Grid-forming control strategies for blackstart by offshore wind farms

Abstract. Large-scale integration of renewable energy sources with power-electronic converters is pushing the power system closer to its dynamic stability limit. This has increased the risk of wide-area blackouts. Thus, the changing generation profile in the power system necessitates the use of alternate sources of energy such as wind power plants, to provide blackstart services in the future. This however, requires grid-forming and not the traditionally prevalent grid-following wind turbines. In this paper, four different grid-forming control strategies have been implemented in an HVDC-connected wind farm. A simulation study has been carried out to test the different control schemes for the different stages of energization of onshore load by the wind farm. Their transient behaviour during transformer inrush, converter pre-charge and de-blocking, and onshore block-load pickup, has been compared to demonstrate the blackstart capabilities of grid-forming wind power plants for early participation in power system restoration.