Experimental validation of direct power control of variable speed micro-hydropower plant

Variable speed micro-hydropower energy systems have recently received significant attention in the renewable energy field, due to its overall efficiency and great potential available worldwide. This emergent technology combined with direct power control allows simplifying the burden classical governing mechanical systems, and avoiding the speed control loop. In this paper, a “run of river” variable speed micro-hydropower plant (MHPP) based on a semi-Kaplan turbine is employed and a direct power control combined to a MPPT technique is proposed. This allows high tracking quality due to superior dynamic response. This approach has been experimentally validated by using a dedicated benchmark.