Power Converters and Control of Renewable Energy Systems

The global electrical energy consumption is steadily rising and therefore a continous demand to increase the power generation capacity. A significant percentage of the required capacity increase can be based on renewable energy sources. Wind turbine technology, as the most cost effective renewable energy conversion system, will play an important part in our future energy supply. But other sources like microturbines, photovoltaics and fuel cell systems may also be serious contributors to the power supply. Characteristically, power electronics will be an efficient and important interface to the grid for the renewables and this paper will first briefly discuss three different alternative/renewable energy sources. Next, various configurations of small and medium power conversion topologies are presented including their control (mainly for PV-systems). Finally wind turbine configuration and their control are described.