section, the behavior of the simulated stage of Al-Zaafarana Q

P&Qb690
0
wind farm was thoroughly investigated under various faulty -0.5
and non-faulty operating conditions. The prepared simulation -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
cases covered a wide variety of operating conditions including time(sec)
fault type, fault location, fault resistance and wind speed varia- (a)
tions. These cases were applied on the forth collecting feeder 0.2

as describe in Fig. 6. Four different fault locations were con-

Pitch angle

0.1
sidered: at the generator terminals(position A), before the fus-
ing element (position B), after the fusing element (position C) 0
and at the collecting bus (position D). Voltage and current 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
10
quantities were recorded for each running case at different lo-
Wind speed

cations including the generator terminals (Bus690), the high 9

voltage side of the local transformer (BusB1, BusB2, BusB17), the
collector bus (Bus22) and the grid connection bus (Bus220). 8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
This facilitated to explore the overall performance of the wind 1.03
farm properly.
Rotor speed

1.02

Bus1690 .69/22Kv Busb1 1.01

C.B1 Fuse
Unit_1 IG 1
C 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
B
A
Bus2690 C.B2 .69/22Kv Busb2 (b)
Unit_2 IG
Fuse 200

Collector feeder
Ib220

0
Summation 14 unit
Fuse
IG -200
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
5
Busb17 x 10
Bus17690 C.B17 2
Unit_17 Fuse
IG
Vb220

0
Bus22
Collector bus 22Kv

D -2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
22 /220 Kv 7
x 10
5
B220
P
P&Qb220

Network Q

0
Fig. 6 Selected fault locations for applied tests.
-5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

A. Normal operation with varying wind speed (c)

Fig. 7 Simulation response to a change in wind speed from 8m/sec to
First, the response of a single wind induction generator was 9.5m/sec.
examined for a constant wind speed of 8 m/sec. for one sec- (a) Electrical quantities at the generator terminals
ond. The applied wind speed was then increased to its nominal (b) Pitch angle variation
value of 9.5 m/sec. The measured electrical quantities includ- (c) Total wind farm generation at Bus220.
B. Simulating Fault Cases 2000

1) Single line to ground faults

b690
0

Ground fault is generally the most common fault type in

I
electrical networks, whereas its behavior depends mainly on -2000
the fault position, soil resistivity, fault resistance and the ap- 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65

plied grounding methodology. For a solid A-G fault at the ge-

800
nerator terminals (position A), the currents and the voltages at
the generator terminals (Bus690) are illustrated in Fig. 8. No

b690
0
sensible fault current was remarked as a result of the un-

V
grounded stator winding. The resulting overvoltage permitted
-800
the local controller to open the local C.B. within 100m.sec. 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55
time(sec)
0.6 0.65

(a)
1000
2500
Ib690

0 0

b1
I
-1000 -2500
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
4
x 10
4

1000 2
b1

0
V
Vb690

0 -2

-4
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
time(sec)
-1000 (b)
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
time(sec) Fig. 9. Response to A-G fault at pos. B.
(a) Voltages and currents at generator terminals BusB690.
Fig. 8. Response to A-G fault at pos. A. (b) Voltages and currents at BusB1 (fed from other wind turbines)

On the other hand, repeating the solid A-G fault before the 2000
fuse (position B) yielded the shown fault currents in Fig. 9(a) 1000
and (b) fed from the associated local generator and other gen-
I b690

0
erating units (in addition to the main grid) respectively. Sur-
prisingly, the fault current fed from the local generator was not -1000

sufficient to permit tripping of its local breaker (CB1) as re- -2000

marked from Fig. 9(a). On the other hand, the accumulated 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8

fault current from both the other generating units and the grid
network is sufficient to melt the local fusing element as shown 500
remarked from Fig. 9(b). As soon as the aforementioned fuse
was melted, the fault was fed only from the local generator
V b690

0
characterized with voltage reduction at the generator terminals
(Bus690) as shown in Fig. 10. This undervoltage condition, for- -500
tunately, permitted the local control to trip the generator ter-
0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
minals. Similarly, a solid A_G fault after the fusing element time(sec)
(position C) resulted in a relatively lower fault current fed
Fig. 10. Response to A-G fault (at pos. B) after clearing the fault.
from the local generator. The larger counterpart fault current
fed from other generating units (in addition to the main grid),
on the contrary, did not permit to trip the associated fuse. For- 2) Double phase faults
tunately, the collector bus breaker was successfully tripped.
Accordingly, the overall power generated with the correspond- For A-B fault at the generator terminals (Position A), the re-
ing collecting feeder was totally inhibited pinpointing a typical sulting fault current exceeded the pre-determined current set-
distributed generation problem. ting for the associated generator breaker as well as the fuse of
the faulted unit as described in Fig. 11(a) and (b) for both fault
More complex situations were visualized with non-solid feeding currents. The fault was accordingly tripped from both
ground faults resulting from the occurred lower fault currents sides. Although the individual fault current fed from the sec-
even with small fault resistance values. Also, repeating the ond wind turbine was demonstrated in Fig. 11(c), its local fuse
fault before the local generator breaker (along the tower cable) was not permitted to trip its branch. This was resulted from the
is a challenge as well. Then, the need for more advanced pro- obviously larger fault current passing through the fuse associ-
tecting schemes for detecting such faults as well as for mini- ate with the faulty feeder, which accelerating its tripping ac-
mizing the tripped generation units is obvious. tion.
 Similar behavior was obtained with repeating the same fault 3) Three phase faults
condition (A-B fault) before the fuse (position B). It resulted
Fig. 12 illustrates the response for a three phase fault on the
from exceeding both counterparts of the fault current the set-
generator terminals (position A). Fortunately, the three phase
ting boundaries of the associated breaker and the fuse. With
voltage and current quantities at the generator terminals were
repeating the same fault condition after the fusing element
rapidly decreased to zero. The local controller of the associ-
(position C), each participated wind generators fed almost the
ated generator disconnected its local breaker successfully due
same fault current through its corresponding fuse. This re-
to the occurred undervoltage condition.
sulted in completely losing the overall collecting feeder rather 4
x 10
than tripping the faulty branch only. This typical distributed 1

generation figure still represents a challenge for the utilized

b690
0
conventional protection elements.

I
4 -1
x 10 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
1
1000
0.5

b690
0
b690

V
I

-1000
-0.5 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
6
x 10
-1 1
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 P

b690
Q
0

P&Q
-1
500 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
time(sec)
Fig. 12. Three phase fault at the generator terminals
b690

0
V

-500 Repeating the same fault before the fusing element (position
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
B) yielded similar voltage and current profiles for the corre-
time(sec) sponding generator. Fortunately, the large fault current feeding
(a) from other generation units in addition to the grid network ex-
500 ceeded the fuse setting as seen in Fig. 13(a). On the other
hand, other generating units sharing the same step up trans-
0 former had similar voltage and current profiles as shown in
b1
I

Fig. 13(b). This resulted in disconnecting these units by their

-500 undervoltage control, if the fuse associated with the faulty unit
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
failed to operate.
4
x 10
4
x 10
2 1

1 0.5
b1
b1

0
0
I
V

-0.5
-1
-1
-2 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65

0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 x 10

4

2
time(sec)
(b) 1
b1

200 0
V

-1
100
-2
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
0
b2

time(sec)

