Fault ride-through capability inside out

Wed, May 19, 2010

With an increasing share of electricity produced by wind power, the behavior of wind turbines during grid faults has become of great importance. Ever more grid code specifications require that wind turbines must be able to ride through all kinds of grid faults, including faults with very low remaining voltage levels and unsymmetrical (1-phase and 2-phase) faults.

From the control engineering point of view, continuously tougher grid code requirements present many control challenges that are common to both of the two major variable speed wind turbine drive train technologies – the permanent magnet generator (PMG) with a full-power converter (FPC) and the double-fed induction generator (DFIG). Common problems are due to the fact that both technologies use a back-to-back voltage source converter, although for very different purposes.

More energy from optimized permanent magnet generator and full-power converter drive train

Fri, April 9, 2010

The Switch new style drive train has been leveraging an optimized permanent magnet generator and full-power converter package to capitalize on highly variable wind speeds for maximum energy capture and reliable delivery of high-quality energy to the grid. By selecting this technology as its chosen area of focus, The Switch has been able to capture the power of the wind more effectively and transform it into considerably more energy.

“We made PMG available” – switching wind power into a viable reality

Tue, March 9, 2010

The future of the wind power industry largely depends on the reliability of the deployed technology as well as the affordability of the solution. The Switch has challenged the industry, initially by making permanent magnet generator (PMG) technology the preferred choice and now by enabling this technology to be commercially competitive.

The Switch - Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen