CCECE 2014 1569877045
Performance Comparison of Standalone SCIG and PMSG-Based Wind Energy
Conversion Systems
Z. Alnasir, Student Member, IEEE and M. Kazerani, Senior Member, IEEE
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Ontario, CANADA
Abstract- Off-Grid small wind turbines provide a very
attractive renewable energy source for remote communities
and small businesses. Due to its high reliability and efficiency,
gearless-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator
might currently be the most common wind turbine in such
application. However, wind turbines using geared- squirrel
cage induction generator are still widely accepted due to
robustness, simplicity, light weight and low cost. This work
develops variable-speed wind energy conversion systems
using squirrel cage induction generator and permanent
magnet synchronous generator. Both generators are
connected to the load through a switch-mode rectifier and an
inverter. The performances of both generators are examined
under comparable power ratings and similar control
techniques. A comparison between the two generators is
presented for generators fault characteristics, generators
efficiency under maximum power point tracking control,
generators current harmonic distortion and generators
behaviour under unbalanced load condition.
I. INTORDUCTION
Isolated diesel generators are very-well established
power sources for rural areas where connection to grid is
either not practical or very expensive. However,
environment concerns, high costs of fuel and fuel
transportation, as well as high operation and maintenance
costs, make this option not desirable anymore. Instead, off-
grid or stand-alone small wind turbines provide a very
attractive renewable energy source for remote
communities.
Unlike fixed speed turbine, variable speed turbines,
which require a partial- or full-scale power converter,
ensures smooth and fast power flow control, maximum
power point tracking and high quality for the power
delivered [1].
Due to its high power density and reliability, permanent
magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) may currently be
the most common generator in small-scale, stand-alone
direct-drive wind energy conversion system (WECS) [2].
However, PMSG suffers from high cost and future security
issues associated with the permanent magnet materials [3].
On the other hand, squirrel cage induction generator
(SCIG) is a robust, low-cost and low maintenance
machine. However, the machines low efficiency caused by
high reactive power consumption and the involvements of
gearbox, which is sensitive to faults and require regular
maintenance, are the main weak points of geared-drive
SCIG. Gearbox is one of the most critical parts of geared-
drive WECS. If it fails, it needs a long time for repair or
978-1-4799-3010-9/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE
1
replacement [4]. However, gearless-drive turbines have
significant failure rates in generator and power converter
because they have their main shafts, bearings, and
generators integrated into one structure with no buffer to
absorb the transients. Also, their size is larger due to multi-
pole construction. Indeed, a study on different wind
turbines has shown that overall failure rates are not reduced
by eliminating the gearbox [5].
Synchronous and induction generators were generally
compared for wind energy application in [6]. A comparison
between gearless-drive and geared-drive WECS was
conducted in [7]. In [8], Performance of PMSG-based
WECS was compared with doubly fed induction generator
(DFIG)-based WECS for on-grid application. Reference
[2] has focused on PMSG as the most common generator
in stand-alone WECS whilst [9] has listed the work
focused on induction generators as mature machines for the
same application.
This paper develops models for two small-scale WECSs:
geared SCIG- and gearless PMSG-based WECS for stand-
alone application. Both models use a three-phase diode
bridge rectifier and an inverter with DC link capacitor in
between. Such a topology is widely used for PMSG due to
its simplicity and cost effectiveness [10]. The same
topology can be used with SCIG, but an external source of
reactive power is required for excitation purpose.
This paper aims to examine the performances and
characteristics of SCIG and PMSG in terms of generator
response under short circuit fault, generation capability at
different wind speeds, generators current waveform
distortions at different operating speeds and generator
characteristics under unbalanced load condition.
The organization of the paper is as follows: The two
turbine systems are described in section II. The related
control schemes are explained in section III. Section IV
gives the details of modeling using SimPowerSystem tools
in MATLAB/SIMULNK. Simulation results are evaluated
in section V. Section VI summarizes and concludes the
paper.
II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
In this section, wind turbine characteristics and structures
of stand-alone SCIG and PMSG WECSs are described.
CCECE 2014 Toronto, Canada
A. Wind turbine characteristics Cp-O curves at differenet pitch angles E

