The trend of future wind farms moving further offshore requires much higher reliability for each wind turbine in order to reduce maintenance cost. The drive-train system and power electronic converter system have been identified as critical sub-assemblies that are subject to higher failure rates than the other sub-assemblies in a wind turbine. Modern condition monitoring techniques may help schedule the maintenance and reduce downtime. However, when it comes to offshore wind turbines, it is more crucial to reduce the failure rates (or reduce the stresses) for the wind turbines during operation since the harsh weather and a frequently inaccessible environment will dramatically reduce their availability once a failure happens. This research examines the mechanical, electrical and thermal stresses in the sub-assemblies of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbine and how to reduce them by improved control strategies. The DFIG control system (the rotor-side and the grid-side converter control) as well as the wind turbine control system are well established. The interactions of these control systems have been investigated. This research examines several further strategies to reduce the mechanical and electrical stresses. The control system's coordination with the protection schemes (crowbar and dc-chopper) during a grid fault is presented as well. An electro-thermal model of the power converter has been developed to integrate with the DFIG wind turbine model, for the evaluation of the thermal stresses under different operating states and control schemes. The main contributions of this thesis are twofold. A first contribution is made by providing all the control loops with well-tuned controllers in a more integrated methodology. The dynamics of these controllers are determined from their mathematical models to minimize the interference between different control-loops and also to reduce the electrical transients. This thesis proposes a coordination strategy for the damping control, pitch control and crowbar protection which significantly reduces the mechanical oscillations. On the other hand, an integrated model of the wind turbine and converter electro-thermal system is established that can illustrate the performance integration with different control strategies.

Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο, γίνεται μία αναφορά στις ανανεώσιμες πηγές ενέργειας και αναλύεται περισσότερο η αιολική. Αναφέρεται η πορεία αξιοποίησής της, και παραθέτονται πληροφορίες για την τωρινή χρήση της στην παραγωγή ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας αλλά και μελλοντικές βλέψεις. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τα χαρακτηριστικά του ανέμου και οι εξισώσεις της ανεμογεννήτριας που μας επιτρέπουν να απομαστεύουμε ενέργεια από τον άνεμο μέσω των ανεμογεννητριών. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τα δομικά στοιχεία και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο γίνεται η κατηγοριοποίηση των ανεμογεννητριών, οι έλεγχοι που χρησιμοποιούνται και τα είδη των ανεμογεννητριών που χρησιμοποιούνται σήμερα στη βιομηχανία. Στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται οι τεχνικές απαιτήσεις για τους αιολικούς σταθμούς στο ελληνικό Σ.Η.Ε. Στο πέμπτο κεφάλαιο, γίνεται η προσομοίωση μέσω του προγράμματος Matlab - Simulink ενός μη γραμμικού ελέγχου ισχύος ανεμογεννητριών DFIG για ενσωμάτωση σε εικονικούς σταθμού ισχύος (V.P.P). / In the first chapter, there is a general description about renewable energy resources and more specific, about the wind energy. We present the current worldwide electrical power production and the future requirements for electrical power production in Europe and Greece. In the second chapter, we study the features of the wind performance and the equations that allows us to drain energy from the wind ,using a wind turbine. The third chapter presents the components, the kinds of control and the categories of wind turbines that are in use in industry nowadays. The fourth chapter presents the technical requirements for the wind farms in the Greek System of Electrical Energy. In the fifth chapter we use the program Matlab - Simulink in order to simulate a non-linear direct power control of DFIG wind turbines for Virtual Power Plant (V.P.P.) integration.