A New Experimental MPPT and Speed Control Method for 5 kW Stand-Alone Wind Turbine

Nowadays, renewable energy suppliers, specifically small-scale off-grid wind turbines, play a vital role in electricity supplement for outland regions. Since there are some limitations in the generator power, controlling the generator speed is almost a challenge in off-grid applications. In such applications, the user decides when to turn on/ off the electrical load. When the wind speed and the mechanical energy production rate are high while the consumption of electrical charge is low, controlling and stabilizing the generator will be challenging. In addition, due to the stochastic nature of the energy source (wind), the turbine should keep the battery bank full to avoid unwanted outages. In this article, we demonstrate the electrical details and the control system of a stand- alone 5 kW wind turbine designed and manufactured at the Sun-Air Research Institute. Various control scenarios are investigated and applied to the simulation file. Finally, the results of the physical simulator and Simulink in MATLAB are compared and analyzed.