To expedite market penetration and to facilitate the development of technologies in the renewable energy wind sector, Clemson University is constructing a Wind Turbine Drivetrain Test Facility at its Restoration Institute located in North Charleston, SC. Housed in this facility are two turbine drivetrain test stands, one rated at 7.5 MW and the other at 15 MW of shaft power capability. Each test stand has been designed to provide both static and dynamic multi-axial shaft loading of the turbine drivetrain equipment through a controllable hydraulic load application unit. This setup provides the necessary capabilities for accelerated lifetime mechanical testing and evaluation. Additionally, the facility incorporates the electrical performance evaluation of these turbines through their connection to a 15 MW multi-level power amplifier with arbitrary waveform generation capability. The electrical test apparatus also includes a reactive divider which enables the complete system to conduct low voltage ride-through and high voltage ride-through testing for the wind turbines. Although electrical testing of the wind turbines is necessary, it is anticipated that it will only be conducted on a periodic basis. Therefore, with the required level of sophisticated electrical test equipment for low voltage ride-through already being installed; a real-time digital power system simulator is also being installed to create a 15 MW hardware in the loop electric grid test platform. This paper details the development strategy and implementation effort for realizing the electrical test portion of the overall facility and its unique capabilities for multi-megawatt evaluation of power grid components and technologies.
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