Wind Turbine Technologies

Anca D. Hansen, in Wind Energy Engineering, 2017

8.1 Introduction
The wind turbine technology is a very complex technology involving multidisciplinary and broad technical disciplines such as aerodynamics, mechanics, structure dynamics, meteorology as well as electrical engineering addressing the generation, transmission, and integration of wind turbines into the power system.

Wind turbine technology has matured over the years and become the most promising and reliable renewable energy technology today. It has moved very fast, since the early 1980s, from wind turbines of a few kilowatts to today’s multimegawatt-sized wind turbines [1–3]. Besides their size, the design of wind turbines has changed from being convention driven to being optimized driven within the operating regime and market environment. Wind turbine designs have progressed from fixed speed, passive controlled and with drive trains with gearboxes, to become variable speed, active controlled, and with or without gearboxes, using the latest in power electronics, aerodynamics, and mechanical drive train designs [4]. The main differences between all wind turbine concepts developed over the years, concern their electrical design and control.

Today, the wind turbines on the market mix and match a variety of innovative concepts, with proven technology for both generators and power electronics [4]. The continuously increased and concentrated electrical penetration of large wind turbines into electrical power systems inspires the designers to develop both custom generators and power electronics [5,6] and to implement modern control system strategies.