Integrated renewable energy system modelling with direct FPGA controller prototyping

A holistic approach to the modeling of integrated renewable energy systems is presented. The method is using the DK5 modeling / design environment from Mentor Graphics and is based on the new Handel-C programming language. The goal of the work carried out was to achieve a combined model of a photovoltaic energy system and a wind power system, enabling an optimised holistic digital control system design, followed by rapid prototyping of the controller into a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This would also allow easy connection (by expanding the model/controller) to the grid or to a fuell cell. Initially, the system was simulated using Matlab / Simulink, to create a reference for comparison. Later on, the model was successfully developed in Handel-C. The holistic functional simulation of the system is performed in the same environment as its controller hardware implementation and timing analysis. The controller design was then downloaded in hardware onto a RC203 development board containing a Xilinx Virtex II FPGA and was successfully tested experimentally. This approach enables the design and fast hardware implementation of efficient controllers for Distributed Energy Resource (DER) hybrid systems.