0.5 E =0
Cpmax
The mechanical power captured by a wind turbine (

Power Coefficient Cp
0.4
can be obtained from (1). E =5

0.3 E =10

    (1) 0.2
E =15

0.1
where E =25

: Air density ( at 15 C) 0 E =20

: Turbine swept area in , -0.1

0 5 O
opt 10 15
: Radius of blades in Tip-speed ratio O
Fig. 1. Performance coefficient versus tip speed ratio )
: Wind speed in for various blade pitch angles.
: Tip Speed Ratio or the ratio of rotor blade tip speed to
wind speed,  , where : mechanical angular Power-speed curves of wind turbine at E =0

speed of the turbine in .

(pu of nominal mechnical power)

13 m/s
: Blade pitch angle in degrees 1

Turbine output power

: Wind turbine performance coefficient, is a function 0.8
Rated power at base wind speed 12 m/s

of and as given in (2) [11]. 11 m/s

0.6

10 m/s
0.4

9 m/s
8 m/s
0.2
(2) 7 m/s
6 m/s

With 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Wind turbine speed (pu of nominal generator speed)
(3)

Fig. 2. Turbine power characteristics at zero pitch angle.
The characteristics, for different values, are
illustrated in Fig. 1 for a three-blade horizontal-axis wind
turbine. The maximum ( , for zero , is obtained 9- Storage Battery which is connected to the DC link
through a bidirectional buck-boost DC/DC
at . This particular is known as optimal .
converter.
Fig. 2 shows the steady state mechanical power-speed 10- Dump load which is connected in parallel with the
curves for a variable-speed, fixed-pitch wind turbine in per
DC link trough an IGBT switch ( ).
unit. The curves show the nonlinear relation between the
mechanical power and wind speed. The dotted curve links
SCIG-WECS requires two more components: gearbox and
the optimum power points at each wind speed. The figure
capacitor bank which supplies the reactive power required
is obtained with base speed of 12 and rated power of to excite the generator. On the other hand, multi-pole
 at  base rotational speed. If a gearbox is PMSG is directly coupled with the turbines blades and
required, wind turbine speed and torque are excited internally by permanent magnets. Thus, neither
transferred to the generator level by considering the gear gearbox nor capacitor bank is compulsory for PMSG-
box ratio . (i.e., and ) where and WECS.
are the generators torque and speed, respectively.
Excitation
Capacitor Bank
B. Structures of SCIG and PMSG-WECSs
Rotor Gear Diode
DC/DC Boost Converter Dump DC
Blades Box Rectifier PWM-VSI
As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, stand-alone SCIG and PMSG- Ld
Id Load Link
LC Filter PCC
D Sd
based WECSs, with full scale power converters, consist of: SCIG
Sb Cdc/2
Lf LOAD 1
Cd Vdc Cf
1- Rotor blades Rd
Cdc/2
LOAD 2 N

LOAD 3
2- Generator
3- Three phase diode bridge rectifier Sbuck
4- DC/DC boost converter which is used to achieve Ibat
Lb
maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
Battery

Sboost
5- DC-Link capacitor
6- IGBT PWM- three phase voltage source inverter Bi-directional DC/DC Buck-Boost Converter
7- LC Filter which attenuates the harmonics produced
by the PWM inverter Fig. 3. Stand-alone SCIG-based WECS.
8- Point of common coupling (PCC) or Load Bus

2
 Diode
Rectifier
DC/DC Boost Converter Dump DC
PWM-VSI
Assuming a three-phase balanced load is supplied by the
Rotor Id Load Link
Blades Ld LC Filter PCC system, the load side inverter is controlled in order to
PMSG D Sd
Sb Cdc/2
Lf LOAD 1 maintain a fixed voltage and frequency at the load
Cd Vdc
Rd
Cf LOAD 2 N terminals. A simple PI controller is used for such a purpose
Cdc/2
LOAD 3 as shown in Fig. 7.
In reality, the distribution system loads are unbalanced
Sbuck and therefore voltage imbalance is usually expected.
Ibat
Lb
Unbalanced load condition has a specific impact on the
generator as well as the quality of power delivered to the
Battery

Sboost
load. The effects of unbalanced load will also be
considered in this paper.
Bi-directional DC/DC Buck-Boost Converter

Fig. 4. Stand-alone PMSG-based WECS.

