Generators and Power Electronics for Wind Turbines

This chapter presents a comprehensive survey of the generator and power electronic concepts used by the modern wind turbine industry. A state of the art of wind turbines, from an electrical point of view, with focus on topologies and control strategies is provided. An overall perspective on both contemporary and new potentially promising wind turbine concepts, classified with respect to both their speed control ability and to their power control type is presented. A detailed investigation of the market penetration and share of different wind turbine concepts over years is also performed based on supplier's market data and concept evaluation for each individual wind turbine type sold by the Top Ten suppliers over years.