Power-Hardware Design and Topologies of Converter-Based Grid Emulators for Wind Turbines
Zejie Li, Xiongfei Wang, Fangzhou Zhao, Stig Munk‐Nielsen, Martin Geske, Rayk Grune, Daniel Bo Rønnest Andersen, Miguel Garnelo-Rodriguez
Abstract
Power-electronic-based grid emulators (GEs) emerge as a favorable method for testing grid-code compliances of wind turbines (WTs), thanks to their full controllability and improved efficiency. To accommodate the increasing power and voltage levels of WTs, scalability becomes a critical requirement for the topologies of converter-based GEs. This paper identifies first the power rating of future GEs based on the system architecture and the evolution of WTs, followed by evaluating converter topologies of GEs for high scalability. Design considerations of power semiconductor devices, step-up transformers, dc chopper and dc capacitors are also discussed for existing and prospective GEs.