III. CONTROL STRATEGIES

The concepts of control applied to both WECSs are

basically the same.
The maximum power, available from the turbine at any
wind speed, is extracted by controlling the duty cycle of
the DC/DC boost converter ( ). The control is based on Fig. 5. MPPT with optimal tip speed ratio control.
keeping the tip speed ratio at the optimal value. As shown

in Fig.5, the reference signal for rotational speed ( ) is
produced based on the optimal tip speed ratio ( ) and
the measured wind speed ( ). The error between the
reference speed and the measured speed is given to PI
controller which produces the reference signal for the DC
current () . The difference between and the measured
is used to generate the gating pulse for switch so that
the output of rectifier is regulated and MPPT is achieved.
DC-link decouples the generator side from the load side,
providing the required control flexibility and enabling fast
control of active and reactive power. DC-link voltage is
controlled using power management among the generator,
battery and dump load. The battery is required to store the
excess power during high wind speed and compensate for
the shortage of power to meet the demand at low wind
speed or when the turbine is not operating. If the battery
reaches its upper limit of state-of-charge (SoC), the excess Fig. 6. DC-link control scheme .
power generated from the wind should be dissipated in the
dump load. To achieve such a purpose, a control scheme,
modified from [12] is employed in this paper. The scheme
is shown in Fig.6. The control is done by comparing the

reference DC voltage ( ) with the measured and the
error is processed by the PI controller to produce the

reference battery current ( ). This current is then
compared with the battery measured current and the
difference is processed by a hysteresis controller which in
turn produces gating pulses for the IGBT switches
and . To prevent blackout and guarantee a longer
operating life, the batterys state of charge (SoC) is kept
between 25% and 85%. When batterys state of charge
exceeds 85%, the dump load consumes the excess power to
keep the DC voltage at the desired level. Fig. 7. Load-side inverter control for balanced load.

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 IV. SYSTEMS MODELING 3. Converters and storage

The systems depicted in Figs. 3 and 4 are built in In both WECS configurations, the generator delivers
Matlab/Simulink with help of SimPowerSys tools. A power through a bridge rectifier. The DC link voltage is
30kW-wind turbine, which can supply power to a small maintained at 634V by power management controller
village, a large farm or a small enterprise, with an energy shown in Fig. 6. The DC link supplies power through an
storage system, is used for simulation. For both models, IGBT inverter to the load at 380V. The inverter switching
generators saturation effect is assumed to be negligible. frequency is selected as 1.98 kHz in order to achieve a high
frequency modulation ratio. This, however, results in high
frequency harmonics that need to be filtered using a simple
1. Modelling of geared-SCIG WECS passive L or LC filter. An LC filter, designed according to
the equations given in [14], is used in this work. The
A 3-phase, 4-pole, 60Hz, 30kW, 480V SCIG is coupled
filters parameters are  and 
with the turbines rotor through a gearbox. An ideal
gearbox with negligible moment of inertia is assumed and A Lead Acid Battery (LAB) is used in this simulation.
hence only the gear ratio is considered. The stator winding Considering a daily load of 30kWh and battery rated
resistance and inductance are and voltage of 380V with 60% depth of discharge, the capacity
, respectively, whereas the rotors parameters of the storage is designed as follows:
referred to stator are and . The 
magnetizing inductance is . Machines 
parameters in addition to applied shaft speed and excitation 
level determine the generated voltage and frequency. The Thus, 64 standard commercial 6V, 132Ah batteries are
machine is excited by a balanced three-phase capacitor connected in series to produce a total storage capacity of
bank (). Either initial capacitor voltage or 50.7 kWh.
machines residual magnetism is required for the flux to
build up and the generator to operate [13].
The electromagnetic torque ( ) generated by SCIG can V. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
be obtained from (4). The steady state mechanical swing
equation is given by (5). A- Characteristics of SCIG under short circuit fault
Since the purpose of this test is to evaluate the
(4)

