Development details and performance assessment of a Wind Turbine Emulator

This paper describes an experimental platform to emulate the static and dynamic behavior of real Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS). The Wind Turbine Emulator (WTE) consists of two coupled 1.5 kW squirrel-cage induction machines. The WTE calculations are performed on a PC and a DSP, both connected via USB. The total torque applied to the WTE motor is the difference of the scaled wind mechanical torque calculated on the PC, and the turbine inertia torque calculated on the DSP. An improved WTE shaft speed derivative has been used for the inertia torque calculation, which provides better results in terms of attenuation of the high-frequency harmonics present in the generator speed acquisition. The implemented WTE is used to compare different MPPT algorithms and to test power overrating and low voltage ride through procedures.