Wide-bandgap semiconductor devices based power converters with high voltage step-up conversion ratio for wind energy systems

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Canada's total installed wind capacity reached 9.7 giga-watt (GW) 2016; more than 39% of it was installed in Ontario, supplying almost 5% of the province's electricity demand. The Canadian Wind Energy Association is targeting that onshore and offshore wind power will be able to supply 20% of the nation's electricity demand by 2025. Developing compact, highly efficient and reliable power electronics interfaces for high power wind turbines is therefore essential. The PI has worked together with an Ontario-based manufacturer of electrical transformers, Northern Transformer Corporation ("Northern") under an NSERC Engage grant. The outcome of the work was a concept for a highly efficient power converter that has the potential to replace the current step-up transformers used in wind turbines. Such an upgrade would significantly reduce the weight and size of the step-up unit and make the energy harvest more efficient. Based on the successful outcomes, the proposed research project is to develop an innovative class of modular power converter system that features completely loss-less switching power loss characteristics. In particular, an intelligent and highly robust control scheme will be developed to assist the devised power converters to operate in complete zero switching power losses condition for the entire operation. New commercially available wide-bandgap semiconductor switching modules will be utilized in the proposed design to help achieving high frequency power conversion for high power wind turbines. Research will be conducted at the Advanced Power Electronics Lab for Sustainable Energy Research (PELSER) at York University. ******