Supervisors: Dr. Marcus Mueller, University of Edinburgh and Dr. Steve Finney, University of Strathclyde
PhD Student: Tom Wood, University of Edinburgh
Status: Closed
The main objective of this project is to develop a system model of an offshore wind farm focussing on the electrical power generation aspects, and in particular the control of Converteam’s active stator generator technology within a multi-terminal high voltage dc network.
The project will be divided into the following tasks:
1. Literature survey – critical review of existing topologies for onshore and offshore wind farms, and system models developed for both, from which recommendations will be made for the development of models in the project.
2. Active Stator Generator Technology Models – Develop detailed dynamic models of the generator, including thermal performance. Verify the model using design and experimental data provided by Converteam.
3. HV DC-DC Power Converter – working closely with Converteam a dynamic model of the proposed HV DC-DC converter will be developed. This will be based on existing device technology to be used in the proposed converter topology. Thermal modelling, reliability and lifetime costs will be included.
4. Wind turbine modelling – using existing published work a wind farm model will be developed, which takes into account the resource and potential wake effects within the array, so that variations in wind power within the farm can be taken into account.
5. Electrical Generation System Topology – using the developed models in tasks 2-4, different electrical power system topologies for a defined wind farm array will be investigated in order to determine the number of DC-DC conversion stages before connection to the HVDC transmission system.
6. Control Strategies – based on the results of task 5 a model of the system up to the HVDC connection will be completed. For various resource scenarios the system models will be run to investigate control strategies to optimise power output, whilst minimising cost of energy. The investigation will consider control of individual turbines or synchronous control of clusters of turbines within a single farm.
Task 5 & 6 are aimed at optimising the overall topology of the electrical generation system with cost of energy being the main driver.
7. HVDC model – develop a system model of the multi-terminal HVDC transmission system and couple to models obtained from Tasks 5 & 6.
8. HVDC & AC Power Flow Modelling – for various wind resource scenarios and load demand profiles simulate the complete system from resource to connection into the AC transmission system. Simulations will include the impact of faults within the system (pre HVDC, HVDC and AC) export of power flow from the farm to meet load profiles or changes in output from other similar wind farms feeding into the multi-terminal HVDC network.
9. Electrical Generation System Topology Optimisation – based on the simulation results from Task 8 the system determine the optimum generation system topology developed from Tasks 5 & 6, but taking into account the complete system performance.
10. Thesis write up – The student will write up the outcomes of each task as the project progresses, which will ensure the industrial partners are kept informed, and also lead to journal and conference publications. At each reporting stage input from Converteam will also inform the development of the project.