Abstract
Energy originating in tidal and ocean currents appears to be more intense and predictable than other renewables. In this area of research, the Tidal Stream Generator (TSG) power plant is one of the most recent forms of renewable energy to be developed. The main feature of this energy converter is related to the input resource which is the tidal current speed. Since its behaviour is variable and with disturbances, these systems must be able to maintain performance despite the input variations. This article deals with the design and control of a tidal stream converter system. The Fuzzy Gain Scheduling (FGS) technique is used to control the blade pitch angle of the turbine, in order to protect the plant in the case of a strong tidal range. Rotational speed control is investigated by means of the back-to-back power converters. The optimal speed is provided using the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) strategy to harness maximum power from the tidal speed. To verify the robustness of the developed methods, two scenarios of a disturbed tidal resource with regular and irregular conditions are considered. The performed results prove the output power optimization and adaptive change of the pitch angle control to maintain the plant within the tolerable limits.