Harvesting wind gust energy with small and medium wind turbines using a bidirectional control strategy

Abstract

Wind energy is an important renewable source with a stochastic nature. To capture this energy, variable speed generators are installed in wind towers and different maximum power point (MPP) tracking (MPPT) strategies have been developed in literature to maximise the output power. However, in gusty weather, wind turbines fail to track the optimum operating point due to their relatively high inertia. This paper proposes an innovative MPPT strategy to capture the energy of wind gusts. The developed controller consists of a conventional TSR control together with a bidirectional controller, which takes over the control of the rectifier under varying wind condition. The simulation results show an overall efficiency improvement and more stability for the proposed strategy.

Keywords

• maximum power point trackers
• wind power plants
• power generation control
• wind turbines
• wind energy
• important renewable source
• stochastic nature
• variable speed generators
• wind towers
• different maximum power point tracking strategies
• output power
• gusty weather
• optimum operating point
• relatively high inertia
• innovative MPPT strategy
• wind gusts
• developed controller
• conventional TSR control
• bidirectional controller
• wind condition
• harvesting wind
• medium wind turbines
• bidirectional control strategy