(a)
I

-100 x 10
4

1
-200
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.5
b690

4 0
x 10
I

2
-0.5

1 -1
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
b2

0 1000
V

-1 500
b690

-2 0
V

0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65

time(sec) -500

(c)
-1000
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65
time(sec)
Fig. 11 Response to A-B fault at the generator terminals (position A).
(b)
(a) Voltages and currents at generator terminal BusB690.
Fig. 13 Response to a three phase fault before the fuse (position B).
(b) Voltages and currents at BusB1.
(a) Voltages and currents at the collector feeder terminals
(c) Voltages and currents for wind turbine 2
(b) Response of an unfaulted unit on the same collector bus
 Unfortunately, repeating the same fault condition after the
fuse element (position C) resulted in disconnecting the whole
collecting feeder. Also, other collecting feeders sharing the
same step-up transformer had similar situation.
In order to investigate the impact of network faults, a three
phase fault was applied 5 km apart from the grid connection
bus. The voltages and currents of all wind generation units
were rapidly decreased to zero as shown in Fig. 14.
4000
2000
Ib6901
0
-2000
-4000
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7
1000
500
Vb6901
0
-500
-1000
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7
time(sec)
Fig. 14 Unit response to a three phase fault 5 km apart from the wind farm
V. CONCLUSIONS
There is no doubt that the impressive growth in the utiliza-
tion of wind energy systems has consequently exaggerates
their remarkable effect on the power system performance. As
a result, minimizing the outages of considerable large wind
farms is quite essential to keep the security of the whole power
system network as much as possible. Hence, providing these
wind farms with the proper, selective and integrated protection
system has an obvious importance. Toward this goal, under-
standing the behavior of these wind farms and their associated
protection systems during faulty and non-faulty operating
conditions plays a basic role. The paper aimed to visualize a
deep investigation of the performance of conventional protec-
tion systems that are commonly used with wind farms. For this
target, a 225 MW wind farm in Al-Zaafarana-Egypt was dy-
namically modeled using the MATLAB package. The wind
farm construction represents the collector feeder as a typical
radial feeder with multiple distributed generation units. Ac-
cordingly, different problems arise with the simple and non-
integrated protection schemes that are usually utilized with
wind farms. Among these problems, unwanted disconnection
of wind generation units, rather than disconnecting the faulty
unit only, is not acceptable. Other problems were highlighted
depending on the associated fault type as well as its position.
The study emphasized the need for enhancing the existed pro-
tection schemes for wind farms to realize better power system
performance as well as minimize the possible damages result-
ing from the fault occurrence. Intelligent techniques may play
a role toward this aim. Further research efforts are being car-
ried out for fulfilling this target.
VI. REFERENCES
[1] R. Ramakumar, N. Butler, A. Rodriguez and S. Venkata, “Eco-
nomic aspects of advanced energy technologies”, Proceedings of
the IEEE, Volume 81, Issue 3, March 1993, pp. 318 – 332.
[2] D. Hornak, N. Chau, “Green power - wind generated protection
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[3] S. Haslam, P. Crossley and N. Jenkins, “Design and evaluation of a
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[4] R. Fuchs, “Protection schemes for decentralized power genera-
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0.75 0.8
[6] Stefan Bauschke1, Clemens Obkircher2, Georg Achleitner2, Lo-
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[7] The MathWorks Inc., MATLAB, Ver. 7.2, 2006, "
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Acknowledgement
The authors are expressing their gratitude to the US-Joint for funding
this project. Deep gratitude to the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy
Authority (NREA) an all members in AL-Zaafarana wind farm for their
constructive cooperation and support.
VII. BIOGRAPHIES
Tamer A. Kawady (M’02) was born in Shebin El-kom, Egypt on Sept. 30,
1972. He received his B.Sc. (honors) and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineer-
ing, Menoufiya University, Egypt, Ph.D. degree (excellent) from Technical
University Darmstadt, Germany in 1995, 1999 and 2005 respectively. Dr. Ka-
wady is currently an assistant professor at Menoufiya University, Egypt since
April 2005. His interests are in digital protection, Power system simulation us-
ing the Electromagnetic Transient Program (EMTP) and Artificial Intelligence
applications to power system protection.
N. M. Mansour is born in El-shohadaa, Egypt on 1978. She received her B.Sc.
& M.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Menoufiya University, Egypt in 2000
and 2006, respectively. She has been appointed as a research engineer at the
same Department for getting the Ph.D. She conducted her M.Sc thesis on the
application of the DWT to line protection.
Abdel-Maksoud I. Taalab (M’99–SM’03) received his B.Sc degrees in 1969,
in Electrical–Engineering from Menoufiya University, Egypt, M.Sc. and Ph.D
degrees from Manchester University (UMIST), U.K., in 1978, and 1982, re-
spectively. In the same year of his graduation, he was appointed as an assis-
tant professor at the Menoufiya University. He joined GEC Company in 1982.
He is now a full Professor at the department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty
of Engineering and vice dean of the Desert Environment Institute, Menoufiya
University. His interests are in hvdc transmission systems, power system pro-
tection, and power electronics applications.