WIND POWER

What is it?
How does it work?
Efficiency

WIND POWER - What is it?

All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal power), ultimately
comes from the sun

The earth receives 1.74 x 1017 watts of power (per hour) from the sun
About one or 2 percent of this energy is converted to wind energy
(which is about 50-100 times more than the energy converted to
biomass by all plants on earth
Differential heating of the earths surface
and atmosphere induces vertical and horizontal
air currents that are affected by the earths
rotation and contours of the land WIND.
~ e.g.: Land Sea Breeze Cycle

 Winds are influenced by the ground surface at altitudes up

to
100 meters.
Wind is slowed by the surface roughness and obstacles.
When dealing with wind energy, we are concerned with
surface winds.

A wind turbine obtains its power input by converting the

force of the wind into a torque (turning force) acting on the
rotor blades.
The amount of energy which the wind transfers to the rotor
depends on the density of the air, the rotor area, and the
wind speed.
The kinetic energy of a moving body is proportional to its
mass (or weight). The kinetic energy in the wind thus
depends on the density of the air, i.e. its mass per unit of
volume.
In other words, the "heavier" the air, the more energy is
received by the turbine.
at 15 Celsius air weighs about 1.225 kg per cubic meter, but
the density decreases slightly with increasing humidity.

 A typical 600 kW wind turbine has a rotor diameter of 43-44 meters,

i.e. a rotor area of some 1,500 square meters.
The rotor area determines how much energy a wind turbine is able to
harvest from the wind.
Since the rotor area increases with the square of the rotor diameter,
a turbine which is twice as large will receive 22 = 2 x 2 = four times as
much energy.
To be considered a good location for
wind energy, an area needs to have
average annual wind speeds of at least 12
miles per hour.

Sizes and Applications

Small (10 kW)
Homes
Farms
Remote Application

Intermediate
(10-250 kW)
Village Power
Hybrid Systems
Distributed Power

Large (660 kW - 2+MW)

Central Station Wind Farms
Distributed Power
Community Wind

The Wind Project

Development Process
Site Selection
Land Agreements
Wind Assessment
Environmental Review
Economic Modeling

Interconnection Studies
Permitting
Sales Agreements

Financing
Turbine Procurement
Construction Contracting
Operations & Maintenance

Wind Turbine Size-Power Comparison

Aerodynamics of HAWT Blade

r[L(sinf) - D(cosf)] = Torque

Torque x rotational speed= Power

Boyle, G., Renewable Energy, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2004

Wind Cost of Energy

COE (/kWh [constant 2000 $])

12
10
8
Low wind speed sites

Bulk Power Competitive

Price Band

High wind
speed sites

4
2
0
1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

Large and Small Wind Turbines

Large Turbines (600-2000 kW)

Installed in Windfarm arrays totaling 1 - 100 MW

$1,300/kW
Designed for low cost of energy (COE)

Requires 6 m/s (13 mph) average wind speed

Value of Energy: $0.02 - $0.06 per kWh

Small Turbines (0.3-100 kW)

Installed in rural residential on-grid and off-grid applications

$2,500-$8,000/kW
Designed for reliability / low maintenance
Requires 4 m/s (9 mph) average wind speed
Value of energy: $0.06 - $0.26 per kWh

June 19 20, 2007

Wind Energy

10

Small Wind Turbines

Blades: Fiber-reinforced plastics,
fixed pitch, either twisted/tapered,
or straight (pultruded)
Generator: Direct-drive permanent
magnet alternator, no brushes, 3phase AC, variable-speed
operation

10 kW

50 kW

Designed for:
Simplicity, reliability
Few moving parts
Little regular maintenance required

400 W

900 W
June 19 20, 2007

Wind Energy

11

Components of Wind Power System

Nacelle

World Wind Power Status

Rising environmental concern and depleting fossil fuel cause the shift
of power generation toward renewable resources.
Among the renewable resources, wind power is the fastest growing
energy generation system with 31% annual growth since 2001.

Source: World wind energy association

With this trend, wind power capacity doubles in every three years, and
would reach about 1900 GW by 2020 (WWER 09).
Kyoto University

1
4

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Specific power vs. wind speed.

power in the wind increases
as the cube of wind speed.
This means doubling the
wind speed increases the
power by eightfold.
Doubling the diameter
increases the power
available by a factor of four

Power in Wind
Economies of scale that go with larger wind turbines. The cost of a
turbine increases roughly in proportion to blade diameter, but
power is proportional to diameter squared, so bigger machines
have proven to be more cost effective.

