Two Strategies for Reactive Power Partitioning in a Wind Farm to Satisfy the TSO Requirements and Assessment of Distribution Line Losses

This paper investigates the effects of two strategies for partitioning the reactive power among the wind turbines of a 90 MVA wind farm located in Southern Italy. The wind farm participates in the voltage regulation service and must meet a minimum reactive power requirement set by the Italian Transmission System Operator (TSO). The first partitioning strategy tested evenly distributes the reactive power among all wind turbines. The other partitioning strategy that assigns each wind turbine 90% of its maximum reactive power capacity, starting from the closest one to the grid connection point, until the total requirement is met. Simulations are performed to evaluate the ability of the wind farm to maintain the required reactive power while keeping the voltage within ±10% of the nominal voltage and remaining inside the wind turbines' reactive power capability curves. The performance of both strategies is compared in terms of meeting the TSO's reactive power requirements, voltage limitations, and Joule losses in the distribution network. The results indicate that the even distribution strategy has lower Joule losses while keeping the voltage ranges, making it the most effective approach. In contrast, the second strategy, although fulfilling the reactive power requirement, results in slightly higher energy losses. Therefore, the even partitioning strategy offers better balance of performance, simplicity, and efficiency for managing reactive power in the wind farm.