Development of communication system for wind turbines

In the last decade Brazil had a considerable economic growth, resulting in a significant increase in demand for electric power. Because of that, investments were made to search for new alternatives technologies for the diversification of the Brazilian energy matrix. The generation of electricity from wind, called wind energy, presents itself as one of the most viable alternative energy to provide the increased demand. The communication between the components and devices in a wind power plant is an essential feature for a safe and efficient operation. This includes data acquisition and system supervision. The IEC 61400-25 standard specifies the communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants, like communication protocols, information models and others. The DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) protocol (initially used for electric utility, oil & gas, water/waste water and security industries) was selected for the 61400-25 implementation. This paper presents a communication system that exchange information between nacelle and control panel using Digital Signal Controllers and a Embedded PC employing TCP/IP protocol tested in a 20 kW wind turbine prototype.