Wind is a clean, renewable resource that has become more popular in recent years due to numerous advances in technology and public awareness. Wind energy is quickly becoming cost competitive with fossil fuels, but further reductions in the cost of wind energy are necessary before it can grow into a fully mature technology. One reason for higher-than-necessary cost of the wind energy is uncertainty in the aerodynamic parameters, which leads to inefficient controllers. This thesis explores an adaptive control technique designed to reduce the negative effects of this uncertainty.; The primary focus of this work is a new adaptive controller that is designed to resemble the standard non-adaptive controller used by the wind industry. The standard controller was developed for variable speed wind turbines operating below rated power. The new adaptive controller uses a simple, highly intuitive gain adaptation law intended to seek out the optimal gain for maximizing the turbine's energy capture. It is designed to work even in real, time-varying winds.; The adaptive controller has been tested both in simulation and on a real turbine, with numerous experimental results provided in this work. Simulations have considered the effects of erroneous wind measurements and time-varying turbine parameters, both of which are concerns on the real turbine. The adaptive controller has been found to operate as desired under realistic operating conditions, and energy capture has increased on the real turbine as a result.; Theoretical analyses of the standard and adaptive controllers were performed, as well, providing additional insight into the system. Finally, a few extensions were made with the intent of making the adaptive control idea even more appealing in the commercial wind turbine market.
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