Autonomous PV-Array Excited Wind-Driven Induction Generator for Off-Grid Application in India

Isolated renewable energy systems that are based fully on renewable resources but are at the same time reliable are necessary for meeting the power demands of remote places where utility grid is not available and for which hybrid wind-solar systems play a crucial role. In this paper, a simplified control scheme has been presented for a standalone hybrid photovoltaic (PV) array-excited wind-driven induction generator (IG), considering a three-phase variable load with or without unbalance. The proposed scheme exploits the ruggedness and cost-effective IG as a viable alternative for an expensive permanent magnet synchronous generator, which is invariably used in standalone small wind turbines. Any standalone system employs a battery, however, the system is supposed to deliver power even in the absence of battery and the batteryless mode of operation is presented in this paper. The control scheme has been validated with simulation as well as hardware results. Extensive field tests have been performed using 2.4-kW PV panels, 2.2-kW wind turbine emulators, and weather stations for performance evaluation. The validation results have been presented, which show that the proposed scheme is expected to be an attractive solution for remote application where utility grid is either not feasible or not economical.