Study on the Design of Series-Type All-DC Wind Farms Based on Half-Bridge Voltage Balancing Circuits

Offshore wind farms connected in series, with each wind turbine connected in series with one another, enhance the coupling between them. Significant differences in wind speeds between neighboring DC wind turbines (DCWTs) might result in a substantial disparity in the output voltage, hence posing a risk of overvoltage. Nevertheless, implementing voltage-limiting configurations for DCWTs might lead to the dissipation of wind energy, thereby diminishing the wind farm’s capacity to deliver electricity. This work introduces a half-bridge voltage balancing circuit (HVBC) topology as a solution to the issue of DCWT output voltage changes affecting the stable operation of wind farms. The proposed HVBC topology is designed specifically for large-capacity series-connected all-DC wind farms where wind speed variations occur. This design achieves power decoupling for series-connected all-DC wind farms by providing current compensation to the series-connected DCWTs. A control strategy is devised by examining the decoupling principle and operational characteristics of the HVBC. A 60 kV/48 MW tandem-type all-DC wind farm model consisting of six DCWTs in series is built in Matlab/Simulink. The model is then simulated to evaluate its performance under conditions of unequal wind speed, rapid changes in wind speed, and wind turbine failure shutdown. This research verifies the feasibility of the HVBC topology and improves the stability of the series-type all-DC wind farm.