SCILAB free software for numerical computation: a wind energy educational tool

Abstract

New environmental technologies are designed and implemented exponentially, in order to mitigate climate change. This fact brings with it that engineering students and specialized technicians from different sectors of renewable energy such as wind, solar, geothermal energy, etc., need to have access to different types of technological educational materials and simulation programs for free. In this ambit, this paper discusses the results obtained with Scilab free software as an application for modeling wind turbines within the subjects of wind energy. The use of Scilab, as an open-source software, helps to disseminate the results and simulations and, at the same time, provides the students a more detailed and low-level study of wind turbine control strategies. The application is based on a 1.5 MW Doubly Fed Induction Generators (DFIG) modeling, which allows us to estimate the electric performance and dynamics under different wind conditions. Simulations and modeling were tested in the wind subjects of the Official Master of Renewable Energies, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain.