Adaptive peak power tracking for back-to-back wind energy conversion system

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) has been widely studied since it is closely related to the efficiency of wind harvesting. Generally, there are two major approaches to realize MPPT. One is to reach the optimal power point by perturbing and observing the extracted wind power; the other is to reach the optimal power output by tracing the turbine power curve. Each approach has its pros and cons and their features are complementary to each other. This paper demonstrates a new peak power tracking algorithm which keeps the merits of these two types and avoid their drawbacks. The proposed algorithm is applied to the generator-side of the power converter to ensure that the wind turbine is running at peak power output.