The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has finalised its rules for interconnection requirements for wind farms larger than 20 MW.
The rule requires transmission providers to add new provisions and procedures for interconnecting large generating facilities in order to address technical requirements for wind power facilities.
The rule recognises the technical differences in the design and operational characteristics of wind technology and removes unnecessary obstacles to development of wind.
The ruling states that wind generators must meet certain conditions such as remaining operational during voltage disturbances on the grid, meeting the same technical criteria for providing reactive power to the grid as required of conventional large generating facilities, and providing for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) to ensure appropriate real-time communications and data exchanges between the wind power producer and the grid operator.