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Power in Wind
Assuming T is a fairly constant quantity

Power in Wind

Power in Wind
IMPACT OF TOWER HEIGHT
Since power in the wind is proportional to the cube of the windspeed, the
economic impact of even modest increases in windspeed can be significant.
Air flow is affected by the surface through which it is flowing; for rough surface
speed is highly reduced
Get reduced friction of air flow by mounting the turbine at high altitude

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Power in Wind
MAXIMUM ROTOR EFFICIENCY
number of energy technologies have certain fundamental constraints
that restrict the maximum possible conversion efficiency from one
form of energy to another.
For heat engines, it is the Carnot efficiency that limits the maximum
work that can be obtained from an engine working between a hot
and a cold reservoir.
For photovoltaics, we will see that it is the band gap of the material
that limits the conversion efficiency from sunlight into electrical
energy.
For fuel cells, it is the Gibbs free energy that limits the energy
conversion from chemical to electrical forms.
What is the constraint that limits the ability of a wind turbine to
convert kinetic energy in the wind to mechanical power?
It is derived by the Beltz limit

Power in Wind

The power extracted by the blades Pb is equal to the difference in kinetic energy
between the upwind and downwind air flows:

Power in Wind

CP

Power in Wind
To find the maximum value of Cp, get first derivate of Cp w.r.t and set it to
zero.
That gives
Beltz
efficiency

For a given windspeed, rotor efficiency is a function of the rate at which

the rotor turns.
If the rotor turns too slowly, the efficiency drops off since the blades are
letting too much wind pass by unaffected.
If the rotor turns too fast, efficiency is reduced as the turbulence caused
by one blade increasingly affects the blade that follows.
The usual way to illustrate rotor efficiency is to present it as a function of its tipspeed ratio (TSR). The tip-speed-ratio is the speed at which the outer tip of the
blade is moving divided by the windspeed:

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Power in Wind

Notice that if the rotor itself is about 43% efficient, as Fig. 6.11 suggests, then the
efficiency of the gear box times the efficiency of the generator would be about 66%
(43% 66% = 28.4%).

Power in Wind
Calculation of Average Power
We have

Pw 0.5 v3

Then average power will be

Pw (0.5CP v3 )avg 0.5 (v3 )avg NOT 0.5 (vavg )3

Calculation of

Similarly,

(v3 )avg

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics
Example 6.9 Average Power in the Wind. Using the data given in Fig. 6.22, find the
average windspeed and the average power in the wind (W/m2). Assume the standard air
density of 1.225 kg/m3. Compare the result with that which would be obtained if the
average power were miscalculated using just the average windspeed.

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics

NOTE:
In the above example, the ratio of the average wind power calculated correctly
using (v3)avg to that found when the average velocity is (mis)used is 400/210 =1.9.
That is, the correct answer is nearly twice as large as the power found when average
windspeed is substituted into the fundamental wind power equation P = 0.5 Av3.

Wind Statistics
Wind Power Probability Density Functions
The type of information displayed in the discrete windspeed
histogram in Fig. 6.22 is very often presented as a continuous
function, called a probability density function (p.d.f.).

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics
Of the three Weibull p.d.f.s in Fig. 6.24, intuition probably
would lead us to think that the middle one, for which k = 2, is
the most realistic for a likely wind turbine site;
that is, it has winds that are mostly pretty strong, with periods of
low wind and some really good high-speed winds as well.
In fact, when little detail is known about the wind regime at a
site, the usual starting point is to assume k = 2.

When the shape parameter k is equal to 2, the p.d.f. is given its

own name, the Rayleigh probability density function:

Wind Statistics

Wind Statistics
The impact of changing the scale parameter c for a Rayleigh p.d.f. is
shown in Fig. 6.25.
larger-scale factors shift the curve toward higher windspeeds.
There is, in fact, a direct relationship between scaling factor c and
average wind speed v. Substituting the Rayleigh p.d.f. into (6.39) and
referring to a table of standard integrals yield

Wind Statistics
Thus average power in the wind is calculated by following step
Gather enough site data to at least be able to estimate average
windspeed. That can most easily be done with an anemometer.
Dividing miles of wind by elapsed time gives an average wind
speed.
These wind odometers are modestly priced (about $200 each)
and simple to use.
Coupling average windspeed with the assumption that the wind
speed distribution follows Rayleigh statistics enables us to find
the average power in the wind.

Wind Statistics

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Power output
10 000

Wind Power

9 000
8 000

Power [kW]

7 000

Turbine Power

6 000
5 000
4 000
3 000
2 000
1 000
0
0

10

15

Wind Speed [m/s]

20

25

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Wind Speed Cumulative Distribution Function
From the PDF function, the probability that the wind is
less than some specified windspeed V is given by

The integral F(V) in (6.49) is given a special name: the

cumulative distribution function. The probability that the wind
V is less than 0 is 0, and the probability that the wind is less
than infinity is 1, so F(V) has the following constraints:

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Multiply the Turbine Specification curve with the Weibull or Rayleigh Statistics

Example 6.13 Idealized Power Curve with Rayleigh Statistics. A NEG Micon 1000/54
wind turbine (1000-kW rated power, 54-m-diameter rotor) has a cut-in windspeed VC =
4 m/s, rated windspeed VR = 14 m/s, and a furling wind speed of VF = 25 m/s. If this
machine is located in Rayleigh winds with an
average speed of 10 m/s, find the following:
a) a. How many h/yr is the wind below the cut-in wind speed?
b) b. How many h/yr will the turbine be shut down due to excessive winds?
c)
c. How many kWh/yr will be generated when the machine is running at rated
power?

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Estimation of Total Energy Capture

Estimation of Total Energy Capture