Application of energy capacitor system to wind power generation

In this paper, it is reported that energy capacitor system (ECS), which combines power electronic devices and electric double‐layer capacitor, can significantly decrease voltage and power fluctuations of grid‐connected fixed‐speed wind generator. The proper selection of wind farm output power reference is still a problem for smoothing the wind farm output power. This paper proposes exponential moving average to generate the reference output power of a grid‐connected wind farm. The objective of the control system is to follow the line power reference by absorbing or providing real power to or from the ECS. Moreover, the necessary reactive power can also be supplied to keep the wind farm terminal voltage at the desired reference level. Real wind speed data were used in the simulation analyses, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Simulation results clearly show that our proposed ECS can be suitable for wind power application. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.