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A review on wind energy conversion system and enabling technology

Conference Paper · December 2017

DOI: 10.1109/ICEPES.2016.7915985

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2016 International Conference on Electrical Power and Energy Systems (ICEPES)
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India. Dec 14-16, 2016

A Review on Wind Energy Conversion System and

Enabling Technology
Devashish Amarnath Thakur Swetapadma Panigrahi, R R Behera
Research Scholar, Dept. of EEE Professor, Dept. of EEE Research Scholar, Dept. of EEE
National Institute of Technology National Institute of Technology National Institute of Technology
Jamshedpur, India Jamshedpur, India Jamshedpur, India
devashish.sit@gmail.com

Abstract—In recent years, concern has grown towards renewable from the year 2004 to 2015.In the year 2015, total of
energy sources particularly wind energy for the production of ‫׽‬422GW wind power generation was installed worldwide,
electricity. The scientist and researchers have gone through with the increase of ‫׽‬60 GWonly in 2015 and it is aimedto
rigorous study and experimentationto search the solution for
reach ~760 GW in 2020. India has placed fifth with an
fruitful utilization of wind energy. Our day to day activity is
heavily based on energy, hence the work towards energy research
installed capacity of 237.7 GW in the world’s
is highly important and sensitive. As a result of extensive energygeneration market. Among its present installed power
research, wind energy is now being widely used for electrical generation capacity that is more than 207.8 GW, renewable
power generation. Current paper make an effort to exhibit a counts for more than 25 GW [4]. A pie chart expressing
short review of wind energy conversion system, highlighting its different renewable energy share for electricity production has
aerodynamics, electrical, mechanical aspects, and different been in Fig. 2. Total installation capacity of wind turbine in
control strategies. The crucial survey findings, ongoing research India is shown in Fig. 3.
and future possible improvements for wind energy conversion This paper is purposedto provide a brief insight of wind
system have been discussed. energy conversion system with emphasis on its electrical and
Keywords—Wind turbine; Pitch control; Maximum power point aerodynamic aspects. Moreover, it will discuss current
tracking (MPPT); Energy storage; Electrical generator. technologies associated with wind energy conversion system
(WECS), its challenges and future research direction.
I. INTRODUCTION
II. WIND TECHNOLOGY
It is commonly well known fact that the Earth’s fossil
energy resources like coal, gas, oil are limited.Global
Wind energy is directly being used as mechanical power or
consumption of these resources is growing by each passing
indirectly as electrical power. Wind turbine is the vital part of
day. In this grim situation renewable energy will have to fulfil
WECS that converts wind power into electrical power.A
the increasing demand of energy.Renewable energy is clean
WECS is a complex electromechanical energy conversion
form of energy as it has no emission or unwanted by-products
system consists of many subsystems and components [6].
which can cause harm to the environment. Utilization of
Wind turbine is most crucial part of WECS which uses power
renewable energy is mostly in its conversion to electrical
in wind for conversion into electrical energy.
energy. High cost of oil caused an energy crisis in 1973,after
that western countries started to explore solutionto utilize their
clean renewable energy effectively [1]. Due to excessive
exploitation of conventional sources like petroleum, coal, and
natural gas for energy requirement, the emission of carbon
dioxide and other gases which are detrimental to environment
areincreasing. Because of the rise of harmful gases, average
global temperature is rising at alarming pace. The solution of
this serious environment related issue lies in the use of clean,
long term eco-friendly renewable energy. Therefore, many
countries have already initiated their research work for the
development of newtechnology in order to utilize the
renewable and clean energy that includes wind, solar,
geothermal, biomass and tidal energy. Among all these Fig. 1. Installed wind power global capacity from 2004 to 2015 [3]
existent energy sources, wind energy is one of the most
efficient energy source for the generation of power having
capacity to fulfil world’s energy needs [2]. Due to its
significant growth among other renewable energy sources, it is
becoming a vital source of energy in the present energy supply
system.Fig. 1. shows the accumulative wind power capacity

978-1-5090-2476-6/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 527

 generator rotor to 1000-3600 RPM to make the generator
functional.

• Generator- The mechanical energy of wind turbine rotor is

converted into electrical energy through generator. The ac
generator (asynchronous and synchronous) are generally
found in wind turbine motor market.

