Extending wind turbine operation and control beyond the cut-out wind speed

The robustness and reliability of electrical grid operations under high wind conditions can be improved by extending wind turbine operations beyond South Korea’s typical 22 m/s cut-out wind speed. The study primarily designs and assesses a new control strategy that extends turbine operations to the high wind regions beyond the cut-out wind speed. The proposed control strategy extends the turbine operation to 28 m/s and is designed based on the standard proportional–integral controller and model predictive control, and the two controllers are compared. Simulations are conducted using the 5 MW Supergen wind turbine model in the high-fidelity aeroelastic software, DNV BLADED, demonstrating that the proposed control strategy can effectively operate the turbine at high wind speeds under realistic 3-D turbulent wind conditions. The results reveal that when a gust occurs close to the cut-out wind speed, the control strategy enables a smooth transition into the derated region, preventing a sudden increase in the power output, which could shut down the turbine, when the standard controller is in place. Additionally, detailed load analyses are conducted in DNV BLADED to investigate the impact of the proposed control strategy on the structural loading of the turbine.