A river, tidal, wave or ocean current turbine, a wind turbine or a solar panel harnesses an optimum value of renewable energy from variable water flow or wind flow or from electromagnetic energy from sunlight harnessed by photovoltaic conversion to electricity. A harnessing module comprising a propeller facing, for example, water or wind flow and a generator driven by the propeller, thus may harness variable electric power from water (or wind) renewable energy and may be preferably connected to feedforward electricity source and preferably a feedback variable electrical load to an electrical voltage regulator apparatus of a land module and to a motor generator set or voltage converter by a flexible electrical cable for receiving a variable rotational speed converted to variable electrical frequency, the voltage regulator automatically providing a predetermined minimum electrical power/voltage output at constant frequency to the motor generator set or a voltage converter and output at constant frequency to a constantly varying grid load. The variable electrical input from harnessing modules is delivered to the voltage regulator and converted to a constant electrical frequency by the motor generator set. In alternative embodiments, the voltage regulator is replaced by a voltage regulator in series with a servo motor and a variable voltage transformer and, in a third embodiment, the voltage regulator is replaced by a power converter.

A method for controlling a power output of a power generating unit is disclosed. An accumulated power output of the power generating unit during a predefined time interval is forecasted. An actual power output of the power generating unit is measured during the predefined time interval, and an actual accumulated power output is estimated for the predefined time interval on the basis of the measured actual power output of the power generating unit. A difference between the forecasted accumulated power output and the estimated actual accumulated power output is derived. The power output of the power generating unit is boosted, in the case that the estimated actual accumulated power output is below the forecasted accumulated power output, and the difference between the forecasted accumulated power output and the estimated actual accumulated power output is larger than a predefined threshold value.

It is provided a wind turbine and methods of operating a wind turbine as described herein.

A floating electrical power generator having a three-dimensional (3D) flow passageway configured for increasing the water flow on the paddle wheel to increase the power output.

The present disclosure is directed to a method for estimating tower loads, such as tower deflection, of a wind turbine. The method includes receiving an estimate of slow variations in thrust of a tower of the wind turbine. The method also includes determining, via one or more sensors, tower accelerations of the tower of the wind turbine. Thus, the method also includes estimating the tower loads of the wind turbine as a function of the estimate of slow variations in thrust of the tower and the tower accelerations.

A method for controlling a variable speed wind turbine generator is disclosed. The generator is connected to a power converter comprising switches. The generator comprises a stator and a set of terminals connected to the stator and to the switches of the power converter. The method comprises: determining a stator flux reference value corresponding to a generator power of a desired magnitude, determining an estimated stator flux value corresponding to an actual generator power, determining a difference between the determined stator flux reference value and the estimated stator flux value, and operating said switches in correspondence to the determined stator flux reference value and the estimated stator flux value to adapt at least one stator electrical quantity to obtain said desired generator power magnitude.

An automatic self-driving pump system features a pump/motor/drive detector and an automatic self-driving and control design/setup module. In operation, the pump/motor/drive detector receives sensed signaling containing information about a pump/drive for operating in a hydronic pump system, e.g., stored in and sensed from a signature chip or barcode installed that can be scanned by a scanner, and provides corresponding database signaling containing information about parameters for providing automatic pump control design, setup and run to control the pump/drive for operating in the hydronic pump system, based upon the sensed signaling received. The automatic self-driving and control design/setup module receives the corresponding database signaling, and provides control signaling containing information for providing the automatic pump control design, setup and run to control the pump/drive for operating in the hydronic pump system, based upon the corresponding database signaling received.

A method for operating a wind turbine is provided. The wind turbine has a tower with external tower loads acting thereon and has an aerodynamic rotor with rotor blades having adjustable pitch angles, which rotor generates rotor thrust. The method comprises the following steps: determining a speed of a tower head of the tower and/or of a nacelle of the wind turbine, determining an absolute wind speed in the region of the wind turbine, determining a pure wind power on the rotor on the basis of the absolute wind speed, determining an apparent wind power on the rotor on the basis of the speed of the tower head and/or of the nacelle, determining an aerodynamic tower vibration power on the basis of a difference between the apparent wind power and the pure wind power, and performing feedback control of the wind turbine using the aerodynamic tower vibration power.

A method for operating a wind turbine is provided. The wind turbine has a tower with external tower loads acting thereon and has an aerodynamic rotor with rotor blades having adjustable pitch angles, which rotor generates rotor thrust. The method comprises the following steps: determining a speed of a tower head of the tower and/or of a nacelle of the wind turbine, determining an absolute wind speed in the region of the wind turbine, determining a pure wind power on the rotor on the basis of the absolute wind speed, determining an apparent wind power on the rotor on the basis of the speed of the tower head and/or of the nacelle, determining an aerodynamic tower vibration power on the basis of a difference between the apparent wind power and the pure wind power, and performing feedback control of the wind turbine using the aerodynamic tower vibration power.

Provided is a system for determining an amount of oscillating movement of a wind turbine, the wind turbine including a tower, a non-rotating upper part supported by the tower, a rotor having a rotor axis, and a generator for generating electric power. The system includes (a) a sensor unit adapted to provide a rotor speed signal indicative of a rotational speed of the rotor relative to the non-rotating upper part, (b) a filtering unit adapted to, based on the rotor speed signal provided by the sensor unit, provide a filtered signal including information associated with an oscillating movement of the wind turbine, and (c) a processing unit adapted to determine the amount of oscillating movement based on the filtered signal provided by the filtering unit. Furthermore, a wind turbine and a method are described.