A DOUBLY-FED INDUCTION GENERATOR DRIVE FOR A WIND ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM

In recent years, there's been a renewed interest in renewable energy sources due to the associated environmental problems and eventual shortage of fossil fuels. Wind energy has gained the most interest of all the renewable energy sources due to the progress in wind related technology (1, 2). The ability of the doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) to achieve variable speed control with the reduced cost of converter requirements proves to be extremely attractive for the purpose of wind generation (3). The reduction in cost is achieved through the control of the torque-speed characteristics of the DFIG from the rotor-side. While this system is commercialized, the com- panies have not published details of the control strategies. This paper provides the necessary background and results toll the void between the commercial product produced by a company like Vesta's, and the literature. The hardware setup, simulated results and experimental results are also presented.