Reactive power supplied by wind energy converters - cost-benefit-analysis

This paper provides a cost-benefit-assessment of reactive power supplied to network operators by Wind Energy Converters (WECs). An approach is proposed to estimate the costs of reactive power supply by WECs with inverter-coupled generators. A cost-benefit-analysis shows the economic attractiveness of reactive power supply in many cases, but also significantly varying costs. An economic optimisation of both, the WEC's and the network's operation, must consider these cost variations.