CLASSICAL CONTROL OF ACTIVE PITCH REGULATION OF CONSTANT SPEED HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES

Owing to current concern over the environment, there is much interest in renewable sources of electrical power generation of which one of the most promising is wind power. However, it is not yet a mature technology and many basic issues have yet to be resolved. One such issue is the best means of regulating the wind turbines. Many horizontal axis grid-connected wind turbines have the capability to vary the angle of pitch of the blades which can be exploited to provide regulation. The purpose of this paper is to report on an extensive investigation into the control of active pitch regulation of constant speed, grid-connected horizontal axis wind turbines. The performance attainable by PI control design and classical Nyquist-Bode loop shaping is determined and compared.