Synchronization of variable speed PMSG based wind energy conversion system to the grid with power quality improvement features

This paper presents, grid synchronization of directly driven variable speed permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based wind turbine with unbalanced and non liner loads at the point of common coupling (PCC). The machine-side voltage source converter (M-VSC) is controlled by an efficient vector control strategy to extract the maximum power from the fluctuating wind and grid-side voltage source converter (G-VSC) is actively controlled by instantaneous symmetrical components theory, to feed generated active power as well as to supply the harmonics and reactive power demanded by the non-linear and unbalanced load at the PCC, thus enabling the grid to supply only sinusoidal current at unity power factor. A model of directly driven PMSG-based variable speed wind energy conversion system (WECS) is developed and simulated in MATLAB/SIMULIK environment. The effectiveness of proposed control strategies for M-VSC and G-VSC are validated through extensive simulation studies. © 2012 IEEE.