Publication:

Impact of generator speed filtering process on wind turbine structural loads

This Final Degree Project has been carried out in the company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, in Sarriguren (Navarra, Spain). The aim of this project is to study the influence that filtering the generator speed has on wind turbine structural loads. First, a classic al control strategy has been designed and then, a load and fatigue analysis has been carried out. This allows the comparison of the structural loads that appear when changes are introduced in the filtering process. When designing a wind turbine control strategy, two main objectives are pursued. On one hand, there is power regulation. It is a regulation control strategy and its aim is to maximize the turbine’s AEP (Annual Energy Production). On the other hand, there is load reduction, which is an active control strategy and it is designed with the aim of reducing structural loads therefore extending the turbine’s time life. Both of them are developed in the control scheme of this project. The wind turbine control scheme that has been designed in this project is a classical control strategy and it is based on traditional wind turbine control. Finally, a pitch control filtering process guide is proposed. Depending on the control’s objectives such as lower loads, higher AEP or lower pitch duty, different filtering configurations are proposed.