renewable energy
J. Dirksen
Department of Electrical Characteristics
Measurements, DEWI GmbH and B.S. Nivedh,
EIS-Wind Division, M/s. UL India Pvt Ltd
Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT)
Testing of Distributed Generation Sources
LVRT is short for Low Voltage Ride-Through and describes the requirement that generating plants
must continue to operate through short periods of low grid voltage and not disconnect from the grid.
G
rid stability and security of supply
are the two important aspectsfor
energy supply. In order to avoid
power outages, itis necessary that, power
generating plants should have controlca-
pabilities and protection mechanisms. In
the past,these requirements were mainly
fulfilled by conventionalpower plants. In
the meantime, however, the share of re-
newableenergy sources in the total elec-
tricity generationhas become so significant
that these sources too must contributeto
the grid stability.Therefore the transmis-
sion systemoperators have established so-
called grid codes withcertain critical values
and control characteristics that thegener-
ating plants have to fulfill. An important
part of theserequirements is the so-called
LVRT capability of generatingplants.
LVRT is short for Low Voltage Ride-
Through and describes the requirement
that generating plants must continue to
Fig. 1: Example of the results of a voltage drop test.
4 energetica
operate through short periods of low grid
voltage and notdisconnect from the grid.
Short-term voltage dips may occur, for
example, when largeloads are connected
to the grid or as a result of grid faultslike
lightning strikes or short-circuits. In the
past, renewablegenerating plants such as
wind turbines were allowed to disconnect
from the grid during such a fault and try
toreconnect after a certain period of time.
Today, becauseof the significant share of
renewables, such a procedurewould be
fatal. If too many generating plants dis-
connect atthe same time the complete
network could break down, ascenario
which is also called a “blackout”. For this
reasonthe LVRT requirement has been es-
tablished which is meant to guarantee that
the generating plants stay connected tothe
grid. Additionally many grid codes demand
that thegrid should be supported during
voltage drops. Generatingplants can sup-
port the grid by feeding reactive current
intothe network and so raise the voltage.
Immediately afterfault clearance, the ac-
tive power output must be increasedagain
to the value prior to the occurrence of the
fault withina specified period of time.
These requirements which at the begin-
ning only appliedto wind turbines, now
also have to be fulfilled by photovoltaic-
systems (PV).
Fig. 1 shows the result of a voltage drop
test at a PV system.In this diagram the volt-
age drops to about 20% of the nominal-
voltage for a time of approx. 550ms. The
PV inverterrecognizes the voltage drop and
feeds a reactive currentof approx. 100% of
the nominal voltage into the system forthe
duration of the fault in order to support the
grid. Afterfault clearance the active power
output is increased to thevalue prior to the
occurrence of the fault within 160ms.
Before a generating plant can be con-
nected to the grid,the transmission system
operator normally requires a type certifi-
cate.One of the certification requirements
is the measurementof electrical charac-
teristics which includes a testof the LVRT
capability. This test is carried out by an
independentmeasuring institute. During
the test, voltage dipsare simulated and
the behavior of the plant is measuredand
evaluated. The results are documented in
a test reportwhich together with other re-
ports forms the basis forcertification. Such
measurements are not required for everys-
ingle plant, because normally only the pro-
totypes of aproduct series are tested.
Simulation of voltage dips
The simulation of voltage dips requires a
special technology.Most grid codes and
guidelines have specific requirementsfor
india · ABR14

the test equipment. According to the in-
ternational standardfor the measurement
of power quality characteristicsof wind
turbines (IEC 61400-21) for example, an
inductivevoltage divider is recommended
which is to be connectedahead of the
plant to be tested (see Fig. 2).
This voltage divider consists of a longi-
tudinal impedance(coil) L1 and a short-
circuit impedance L2. The figure showsa
simplified view of the test equipment.
The impedancesL1 and L2 can consist of
several coils each (series and parallelcon-
nection). By changing the ratio L1 to L2
the depthof the voltage dip can be con-
figured. Depending on the respectivegrid
code, different depths of voltage dips have
tobe simulated, for wind turbines, usually
dips to <5%, 25%,50% and 75% of the
rated voltage are required. The durationof
the dip depends on the depth and ranges
from severalhundred milliseconds (deep
dips) to several seconds(flat dips). In some
cases the duration can also extended to-
several minutes.
