Power Conditioning System for a Vortex Turbine based Micro Hydro Power Plant

Harnessing energy from flowing rivers is now an emergent micro-hydro power scheme being adopted all around the world. The fact that it requires less infrastructure and that it is environment friendly makes it even more cost effective and reliable than the conventional micro-hydro schemes involving the construction of dams. This paper presents the analysis and simulation of an electrical power conversion system for a grid-connected variable speed micro-hydro turbine (MHT) power plant. Different from traditional hydro power systems, the MHT runs at variable speeds due to the change in rate of flow of the river and the vibrations at the turbine blades. The output of the system is highly dependent on the rainfall rate. A fuzzy logic controlled boost converter, using P&O algorithm to extract maximum power out of the system, is used to maintain a constant dc link voltage for the inverter. This enables the converter to be dynamically efficient and track the maximum power during variation in output voltage of the generator. A current controlled three leg grid connected inverter working in synchronous dq reference frame is used for the grid connection.