Powering Europe - European Wind Energy Association

WINDgeNeratIONaNDWINDfarmS–
theeSSeNtIalS
Although on a system-wide level wind power plants
generate electricity just like any other plant, wind
power has quite distinctive generation characteristics
compared to conventional fuels. Firstly, there is the
technical concept of the wind power plant. But perhaps
more importantly, there is the variable nature of
the wind resource driving the wind plant. Understanding
these distinctive characteristics and their interaction
with the other parts of the power system is the
basis for integrating wind power into the grid.
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1.1 Wind power plants
Wind power plant characteristics
In this section, the essential technical characteristics
of wind power plants are described to facilitate understanding
of their interaction with the electricity grid.
This discussion is further divided into the wind turbine
concept itself and the concepts used for wind power
plants.
Windturbineelectricalconcepts
Grid connected wind turbines have gradually evolved
over the last 30 years from simple constant speed
turbines to fully variable speed systems that enable
active output control. In much of the older generation
technology, the wind turbine rotor speed is fixed by
the frequency of the electricity grid, and the turbine
Powering Europe: wind energy and the electricity grid
Photo: C-Power