Gullen Range Wind Farm Field Study
- $271k Funded by ARENA
- $573k Total project cost
Summary
Goldwind successfully installed and tested the Inertia-Based Fast Frequency Response (IBFFR) on 10 wind turbines at Gullen Range Wind Farm in NSW, supported by the wind farm’s owner BJCE Australia.
Need
Goldwind’s IBFFR technology had never been tested before in Australia. This field study provided a good opportunity to explore the technology’s capability.
Goldwind conducted a testing plan to investigate key parameters including response time, ramp rate, amplitude of response, duration of response and recovery period (magnitude and duration). Goldwind also investigated techniques to stagger the response of the wind turbines to provide a longer and smoother power boost.
Additionally, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) introduced a rule change in March 2020 to mandate the provision of Primary Frequency Response from all synchronous and non-synchronous generators in the NEM. Goldwind’s IBFFR may provide a low cost means for wind farms to achieve this requirement.
Learn more
Report: Field Study at Gullen Range Wind Farm
This report shares the results from the Goldwind Field study of Inertia Based Fast Frequency Response at Gullen Range Wind Farm.
Action
The project involved the installation of new control system hardware that offers both voltage and frequency control capabilities. The new control system integrated the wind turbine generator (WTG) and VAr (volt-ampere reactive aka unit of measurement for reactive power) compensation equipment, and allowed control of individual WTGs to provide a short term boost in power output. The boost in power is derived by extracting kinetic energy from the wind turbine’s drivetrain. Typically the boost lasts for about 10 seconds before entering a recovery period.
Outcome
Successfully demonstrating Goldwind’s IBFFR technology is a useful step towards wind farms providing Fast Frequency Response (FFR) services in the National Electricity Market (NEM). FFR services can be useful in managing frequency in electricity systems with low inertia.
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