B.Wind Aerodynamic Model

Fig. 2. Percentage contribution of power [5]
Air creates two type of dynamic forces when it flows over
Installed Capacity in India any surface, one is drag force (in the direction of airflow) and
30000
another is lift force (in the perpendicular direction of air
flow).These two forces are responsible for generating the
25000
Megawatt

20000

15000 driving torque needed to rotate the turbine blades. The

10000
mechanical power Pw i n d of the wind can beexpressed as [20],
5000

0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Year Pw i n d
2
0 .5 U S R V w
3
(1)
Fig. 3. Wind Power installation in India [4]
Where ρthe density of air, R is the radius of turbine blade, and
V Z is the speed of air flowing. The Power captured by turbine
blades is,

Pb l a d e 0 .5S U R
2
VZ
3
C p (O ) (2)

Where C p ( O ) is the turbine power coefficient, and function of

tip to speed ratio ( O ) , and can be expressed in terms of pitch
angle E .
Fig. 4. Inside of a wind turbine [21] 21

C (O , E )
§ 116
0 .5 1 7 6 ¨
·
 0 .4 E  5 ¸
Oi
 0 .0 0 6 8 O
(3)
p
Presently wind turbines are generally divided into © Oi ¹

horizontal-axis type model (HAWT), and the vertical-axis

1 1 0 .0 3 5 (4)
type model (VAWT). Due to their greater efficiency HAWTs 
Oi O  .0 8 E E
3
 1
are more preferred choice than the VAWTs in most of the
wind industries.
Where, RZ r
O
VZ
A. Wind turbine design

Wind turbine typically consists of several components and Where, Z r is the speed at which wind turbinerotates. The
subsystems like generator, rotor hub and blade, gearbox, and a turbine mechanical torque ( T m ) can be expressed as:
tower. All the vitalparts of a wind turbine as shown in Fig. 4,
are explained below briefly. Tm
1 2
U S R VZ C
3
• Rotor Hub and Blade –The production of power due to wind
turbine depends on the interaction between wind and rotor.
The rotor consists of large turbine blades and hub. Blades
resemble the wings of an aeroplane. It is mostly large in size.
Generally three bladed wind turbines are used in practise.
Another component of rotor is pitch drive, which is used to
keep the rotational speed of rotor blades at desired operational
range of 1000-3600 RPM (Revolution per Minute).
• Gearbox – Gear and bearings are two main components of
gearbox. The rotational speed of wind turbines are typically
around 100 RPM. This much of speed is not sufficient
toproduce electricity as most generator needs the speed of
1000-3600 RPM.Thereforegearbox increases the speed of the
528
O  / Zr (5)
p
2
On the basis of above written equations, a MATLAB program
has been written to analyse the relationship between tip speed
ratio (TSR) and power coefficient at varying pitch angle as
depicted in Fig. 5. It can be concluded that at lowest pitch
angle value of turbine blade, power coefficient is maximum at
given wind speed. It is evident that only one particular value
of TSR yields the highest efficiency. It may also be verified
from the figure that theoretical maximum power coefficient
cannot exceeds a certain value 0.59(Betz limit). The graph of
the power coefficient versus TSR is verysignificant tool in the
characterization of wind energy converters.

