Power Quality Enhancement of Remote Gas Field Generations with Smart Power Converters

Wenze Li, Rui Liu and Yunwei Li ()
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Wenze Li: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada
Rui Liu: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada
Yunwei Li: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-22

Abstract: Direct power generation near gas fields offers numerous benefits, including optimized economic efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Moreover, building on-site greenhouses emerges as a promising approach to further minimize carbon emissions and residual heat, greatly promoting resource utilization. However, such power plants generally have access to a weak grid due to their remote locations, and they also contain nonlinear local loads, such as the grow lights in the greenhouses. Consequently, the generation system is susceptible to power quality issues, manifested in overvoltage and harmonics. To address these issues, a smart back-to-back converter is employed to interconnect the gas turbine generator and the utility grid. This smart converter not only enhances power quality but also offers potential ancillary services that contribute to the dynamics of the gas generation system, such as damping low-frequency oscillation among parallel-connected generators. In this paper, three control configurations for the back-to-back converter are developed, enabling the coordinated regulation of exported active power, AC voltage, and DC-link voltage in either a grid-following or grid-forming manner. Furthermore, comparative studies are conducted to provide guidelines for selecting an appropriate control strategy that ensures stable operation under various short circuit ratios. A practical gas cogeneration system is chosen to evaluate the performance of the back-to-back converter, and real-time simulations based on RT-LAB are carried out to validate the effectiveness of the methodology.

Keywords: cogeneration; power quality; system dynamics; back-to-back converter controls; grid-following; grid-forming; power system stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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