performance of generator under faults, the generator is
directly connected to the load bus without any power
(5) converters at this stage. At rated wind speed (12m/s) and

after the generator reaches its steady state at 1 pu rotor
where, speed, corresponding to 1.017 pu of synchronous speed, a
: Number of pole pairs phase to phase fault is applied between stator terminals at t
: Overall system effective moment of inertia ( ) = 1 sec. Fig. 8 shows the responses of SCIG to the fault.
: Friction coefficient ( ) Stator phase voltage completely collapses at 1.4 sec.
: Rotor electrical angular speed (). because the flux in the machine collapses. A sudden rise
and fall in stator currents and electromagnetic torque starts
2. Modelling of gearless-PMSG WECS at t = 1 sec. and ends up at zero in around 0.2 sec. This
demonstrates the desirable feature of SCIG in providing
A 3-phase, 60-pole, 30kW, 480V PMSG is directly natural protection against short circuit. However, a speed
coupled with the turbines rotor. The stator winding control, such as a mechanical break or pitch angle control
resistance is . The stator d-axis and q-axis should be activated in order to limit the rotor speed under
inductances are . The PMSG is a the fault.
self-excited machine as it provides the rotor flux by its
permanent magnets ( ). The rotor flux is assumed to be B- Characteristics of PMSG under short circuit faults
fixed and hence the open-circuit voltage, which is assumed
to be sinusoidal, is linearly proportional to the generator PMSG is examined under the same conditions of part A.
speed. The generator produces torque at a low synchronous The response of the machine to the fault is shown in Fig. 9.
speed of 120 rpm (). The electromagnetic Once the fault is applied, a transient condition occurs. Fault
torque ( ) generated by PMSG can be obtained from (6). current increases, but does not reach very high values due
to the generator series inductance. Generator stator current

(6) reaches 4 pu in a second and keeps increasing. If such

4
overcurrent is allowed to persist, it may lead to machines C- Power generation at various wind speeds
thermal damage. Irreversible demagnetization of magnet
material may also be caused [15]. The rotor speed suddenly Both WECS configurations are run for different wind
falls down and then keeps oscillating between 0.2 and 3 pu, speeds. The MPPT controller, shown in Fig. 5, adjusts the
which is a heavy burden for the mechanical system. rotor speed to the reference speed where maximum power,
Electromagnetic torque suddenly ramps up to 2 pu and then available at each wind speed, is captured. Based on Figs.
keeps oscillating, adding high stress on the shaft. 10 and 11, it can be seen that MPPT controller works well
Therefore, Unlike SCIG, PMSG has an undesirable by tracking the reference speed. However, the actual speed
response to the fault and hence a protection scheme cannot change instantaneously due to the effect of system
becomes a must. inertia. Table I displays the active power generated (Pg) by
SCIG and PMSG at various wind speeds. For comparison
purposes, the same mechanical power is applied to both
Rotor Speed generators. Unlike SCIG, PMSG operates at almost unity
1 power factor (UPF) and high efficiency. Therefore, PMSG
Wr (pu)

0.5 performs better, especially at rated speed. However, as

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
shown in Fig. 10, the PMSG rotor speed under UPF control
Electromagnetic Generated Torque
doesnt reach 1 pu, even at a wind speed higher than the
10
rated wind speed. This is due to the UPF constraints
0
specified by stator inductances, limiting the stator current
Te (pu)

-10

-20
magnitude and angle [16]. This limits the turbines
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
mechanical power available at rated and high wind speeds
2
Stator Phase Voltage
(i.e., .
Based on the simulation results obtained, it can be noted
Vabc (pu)

0
that SCIG is less efficient than PMSG at low and high
-2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 wind speeds. However, SCIG is a competitor to PMSG at
Stator Phase Current medium wind speeds. It has been shown that at constant
20
load and excitation, efficiency of SCIG is inversely
Iabc (pu)