Fig. 5. Power coefficient vs TSR curve
III. WIND ENERGY CONVRSION SYSTEM
Physical energy (Kinetic) of wind is first captured by specially
designed blade of turbine to rotate it. Mechanical energyof
rotating blades is transferred to the rotor of generator with the
help of shaft. The generator then converts this mechanical
energy into the electrical energy. This electrical energy is sent
to standalone load or grid through a transformer.For a
complete and efficient conversion of wind power knowledge
from aerodynamics, mechanical, electrical and control system
field is essential. A general layout for WECSdepicting
different parts and systems is shown in Fig. 6.
A. Electric Generator
Although different types of generators [8] are employed in
WECS,double fed induction generator (DFIG) and permanent
magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) are getting more and
more attention day by day, due to their ability of being more
reliable, and capturing wind energy efficiently. Wind turbine
using synchronous generator are often termed as gearless or
direct drive wind turbine generator system. Nowadays, the
PMSG[9], supported with full power electronics conversion
system (Fig. 7(b)) is getting huge attention to generate power
from gearless wind turbine. Magnetic field in PMSG is
produced by permanent magnet, therefore it does not require
dc source for excitation. It has received much focus due to its
self-excitation capacity.
Due to their brushless structure, good dynamic response,
simple operation and less price, induction generator is also
widely used as wind turbine generator [10]. For its operation,
the induction generator needs reactive power to be fed to
generate the magnetic field. Induction generator draws
reactive power from grid. However in standalone application,
demand of reactive power is met by external sources such as,
power electronics converter or bank of capacitors. When
capacitor is connected to induction generator, such
arrangement is called self-excited induction generator (SEIG).
Double fed induction generator (DFIG) is widely used wind
turbine generator nowadays. The rotor circuit of DFIG is
connected by an external variable voltage through slip rings
and can be controlled by external device to attain variable
speed operation [11]. The stator of DFIG is connected to the
grid via transformer whereas rotor is connected to it via
harmonic filter. The DFIG can operate about 30% above and
529
below synchronous speed sufficient enough for normal speed
variation. These unique feature enables DFIG to capture large
market share (about 50%) as wind generator.
In the future, to design the generator with low weight &
maintenance having fault ride through capability will be one
of the main motive. Moreover, reduction in prices of generator
system will be also great issue in the future. Therefore, not
only being dependent upon commonly used wind turbine
generators i.e. PMSG, DFIG or SEIG, focus should be given
on the invention of other new types of generators with light
weight and about near zero resistivity. Superconductor based
power devices has been area of intensive research nowadays.
Size and weight are greatly reduced in high temperature
superconductor (HTS) direct drive generator [12].
B. Evolution of Power Electronics
The contribution of power electronics in wind energy
conversion system is based on motive of increasing its
reliability, energy yield, improving performance of the WECS
by bringing down the mechanical stress. It enables whole wind
energy system to act like controllable generation unit making it
able for better integration of wind power to grid [14]. The
power electronics plays an important role in variable speed
wind turbine system. In the Fig. 7, it is clearly shown the role
of power electronics converter for variable speed operation.
Even in the fixed speed wind turbine system, where wind
power generators are directly connected to the grid, the role
soft starter can be played by thyristor. Though power electronic
devices may increase the cost of the system, this expense may
be tolerated as power electronic converters help in reducing
mechanical complexity, absorb mechanical stress and minimize
the effect of wind gust.
In many cases it eliminates the need of gearbox which is main
reason for losses and failure in wind turbine system.To meet
the huge growing demands of the wind power conversion
system,advanced power electronic technologies are expected to
develop with the purpose of designing power electronics
converters to achieve power conversion at higher voltage level.
Research work is going on designing of a full scale power
converter based on a structure of back to back(BTB) cascaded
H-bridge converter, with galvanic insulated dc/dc converters as
interface[13]. This may be one of the promising solution for
future WECS.A transformer operating at medium frequency
range of several kilohertz is used in DC-DC converter. It
reduces the transformer size significantly.
C. Energy Storage Technology
Flow of wind is ficklein nature. Due to this nature of wind,
power generation is not consistent.Erratic wind power can
cause severe problem in operation, stability and planning of
power system.Therefore, for reliable power generation from
wind energy, there is need of energy storage system (ESS).The
ESS stores the excessive electrical energy produced and
supplies to load when there is shortage of power.Among the
various types of energy storage technologies battery is the
largely used energy storage technology in WECS, which stores
energy in the form of electrochemical energy [15].
 Fig. 6. General layout of wind energy conversion system
The research and development work is needed to makeESS
economically feasible to enable higher penetration of wind
energy into the power system. Nowadays, huge effort is being
given for improving the efficiency, capability as well as
reducing the price of energy storage system.Battery is
extensively used as storage device in WECS. The design of
controller, which will not only control the battery charging and
discharging rate but also prevent battery from overcharging is a
demanding feature of charge controller of battery bank in
standalone WECS. The main obstacle for full commercial
effectuation of energy storage system in WECS is high cost of
energy storage technology and uncertainty over desired benefit.
Thus before installation of ESS, there should be proper
planning and assessment regarding economic viability of the
overall cost of the project.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. Variable speed (a) DFIG and (b) PMSG with power converter.
530
IV. CONTROL STRATEGY IN WECS
Overall control of WECS is most important aspect for the
effective generation of electric power from the wind energy.
The control techniques are applied in different parts and
subsystem of WECS. There are mainly three subsystems
forming the control system of WECS [17].
x Aerodynamic control(Pitch control)
x Machine side control (Active power control,
MPPT).
x Grid side power control
A. Pitch Angle Control
In Pitch angle control, the angle of turbine blades is changed in
order to control its speed and aerodynamic power.As a result, it
is critical for variable-speed wind turbine conversion systems.
It also ensures the mechanical safety of wind turbine when
there is sudden gust. Comparison between various types of
pitch angle control techniques are shown in Table I.
B. MPPT Control
High desirable feature of wind turbine system (WTS) is its
ability to operate at maximum power point (MPP) under
varying wind speed. MPPT algorithm enables WTS to
maximize its efficiency by extracting maximum possible
energy from wide range of wind speed values. Many MPPT
theories have been developed so far with crucial concern as
how to effectively obtain maximum yield (power) from wind
at all instant [7]. A comparison between some important
MPPT techniques is shown in table II.
Future research in MPPT should be in pursuit of more
efficient hybrid technique, which is the combination of two or
more existing method. As for example, Fuzzy logic control can
be used to find the optimal step size in Perturb and observe
(P&O) method. Optimal torque control (OTC) method can also
be merged with P&O to solve the inherent problem of wrong
perturbing direction in the later under fast changing wind
speed. To search maximum power point in the wind farm,
multivariable P&O algorithm is very efficient.
 Fig. 8. Different control strategy in WECS

