Solid State Transformer for Doubly Fed Induction Generator Based Wind Energy Conversion System: A Review

Increase in population and excessive use of nonrenewable energy sources have led to several environmental issues. These issues have resulted in the emergence of new technologies of distributed energy resources (DER) like Photo-Voltaic, Biomass, Hydroelectric power, Wind energy system on abundant scale. Wind Energy Conversion (WEC) system is one of the rapidly emerging technique to use renewable energy source. For integrating these WEC systems into the main power grid, the conventional line frequency step-up transformer plays an important role. Recently, efforts have being taken to use advanced power electronics based Solid State Transformers (SST) instead of conventional line frequency transformers. The concept of SST interfaced Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based WEC system is exhibited in this paper. Installation of SST in place of conventional line frequency transformer in WEC systems has certain advantages like: reactive power compensation, smooth voltage conversion, active power transfer, etc. This paper reviews about different types of WEC systems, types of SST topologies along with types of SST interfaced WEC systems. Also, it explains about advantages and limitations of respective configurations, as observed.