The compression of MPPT methods in small sized wind power plants

In this paper the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms for wind energy systems are reviewed. As the amounts of power produced in wind power plants is changing due to the instantaneous changing nature of the wind, it is desirable to determine the one optimal generator speed that ensures maximum energy yield. Thus, it is important to include a controller that can track the maximum peak regardless of wind speed. Categorizing the MPPT algorithms can be done regarding whether it has used sensors or not, as well as according to the techniques used to locate the peak value. The performance of different MPPT algorithms is compared on the basis of ability to achieve the maximum energy yield and various speed responses. According to available simulation results in the literature, in cases through which the flexibility and simplicity in implementations is considered, the perturbation and observation (P&O) method is preferred, but difficulties in determining the optimum step-size are the restrictions of this method. Due to its simplicity, the best MPPT method for wind energy systems has found to be the optimal torque control (OTC).