Evaluation of Grounding System Design for Wind Farm Using COMSOL

摘要

This paper evaluates the grounding system design for the wind farm that can be installed in Taif region, Saudi Arabia. Taif Region is considered as it has good enough wind speed rating appropriate for installing electric power conversion systems driven by the wind. However, the Taif region is a mountain area that has high soil resistivity. In order to perform such a study, the apparent resistivity of the Taif region soil is measured at several places considering the Wenner method and then one of the measurements is selected to evaluate the soil construction. In order to estimate the optimum number of layers and corresponding resistivity and depth, the optimization problem is designed based on the Sunde mathematical model of the multi-layer earth soil and solved using the Genetic Algorithm. The optimized multi-layer soil parameters are simulated using the COMSOL Multiphysics that is a finite element program in order to electrically evaluate the wind turbine grounding system and therefore to present the best grounding system design. The parameters of the grounding system are exploited to interpret the design by accomplishing a comparative study concerning the contour, isosurface, and slice of the electric potentials of the grounding systems. The results attain a suitable designed grounding system can be installed for wind farms in Taif region, Saudi Arabia.