Control design for two-bladed wind turbines

Abstract

In the past decades wind energy has evolved into a mature source of sustainable energy such that onshore wind turbines have become cost competitive with other fossil-based energy sources. Onshore wind energy, however, faces social resistance and a lack of available locations. Offshore wind energy, on the other hand, offers vast amounts of suitable locations and less social resistance, but is still rather expensive compared to other energy sources. In order to reduce the costs of offshore wind energy, new wind turbine opportunities are considered. One such opportunity can be found in two-bladed wind turbines, which offer several advantages over its conventional three-bladed counterpart. Whereas control for three-bladed wind turbines has been extensively explored and discussed in literature, this is not the case for two-bladed wind turbines. Therefore, in this thesis, various structured controller approaches, with the aim to reduce the turbine loads, of two-bladed wind turbines are proposed, designed, and evaluated.