A control strategy for variable-speed variable-pitch wind turbines within the regions of partial- and full-load operation without wind speed feedback

In this paper, the control of a variable-speed variable-pitch wind turbine in the whole wind speed range is addressed, without any feedback measurement of wind speed. In addition to an aerodynamic torque observer able to ensure the tracking of the maximum delivered power in the partial-load region, a novel wind speed observer is proposed for power regulation in the full-load region, along with a sliding surface ensuring finite-time set-point stabilization of the speed tracking error. The proposed control solution has been validated on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 5-MW three-blade wind turbine model using the recognized high-fidelity simulation tool FAST.