Power Fluctuation Reduction of Pitch-Regulated MW-Class PMSG based WTG System by Controlling Kinetic Energy

Abstract

Wind is an abundant source of natural energy which can be utilized to generate power. Wind velocity does not remain constant, and as a result the output power of wind turbine generators (WTGs) fluctuates. To reduce the fluctuation, different approaches are already being proposed, such as energy storage devices, electric double layer capacitors, flywheels, and so on. These methods are effective but require a significant extra cost to installation and maintenance. This paper proposes to reduce output power fluctuation by controlling kinetic energy of a WTG system. A MW-class pitch-regulated permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) is introduced to apply a power fluctuation reducing method. The major advantage of this proposed method is that, an additional energy storage system is not required to control the power fluctuation. Additionally, the proposed method can mitigate shaft stress of a WTG system. Which is reflected in an enhanced reliability of the wind turbine. Moreover, the proposed method can be changed to the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control method by adjusting an averaging time. The proposed power smoothing control is compared with the MPPT control method and verified by using the MATLAB SIMULINK environment.