0
proportional to the ratio of actual rotor speed to rated
-20
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
synchronous speed (i.e., ) [17]. As this
Time (sec) ratio decreases with decrease in wind speed, the efficiency
increases. However, efficiency of SCIG is also
Fig. 8. Response of self-excited SCIG to short circuit fault. proportional to actual generated frequency which is
reduced as the wind speed becomes lower, resulting in a
Rotor Speed
3 lower generators efficiency.
2 If machines magnetic saturation is to be considered, the
Wr (pu)

1
variations of mutual inductance in SCIG and q-axis
0
inductance in PMSG with magnetizing current, and q-axis
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
stator current, respectively, should be taken into account
Electromagnetic Generated Torque
6 [18],[19]. As a result, the generated torque in both
4
machines is no longer a linear function of the stator
Te (pu)

2
current. For accurate torque, power and power factor
results, the saturation effect has to be considered in
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 machine modelling, especially in small machines, where
Stator Phase Voltage air gap is narrow and effect of saturation is significant.
5
Vabc (pu)

0 D- Generator current waveform quality at various wind

speeds
-5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

Stator Phase current

The nonlinear characteristic of three-phase diode bridge
5
rectifier causes harmonic currents to flow in the generator.
Moreover, the excitation capacitors amplify current
Iabc (pu)

0
harmonics in the case of SCIG turbine, especially at high
-5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
frequency, where the capacitance reactance is low [20].
Time (sec)
Fig. 12 shows the generator side current waveforms at
rated operational speed for both WECSs. The total
Fig. 9. Response of PMSG to short circuit fault.

5
 Table I
Comparison of active power generated at various wind speeds.
Wind SCIG PMSG
Speed
(m/s) Pg %Efficiency Powr Pg % Efficiency Power
(kW) Factor (kW) Factor
3 0.31 67% 0.72 0.44 94.7% 0.98
4 0.91 82.8% 0.76 1.04 94.7% 0.98
6 3.59 95.6% 0.84 3.56 94.7% 0.98
8 8.5 96% 0.84 8.4 94.7% 0.98
10 16.3 93.4% 0.82 16.5 94.8% 0.98
12 27.4 86% 0.8 27.6 94% 0.96
13 32.3 86% 0.8 33.2 94% 0.96

Generator Current (SCIG)

Wind Speed (m/s) 1.5
15
1
10
0.5

Iabc (pu)
5 0

-0.5
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-1
Rotor Speed (pu)
1.5 -1.5
- - - Reference 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
1 ___ Actual Generator Current (PMSG)
1.5
0.5
1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0.5
Iabc (pu)

Generated Active Power (kW)

40 0
30 -0.5
20 -1
10
-1.5
0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Time (sec)
Time (sec)

Fig. 12. Generator stator currents at rated wind speed.

Fig. 10. MPPT response and generated power in PMSG.

Wind Speed (m/s)

15 harmonic distortion (THD) in the case of SCIG is 17.4%,
10
while it is twice as high in case of PMSG (i.e., 35%).
However, THD varies with generated frequency. Thus,
5
THDs of both generators currents at different wind speeds
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 are given in Table II. The table show high THDs in both
Rotor Speed (pu) generators, especially at low wind speed corresponding to
1.5
- - - Reference
low- frequency operation. However, the distortion in
1 ___ Actual
PMSG is more significant. Such high harmonics increase
0.5 the generators core and winding losses [21]. Therefore, a
0 passive or active harmonic filter is often used in the
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Generated Active Power (kW)

generator side converters to limit the current distortion.
40

30 TABLE II

20
Comparison of THD for generator currents without filtering.
10
Wind THD%
0
Speed
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time (sec)
(m/s) SCIG PMSG
6 54 61
8 50.8 52.2
Fig. 11. MPPT response and generated power in SCIG. 10 30.3 37.5
12 17.4 35

