One-phase reluctance generators in low-power wind plants

Wind power plants (WPPs) are widely used in many countries of the world. In many cases such WPPs are employed as independent installations, in the absence of centralized power supply, whereas in other countries they are used for reducing the cost of electric energy. In such cases the self-produced energy is mostly used in windy days while the centralized power supply - when there is no wind [1-7]. The demand for low-power plants exists also in Latvia, since many farming economies and suburban summer households are remote from the transmission lines, and many consumers are interested in cheaper electric energy [2, 3]. The above said determines a continuous search for the ways of how to reduce the cost of producing low- power WPPs and to improve their reliability. One of the ways of obtaining such result is simplification of the design, improvement of the reliability and reduction in the maintenance cost for wind generators.