The paper introduces the Wavestar wave energy converter and presents the implementation of model predictive controller that maximizes the power generation. The ocean wave power is extracted using a hydraulic electric generator which is connected to an oscillating buoy. The power generator is an additive device attached to the buoy which may include damping, stiffness or similar terms hence will affect the dynamic motion of the buoy. Therefore such a device can be seen as a closed-loop controller. The objective of the wave energy converter is to harvest as much energy from sea as possible. The straight forward solution to this maximization problem is achieved by maximizing the instantaneous range of motion of the buoy. The buoy as a single degree of freedom oscillator will undergo its maximum movements when it is in resonance with the sea state. Hence the best solution to the problem is achieved by forcing this condition. In the paper the theoretical framework for this principal is shown. The optimal controller requires information of the sea state for infinite horizon which is not applicable. Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) can have finite horizon which crosses out this requirement. This approach is then taken into account and an MPC controller is designed for a model wave energy converter and implemented on a numerical example. Further, the power outtake of this controller is compared to the optimal controller as an indicator of the performance of the designed controller.

Abstract-In this work the problem of robust model predictive control (robust MPC) of a wind turbine in the full load region is considered. A minimax robust MPC approach is used to tackle the problem. Nonlinear dynamics of the wind turbine are derived by combining blade element momentum (BEM) theory and first principle modeling of the turbine flexible structure. Thereafter the nonlinear model is linearized using Taylor series expansion around system operating points. Operating points are determined by effective wind speed and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed to estimate this. In addition, a new sensor is introduced in the EKF to give faster estimations. Wind speed estimation error is used to assess uncertainties in the linearized model. Significant uncertainties are considered to be in the gain of the system (B matrix of the state space model). Therefore this special structure of the uncertain system is employed and a norm-bounded uncertainty model is used to formulate a minimax model predictive control. The resulting optimization problem is simplified by semidefinite relaxation and the controller obtained is applied on a full complexity, high fidelity wind turbine model. Finally simulation results are presented. First a comparison between PI and robust MPC is given. Afterwards simulations are done for a realization of turbulent wind with uniform profile based on the IEC standard.

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Abstract-The problem of Model predictive control (MPC) of wind turbines using uncertain LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) measurements is considered. A nonlinear dynamical model of the wind turbine is obtained. We linearize the obtained nonlinear model for different operating points, which are determined by the effective wind speed on the rotor disc. We take the wind speed as a scheduling variable. The wind speed is measurable ahead of the turbine using LIDARs, therefore, the scheduling variable is known for the entire prediction horizon. By taking the advantage of having future values of the scheduling variable, we simplify state prediction for the MPC. Consequently, the control problem of the nonlinear system is simplified into a quadratic programming. We consider uncertainty in the wind propagation time, which is the traveling time of wind from the LIDAR measurement point to the rotor. An algorithm based on wind speed estimation and measurements from the LIDAR is devised to find an estimate of the delay and compensate for it before it is used in the controller. Comparisons between the MPC with error compensation, the MPC without error compensation and an MPC with re-linearization at each sample point based on wind speed estimation are given. It is shown that with appropriate signal processing techniques, LIDAR measurements improve the performance of the wind turbine controller.

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In recent decades there has been increasing interest in green energies, of which wind energy is the most important one. In order to improve the competitiveness of the wind power plants, there are ongoing researches to decrease cost per energy unit and increase the efficiency of wind turbines and wind farms. One way of achieving these goals is to optimize the power generated by a wind farm. One optimization method is to choose appropriate operating points for the individual wind turbines in the farm. We have made three models of a wind farm based on three difference control strategies. Basically, the control strategies determine the steady state operating points of the wind turbines. Except the control strategies of the individual wind turbines, the wind farm models are similar. Each model consists of a row of 5MW reference wind turbines. In the models we are able to optimize the generated power by changing the power reference of the individual wind turbines. We use the optimization setup to compare power production of the wind farm models. This paper shows that for the most frequent wind velocities (below and around the rated values), the generated powers of the wind farms are different. This means that choosing an appropriate control strategy for the individual wind turbines will result in an increased power production of the wind farm.

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