A tutorial of wind turbine control for supporting grid frequency through active power control

As wind energy becomes a larger portion of the world's energy portfolio and wind turbines become larger and more expensive, wind turbine control systems play an ever more prominent role in the design and deployment of wind turbines. The goals of traditional wind turbine control systems are maximizing energy production while protecting the wind turbine components. As more wind generation is installed there is an increasing interest in wind turbines actively controlling their power output in order to meet power setpoints and to participate in frequency regulation for the utility grid. This capability will be beneficial for grid operators, as it seems possible that wind turbines can be more effective at providing some of these services than traditional power plants. Furthermore, establishing an ancillary market for such regulation can be beneficial for wind plant owner/operators and manufacturers that provide such services. In this tutorial paper we provide an overview of basic wind turbine control systems and highlight recent industry trends and research in wind turbine control systems for grid integration and frequency stability.