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E. Generator behaviour under unbalanced load
The simulation results, shown in previous sub-sections,
were obtained under three-phase balanced load condition.
However, the distribution system loads are usually
unbalanced and hence the currents in three phases are not
equal. Thus, a connection to neutral terminal is required.
Since no transformer is employed in both WECSs, the load
neutral terminal is connected directly to the midpoint of the
DC link by means of a capacitor divider. The unbalanced
load has negative impacts on the generation side as well as
the quality of power delivered to the load side. This sub-
section focuses on the effects of unbalanced current on the
generators. In a three-phase system, the instantaneous
power of each phase is represented by a DC component
plus a second harmonic component. When the load is
unbalanced, the second harmonic terms will not cancel out
and instead will appear in the DC link [22]. At rated wind
speed, unbalanced loads of 8 kW, 10 kW and 12 kW for
phases a, b and c, respectively, are supplied by both WECS
configurations at 0.05 sec. To investigate the effect of DC
link controller, the DC link currents and electromagnetic
torques are shown with both inactive and active DC link
controller in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively.
DC-link Current (SCIG)
2 1.5
The first point that can be noticed, in both figures, is the
ripples in the electromagnetic torque of both generators.
The torque alteration is a result of nonlinear nature of
diode rectifier which causes distortion in the stator current
waveforms, leading to torque ripples in the generator.
Torque ripples are more significant in PMSG due to
stronger effect of cogging torque. As shown in Fig. 13,
where dc-link voltage is left unregulated, the DC link
current highly oscillates under unbalanced load (.e., after t
= 0.05 sec). As a result, the generators torque will pulsate.
The percent changes in torque ripples from balanced to
unbalanced load are similar in both generators. Torque
oscillations shorten life of the shaft and gearbox and cause
acoustic noise. Moreover, the unequal stator currents will
create hot spots on the winding due to unequal copper
losses. In Fig.14, the dc-link voltage is regulated by the
controller shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that the dc-
current oscillations are significantly reduced in both
generators and the percent change in torque ripples from
balanced to unbalanced load (i.e., after 0.05sec) is
negligible. However, there are still some ripples in the dc-
current which increases the conduction losses of the power
converters.
DC-link Current (SCIG)

1.5
1
Id (pu)

Id (pu)

0.5
0.5

0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
Electromagnetic Torque (SCIG)
0
Electromagnetic Torque (SCIG)
0

-0.5
-0.5
Te (pu)

Te (pu)

-1
-1

-1.5
0 0.05 0.1 0.15
-1.5
0 0.05 0.1 0.15
DC-link Current (PMSG)
2 DC-link Current (PMSG)
1.5

1.5

1
Id (pu)

Id (pu)

0.5
0.5

0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
Electromagnetic Torque (PMSG) Electromagnetic Torque (PMSG)
2

1.5
1.5
Te (pu)
Te (pu)

1
1

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 13. Generator characteristics under unbalanced load Fig. 14. Generator characteristics under unbalanced load
condition with DC-link controller deactivated. condition with DC-link controller activated.

7
In summary, the effect of unbalanced load on generators
torque is similar in both generators and it can be
significantly diminished by regulating the DC-link voltage.
VI. CONCLUSION
The performances of two stand-alone WECS
configurations based on SCIG and PMSG were compared
in this paper. Both systems had full-scale power
converters. The comparison were conducted pertaining to
generators fault characteristics, power produced from both
generator at various wind speeds, current harmonic
distortions of both generators and effect of unbalanced load
on both generators. The models were developed using
MATLAB SimPowerSystem toolbox. Both models were
controlled by the same MPPT scheme, DC-link controller
and load-side controller.
The advantage of the self-excited SCIG in providing
natural protection against short circuit was demonstrated.
In contrast, PMSG has an undesirable response to the fault.
In terms of generated power, SCIG is less efficient than
PMSG at low and high wind speeds. However, SCIG is a
competitor to PMSG at medium wind speeds. Due to the
nonlinear characteristics of diode rectifier, harmonic
currents flow in both generators. The distortion in PMSG is
more significant, especially in low-frequency operation.
Finally, the effect of unbalanced load on generators torque
is similar in both generators and it can be significantly
diminished by regulating the DC-link voltage.
ACKNOWLEGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support received from the Royal Commission for Jubail &
Yanbu (RCJY) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through
the Saudi culture bureau in CANADA.
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