Standalone Operation of Wind Turbine-Based Variable Speed Generators With Maximum Power Extraction Capability

The application of variable speed wind generators in hybrid remote area power supply (RAPS) systems provides opportunities for improved voltage and frequency control together with maximum power point tracking (MPPT), where limited research outcomes exist. The study presented in this paper covers two such hybrid systems: 1) permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) and 2) doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) as wind turbine technologies together with a battery storage and a dump load. The battery storage system and dump load are able to assist in maintaining the active power balance during over and under generation conditions as well as sudden load changes. Through simulation studies, it has been demonstrated that both RAPS systems are able to regulate the load side voltage and frequency within the acceptable limits while extracting the maximum power from wind, which is an inherent capability of variable speed generators. The two RAPS systems and their associated control strategies have been developed and their performance is investigated using SimPowerSystems blocksets in MATLAB.