Fault Immune Pico-Hydro Powered Base Station of Remote Telecommunication Tower

Abstract

This paper presents the dynamic excitation control of a siphon-turbine coupled pico-hydro powered cage rotor induction generator and load matching for off-grid electricity generation. Through the proposed dual-role of the current-controlled voltage source converter (VSC), acting as static synchronous compensator and load controller, real and reactive power are dynamically controlled in a decoupled manner with a self supported DC-bus. The proposed scheme entails minimal computation for ensuring the rated (set) capacity of real power. The scheme also exhibits fault immunity for protection, thus enabling the effective handling of constant power electrical loads presented by base telecom station towers in remote locations. The performance of the system is evaluated under MATLAB/Simulink and is experimented through a developed hardware prototype. Simulation and experimental results show close conformity and validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.