Drawing of wind-concentrating wind power generation device

What are wind turbine generator technologies?

This chapter presents an overview of wind turbine generator technologies and compares their advantages and drawbacks used for wind energy utilization. Traditionally, DC machines, synchronous machines and squirrel-cage induction machines have been used for small scale power generation.

Are electric machines and drives needed for wind power generation?

As electric machines and drives are core components in wind turbines, it is a pressing need for researchers and engineers to develop advanced electric machines and drives for wind power generation.

What is wind energy & how does it work?

Initially, wind energy started to gain popularity in electricity generation to charge batteries in remote power systems, residential scale power systems, isolated or island power systems, and utility networks. These wind turbines themselves are generally small (rated less than 100kW) but could be made up to a large wind farm (rated 5MW or so).

What are the components of a wind generation system?

In wind generation systems, the wind turbine, the electrical generator and the grid-interfaced converters are three key components that have been developed in the past 30 years 32, 33. The turbine converts wind energy into mechanical energy.

Is direct drive a good choice for wind turbine generators?

Since wind turbine generators are operated with power electronic converters, direct drive topology can provide some flexibility in the voltage and power requirements of the machines. Nonetheless, a drawback of the direct drive is associated with the low operating speed of the turbine generator.

What are the different types of wind turbine generation systems?

Two typical configurations of power electronic converter-based wind turbine generation systems have been widely adopted in modern wind power applications: type 3 wind generation systems with doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) (Fig. 2a); and type 4 wind generation systems with permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) (Fig. 2b).