Abstract
This paper proposes a novel methodology based on the recent metaheuristic grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) for extracting the maximum power from a wind energy system operated under variable speed conditions. The proposed system comprises a permanent magnet synchronous generator operated via a wind turbine, a dc-dc boost converter, a three-phase diode rectifier, and a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) designed via the proposed GOA. The proposed MPPT tunes the duty cycle of the boost converter to extract the maximum power from the wind energy system. The proposed system is built in Matlab/Simulink, different operating conditions are studied, and the results are compared with other programed metaheuristic approaches like Particle Swarm Optimization, Cuckoo Search, and Crow Search Algorithm. Additionally, the proposed GOA-MPPT is investigated using actual collected data for wind speed in four different locations in the Al-Jouf region in the northern Saudi Arabia, which are Sakaka, Dumat Al-Jandal, Qurayyat, and Tabarjal. The obtained results confirmed the superiority and reliability of the proposed MPPT compared to the others in enhancing the extracted power from the wind energy system.