Fig. 9. Wind energy conversion system with different control subsystem

TABLE I. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TYPE OF PITCH CONTROLLER

Performance under
Controller Reliability Convergence Complexity Performance rapid wind speed Cost
Speed variation
Conventional
controller High Slow Low Low Low Low

Robust Controller Moderate High High Moderate high High High

high
Soft Computing
controller High Faster Low Moderate high High Moderate

Hybrid controller High Faster Moderate High Very High Moderate

TABLE II. COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT MPPT ALGORITHM

Performance
Algorithm Complexity Convergence Prior Memory Wind speed under varying
Speed knowledge requirement measurement wind speed
Tip speed ratio Simple Fast No No Yes Very good
control
Optimal torque Simple Fast Yes No No Very good
control
Power signal Simple Fast Yes Yes Yes Good
feedback control
P&O control Simple Depends No No No Good

531
C. Grid Side and Machine Side Controller
The machine side controller (MSC) enables WECS for the
variable speed operation. It captures maximum energy from
varying wind speed. MSC changes the speed of the rotor to
achieve maximum power and increase the stability of the
system.Grid side controller (GSC) helps in improving
generated power quality,grid code compliance and the
synchronization of the whole system with the grid.It provides
effective means to provide active power control. GSC has no
role in power conversion or generator used. It is mainly
responsible for the quality of the generated power, and
synchronization.GSCis mainly divided into two groups naming
Voltage oriented control (VOC)andDirectpower control (DPC).
V. SMART WIND ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
A smart wind electrical systemconsists of smart meters, smart
appliances, distributed renewable energy resources is getting
wide attention among the researcher community nowadays.
Presently smart grid technology is fascinating area for the
power researcher. A supervisory centralised control fitted with
correct wind forecasting tool will be in core of smart wind
farm for overall monitoring and operation of the system. As
the wind speed is highly erratic in nature and differ from place
to place, in order to enhance the reliability of power system a
single grid might be designed to which all the distributed wind
turbine system might be connected with central power
management unit along with energy storage facility[18].
Nowadays,many consumer equipment and distributed
generation (DG) unitsareequippedbypower electronics
devices.The concept of dc microgrid provides a new solution
to connect different types of DC loads, suchascomputers, LED
lights, variable speeddrives,households,and
businesses,industrialwith DG systems with the help of power
electronics controller [19]. It is getting wide attention among
researchers and scientists. Development ofoptimalwind farm
supervisorycontrol for efficient operation of thewind farm
andESS to befitgridoperationwill be an importantarea
ofinvestigation in future.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a brief review of wind energy systems is
presented mainly focusing on electrical technologies. The
most common configurations for the wind energy conversion
system (WECS) along with possible future research direction
are discussed. Various technical aspects related to WECS,
including generator types, power electronics converter and
storage technologies are explained. Importance of smart wind
electrical system is highlighted. In coming time, huge
challenging task for wind energy system will be its cost–
effectiveness and reliability. Research should be focussed to
reduce the size and weight of wind turbine to minimize its
space requirement. Mostly electric power from wind is sent to
grid. But due to erratic nature of wind flow, it is great
challenge to comply with grid code.This work is intended to
532
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present the current technology related to wind electrical
system and future research direction.
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