The test system is normally stored in es-
pecially equippedstandard sea containers
and mainly contains the coils andswitching
devices. Large-size test systems (for gener-
atingplants in the multi-megawatt range),
often require two ormore 40-feet contain-
ers. The mobile test system can thusbe
transported to the respective test site for
free-fieldmeasurements. PV systems are
often tested in the laboratorywhere the
LVRT test system is normally part of thetest
facility. In cases, however, where manufac-
turers donot have their own test facility,
mobile test containers areused instead.
Analysis in the Indian context
In India, the wind energy is concerted in
rustic areas with a very high penetration.
In these cases, the wind power has an in-
creasing influence on the power quality on
the grids. Another aspect is the influence
of weak grids on the operation of wind
turbines.
The recently issued CEA Connectivity
Standards (2013) for wind and solar gen-
erating stationsstipulate that, the wind
generating stationsconnected to the grid
at 66 kV voltage level and above shall have
the fault ridethrough capability. i.e., Wind
generating stations connected at voltage
level of 66kV and above shall remain con-
energetica india · ABR14
Fig. 2: Test equipment for the simulation of voltage
dips.
Fig.3 Voltage dips levels mentioned in the CEA
standards
Where,
VT/Vn is the ratio of the actual voltage to thenominal
voltage at the interconnection point.
nected to the grid when voltage at the in-
terconnection point on any phases dips up
to the levels depicted by the thick lines in
the following curve (Fig.3):
Provided that during the voltage dip, the
individual wind generating units in the gen-
erating station shall generate active power
in proportion to the retained voltage.
Provided further that during the voltage
dip, the generating station shall maximize
supply of reactive current till the time volt-
age starts recovering or for 300ms, which-
ever is lower.
The other power quality limits stipulated
in the CEA connectivity standards for wind
and solar generating stations are, the har-
monic current injections and flicker intro-
duced shall not be beyond the limits speci-
fied in IEEE Standard 519 and IEC 61000
respectively.
The DC current injection shall not be
greater than 0.5% of the full rated out-
put. The wind generating station shall be
capable of supplying dynamically varying
reactive power support so as to maintain
power factor within the limits of 0.95
lagging to 0.95 leading. The generating
units shall be capable of operating in the
frequency range of 47.5 Hz to 52 Hz and
shall be able to deliver rated output in the
frequency range of 49.5 Hz to 50.5 Hz.
Wind generating station connected at
voltage level of 66 kV and above shall have
facility to control active power injection in
accordance with a set point, which shall
renewable energy
be capable of being revised based on the
directions of the appropriate load dispatch
center.
In India, most of the installed wind gen-
erators, being induction type are absorbing
substantial reactive power during startup
and some reactive power during normal
operating condition. Due to intermittent
characteristic of wind, generator start up
takes place multiple times during a day, re-
sulting in huge quantum of reactive power
absorption from the grid and causing volt-
age excursions/ voltage stability.
Furtherthese induction generators can-
not participate in voltage regulation and
require switched capacitor banks for reac-
tive compensation. However, the recent
wind turbine generators (DFIG and PMSG)
and solar inverters depend on AC-DC-AC
converters which have inherent control of
reactive power as well as the low voltage
ride through capability.
Measures must be available to mitigate
the effects of the variable reactive genera-
tion of power. As a result of this, the dy-
namic reactive power compensation i.e.
SVC/ STATCOM shall have to be provided
at Renewable Energy pooling station for
dynamic voltage support and avoid any un-
desirable reactive power flow to or from the
grid. Also this dynamic reactive power com-
pensation i.e. SVC/ STATCOM are having
the low voltage ride through capability too.
UL-DEWI offers LVRT capability
testing for generating plants
As an independent measuring institute,
UL/DEWI has already been testing the LVRT
capability of generating plants for several
years. UL/DEWI is accredited by the Ger-
man accreditationbody DAkkS, accord-
ingto DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005 for the
service describedin this article. UL/DEWI
GmbH is also approved for thisservice by
Measnet and FGW (FGW conformity).
These certification measurements were
carried out on wind turbines and PV in-
verters, using mostly customer’s own test
facilities 7
References:
[1] IEC 61400-21: Wind turbines – Part 21: Measurement
and assessmentof power quality characteristics of grid
connected wind turbines;Edition 2.0 2008-08
[2] Central Electricity Authority- Technical standard for
connectivity to the grid (amendment) Regulation dated
15-10-2013.
[3] J. Dirksen; DEWI GmbH, - DEWI MAGAZINE, AU-
GUST 2013- Low Voltage Ride-Through
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