Abstract
A horizontally-oriented cross-flow turbine is dynamically emulated on hardware to investigate control strategies and grid integration. A representative inflow time-series with a mean of 2 m/s is generated from high-resolution flow measurements of a riverine site and is used to drive emulation. Power output during emulation under similar input and loading conditions yields agreement with field measurements to within 3% at high power, near-optimal levels. Constant tip-speed ratio and constant speed proportional plus integral control schemes are compared to optimal nonlinear control and constant resistance regulation. All controllers yield similar results in terms of overall system efficiency. The emulated turbine exhibits a stronger reaction to turbulent inflow than the field turbine. The turbine has a lower inertia than the demand of an isolated grid, indicating a secondary source of power with a similar frequency response is necessary if a single turbine cannot meet the entire demand.