Modified golden section search based MPPT algorithm for the WECS

Abstract The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms aim to provide maximum power for each time even though the environmental condition changes. It is so important to get maximum available power at each time from the wind energy conversion system (WECS) to be able to get back the capital cost of the system in a short while for the investors. In this paper, an MPPT algorithm based on the modified golden section search (GSS) method is proposed for the permanent magnet synchronous generator-based WECS. Considering the system specifications, unlike the conventional GSS, the proposed method is modified by adding some features to it, such as detecting the variation of the wind speed, dynamic uncertainty range, and eliminating the oscillations around the maximum power point. The performance of the proposed method is validated for different wind scenarios such as suddenly changing wind speed and stochastic wind profile. Besides, the superiority of the proposed method over conventional and variable step perturb and observe methods in terms of maximum power extracted from the system is confirmed by comparative studies. The performance of the proposed method has also been studied experimentally for cases where the wind speed varies in step-type.