Abstract

As wind energy is further integrated into the power grid, real-time monitoring and control of wind power farms (WPFs) will become more difficult. The large amount of data that are generated from the WPFs will increase the burden on communication networks. In order to combat these problems, it is indispensable to develop a reliable communication network capable of managing large amounts of information. This paper addresses a framework to design communication networks for integrating high level of wind power generation into the grid. The proposed network has a hierarchical architecture consisting of three levels: WPFs, local control centers, and a central control center. The network modeling and simulation are conducted to evaluate the performance of the hierarchical network architecture with various link capacities. As a case study, real WPFs in Jeju Island, South Korea, are modeled and simulated under various network scenarios using the optimized network engineering tool. The simulation results were analyzed and compared with respect to the end-to-end delay for different services. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.