Study on Weakening the Effect of Air Density Changes for Increased Power Capture of Individual Wind Energy Conversion System

This article investigated the effect of weather parameter variations, such as air density and temperature changes, on the power capture of permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The air density of the area where the wind turbines are installed is continuously varied throughout the year. It can affect annual energy production because aerodynamic power is linearly dependent on the air density of the environment. In areas with high wind, this air density variation does not affect the power production of the WT much since the high wind can produce enough force to rotate the turbine blades. However, this effect results in a considerable power reduction in areas with low wind speeds. For this reason, it is important to develop a method that can reduce this variation in air density for increased power production. In order to weaken the effect, the appropriate readjustments of optimal blade position (or pitch angle) and optimal rotational speed will be made according to the weather condition data. The simulation study was conducted by using 2WM PMSG-based WECS in Matlab/Simulink®, and it revealed that the readjustment was effective in mitigating the effect of air density variations, and the power production of the WT was increased.