ENERCON turbine successfully tested
The measurement campaign of the most powerful wind turbine (WT) conducted on the CWD 4 MW system test bench so far, was successfully completed in January of this year. As part of the joint research project CertBench, the Enercon wind turbine type E115, with a rated power of 3.2 MW, has been tested for six weeks with our innovative Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) system for rotor emulation.
The measurement campaign served to certify the WT’s electrical characteristics according to guidelines. The measurements aimed at analyzing how the models included in the HiL system and also the inverter-based grid emulator influence measurement results. For this purpose, the certification measurements were repeatedly carried out on different model levels within the HiL system and further by the help of the grid emulator and in the public grid. This was the first systematic analysis of the requirements that need to be met by HiL systems as well as by the hardware of system test benches so that a certification of WTs can take place. The results form the base of requirements for system test benches in national and international guidelines; hence, they represent a significant milestone on the path to the certification of wind turbines on system test benches.
Even though the detailed evaluation and assessment of results has not been finalized yet, first, preliminary evaluations have already shown that faults of the electrical grid which are observed in the field, for instance, can be realistically reproduced by the test bench’s grid emulator. It also appears that the models within the HiL system influence the measured electrical properties to a lesser degree than expected. The HiL system’s controller dynamics, however, play a more important part regarding the accuracy of the measured electrical quantities than expected.
“Carrying out this measurement campaign so successfully and reaching closer to our goal of providing the base for the certification on system test benches is owed to the close and constructive cooperation with Enercon, UL DEWI as well as the certification body FGH and the tireless efforts of our project team”, emphasizes Dr. Uwe Jassmann, project manager of CertBench.