Real-time power-hardware-in-the-loop discrete modeling of PMSM wind turbines

Increasing global interest in clean and distributed energy systems emphasizes the importance of power electronics technologies in grid integration of renewable energy resources. High penetration of renewables such as wind turbines introduces new challenges for the grid stability seeking appropriate solutions. From a technical and economic point of view any application and testing of new management schemes in real power networks is risky. To overcome these obstacles, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) technologies appear as a suitable and logical option, because they make equipment or control algorithm evaluation easier, faster and more economical. This paper addresses the hardware-in-the-loop discrete time modeling of a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) wind turbine (WT). The discrete time modeling has been considered and used so that the developed models can be executed in real-time on an industrial computer. In addition, some features of the Smart Energy Integration Lab (SEIL) - a purposely build lab environment for implementation of grid scenarios and the HIL system used for the implementation are presented. Finally, the paper experimentally validates the design methodology for real-time emulation of wind turbines.