Steady state power system issues when planning large wind farms

Issues regarding steady state power system characteristics when planning large wind farms are investigated. Studies of a specific grid have been performed. A method for finding the maximum wind farm size at a given site is presented. The investigations show that the maximum wind farm capacity is highly dependent on the electrical configuration at the individual windmills. Reactive compensation increases the allowed capacity when using induction generators. Variable speed generators have the best electrical characteristics and give the potential of increasing the maximum wind farm capacity compared to induction generators. Losses in the internal wind farm grid and the external grid are also affected by the electrical configuration as well as the size of the wind farm. A configuration with induction generators and no reactive compensation gives increased losses both in the internal and external grid. Utilizing the grid to the maximum will also increase the losses.