Maximum power control system for small wind turbine using predicted wind speed.

This paper describes a novel approach of maximum power control for small wind turbines by using predicted wind speed data. Because of the moment of inertia of the wind turbine, when using conventional control method, the time lag of control will occur due to turbulence in the environment. Our proposed control system uses future information, which is the predicted wind speed, for wind turbine control. The control algorithm creates a reference trajectory of the rotational speed of the wind turbine. The advantage of using the predicted data is that the controller can operate the wind turbine efficiently so that the rotational speed of the wind turbine catches up with the reference speed at the maximum power point. Simulation results show improvement of generation efficiency compared to the conventional control method. Then we discuss the influence of the prediction error of wind speed on control performance. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]