Fault ride-through requirements for onshore wind power plants in Europe: The needs of the power system

Wind power plants show different behavior than conventional (synchronous) generators. As the traditional power systems mainly consisted of centralized generation by synchronous machines feeding passive loads, it was well-understood how the system reacted in normal operation as well as during disturbances. As wind power plants are foreseen to increase in size and the amount of installed wind power will grow, the relative contribution of equipment not exhibiting this common behavior increases. At the same time power electronics offer opportunities for additional features to stabilize the power system. Transmission system operators impose requirements on the (dynamic) capabilities of connected new generation resources (including wind power plants) which are specified in grid codes. In this paper, the importance of such requirements is explained by looking at the needs of the power system and by showing simulation results for a test network. The paper facilitates a detailed understanding of the underlying phenomena related to grid code requirements with a focus on low-voltage ride-through and voltage support by reactive current boosting.