Theses and Dissertations Collection

The short circuit behavior of the early generation wind turbines depends solely on the

physical characteristics of the machine. The conventional protection schemes can be

applied to provide protection to these wind farms. But the full converter based Type 4

Wind turbine generators have complex fault current characteristics which are governed

by the converter controls. The control response of the WTG’s during fault is not similar

to that of synchronous generators. The use of relay with conventional protection

schemes may cause misoperation.

In this thesis an attempt is made to explain the complex converter controls and

operation and various grid codes that the wind farms are expected to follow. A new

protection scheme is designed based on the system operation and tested with

simulation fault responses of Type 4 wind turbine in real time digital simulator. This

thesis also explains the reasons that cause misoperation for using convention

protection schemes.