Wind farms are an option to provide reactive power, thereby contributing to the control of voltage levels and to the minimization of the system’s electrical losses. However, a challenge in adopting such a strategy emerges from the inherent variability in the energy generation of wind farms, due to meteorological conditions, such as heat waves and cold fronts that impact wind regimes.

The authors present a methodology to establish the required values of reactive power needed from wind turbines to maintain voltage within operating standards, while considering how meteorological and climatic conditions affect both wind generation and electricity demand.

Thanks to its interior-point method, Artelys Knitro allows researchers to efficiently solve the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) model embedded in their methodology, and provide a reliable optimal solution which helps operators to identify where and when a greater reactive power range requirements for wind turbines would be needed to meet optimal operation. Besides its efficiency, the author Leonardo L.S. Santos appreciated the fact that “Knitro is intuitive and lightweight, even running on a basic desktop computer.”.