Performance analysis of a 10 MW wind farm in providing secondary frequency regulation: Experimental aspects

Experimental results and performance analyses of wind farms providing secondary frequency regulation is lacking. This is despite the increasing share of variable generators in electrical energy production. As variable generators displace traditional generators that provide ancillary services, there is a growing need for alternate providers of these services. Wind generators are technologically capable of providing various ancillary services such as frequency regulation. This work presents experimental results of a secondary frequency regulation test carried out on a 10 MW wind farm with Type-V wind turbines. This is a 5 hour test of the wind farm's ability to follow an external, historical automatic generation control signal. 1 MW of power is offered on the regulation market with up-regulation provided via a fixed curtailment. The performance of the farm is evaluated using the performance score methods developed by the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) system operator. Performance scores are used to perform an economic analysis using 2017 hourly PJM price data. This results in an estimated additional income of $7200 from participating in the regulation market versus providing energy alone. A sensitivity analysis reveals that profitability is more influenced by the turbine's performance scores than regulation and energy prices. This work also examines some practical aspects of providing secondary regulation such as pitch activity, power error and operating power ranges.