A Review of the State of the Art of Generators and Power Electronics Converter Topologies for Wind Energy Conversion System

With rapid development of wind power technologies and significant growth of worldwide installed capacity of wind power, wind energy conversion system has become a focal point in the research of renewable energy sources. This paper provides comprehensive reviews of past and present power electronics converter topologies applicable to various wind turbine systems with different generators. An overview of different wind generator systems and their comparisons are presented, the contemporary wind turbines are classified with respect to both their control features and drive train types; their strength and weakness are described. The various generator –converter combinations are also compared on the basis of topologies. In addition, the possible method of using the power electronics technology for improving wind turbine performance such as power quality, efficiency and control complexity has been described.