Variable speed small hydropower plant

摘要

This paper presents a new concept of a Small Hydropower Plant (SHP) with a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). This new solution has a Propeller Turbine (PT) integrated with the PMSG. The turbine operates at variable speed and therefore the generator produces voltages at variable magnitude and frequency. For that reason the generated energy has to be converted by a Power Electronics Unit (PEU) to fit the parameters of the external grid. Those units: the integrated turbine with generator and the converter are described in the article and the results of tests performed in order to achieve the best efficiency of energy conversion for the real life object of 150kW are presented.