A disturbance observer based control method for a grid-connected doubly fed induction generator is presented in this study. The proposed control method consists of a state-feedback controller and a disturbance observer (DO). The DO is used to compensate for model uncertainties with the aim of removing the steady-state error. The control objective consists of regulating the stator currents instead of the rotor currents in order to achieve direct control of the stator active and reactive powers. Such a control scheme removes the need for an exact knowledge of the machine parameters to achieve accurate control of the stator active and reactive powers. The main advantage of this control method is ensuring a good transient performance as per the controller design specifications, while guaranteeing zero steady-state error. Moreover, the proposed control method was experimentally validated on a small scale DFIG setup. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.