Danish offshore wind turbine testing expert R&D Test Systems installed the world's first fault ride-through (FRT) test system with a rated voltage of 66 kV at the Østerild wind turbine testing facility in Denmark. The system was developed for wind turbine manufacturers to perform extreme voltage tests to ensure that their turbines meet the international standards required to connect to the grid. After installing large turbine prototypes at the Østerild test site, the national test center for large wind turbines operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), R&D Test Systems designed a new system to meet Vestas' specific testing requirements.

As the next generation of offshore wind turbines become larger, and with the increase in power output, wind farms are using higher voltages to achieve efficient power transmission through the long cables required to bring the generated power to shore. The new R&D FRT test system now allows direct testing of the turbine at a working voltage of 66 kV, avoiding any step-down transformers that convert the test setup to 33 kV.

“The required 66 kV rated output voltage test equipment is not available on the market. Sascha Heinecke, Sales Director of R&D Test Systems, said: “We apply our engineering expertise to large-scale wind turbine testing of onshore and offshore transmission systems, as well as this new The requirements of FRT test benches for grid compliance. "

"We believe that these high-voltage FRT test equipment will become the standard in the future. Since offshore wind turbines will play an important role in the power supply, testing under extreme voltages is critical to proving that the type of wind turbine can be connected to the grid smoothly. . Demonstrating compliance with the grid is essential,” Heinecke added.

Adaptability to power quality problems

The purpose of FRT testing is to prove that wind turbines are resilient to grid power quality issues, such as when a transmission cable is damaged in a storm. The test is designed to ensure that more and more generator sets located offshore will not fail due to voltage changes in the transmission network-a situation that can lead to costly downtime, maintenance and power outages in extreme cases.

"The test system can simulate power outages and overvoltages and undervoltages in the transmission network to monitor the response of the wind turbine," Heinecke said. "This can range from a zero voltage of hundreds of milliseconds to an overvoltage of 120% over a few hours, including asymmetry unbalance between electrical phases, classified as Bollen C and Bollen D. The tests performed are designed to exceed the most stringent grid codes. , And the turbine must remain connected to the transmission network in order to pass the test and obtain the type approval for connection to the grid,” Heinecke explained.

Test the requirements of different countries

The 66 kV FRT system developed and designed is to cope with the different grid standards of Germany, Spain, the United States and Canada, and to ensure that it complies with different international grid standards.

"This is important because R&D Test Systems has no doubt that with the increase in offshore wind power capacity and the need for compliance testing of high-voltage grids, the demand for these test systems will increase in the future," Heinecke added.

It took more than 12 months to deliver the 66 kV FRT test system and hired a multidisciplinary team of electrical, software and mechanical engineers with expertise in wind turbine testing. R&D has 15 years of experience in designing and manufacturing test equipment for this industry.

This expertise in a still relatively new field has brought benefits to manufacturers working with this Danish company. The type approval of wind turbines is mandatory, but the value of the test equipment can be maximized, for example through its ability to test many national grid codes.

Wind turbine testing provided by R&D includes:

RT @paltineanu: On the occasion of our 30th anniversary: ​​✅#INSPET-Past, Present and Future✅#climateneutral✅#energy to the importance of 🇷🇴#Romanians...

@fleetspace received US$26.4 million (USD) in Series B financing, confirming confidence in Fleet Space's advanced #nanosatellite... https://t.co/vknQpHNx44

The EU is investing more than 1.1 billion euros in seven large-scale innovation projects under Innovation F... https://t.co/5OL2spqmWe