Subject: Renewable Energy and Green Technology

Class: Second Year, II Semester

Topic: Introduction of Wind Energy and Their Application
Prepared by: Dr. Ajay Singh Lodhi
Assistant Professor (SWE)
College of Agriculture, Balaghat

Introduction of Wind Energy and Their Application

Wind Energy in India

India has been rated as one of the most promising countries for wind power development, with
an estimated potential of 20,000 MW. Total installed capacity of wind electric generators in
the world as on Sept. 2001 is 23270 MW. Germany 8100 MW, Spain- 3175 MW, USA 4240
MW, Denmark 2417 MW, and India - 1426 MW top the list of countries. Thus, India ranks
fifth in the world in Wind power generation. There are 39 wind potential stations in Tamil
Nadu, 36 in Gujarat, 30 in Andhra Pradesh, 27 in Maharashtra, 26 in Karnataka, 16 in Kerala,
8 in Lakshadweep, 8 Rajasthan, 7 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 in Orissa, 2 in West Bengal, 1 in
Andaman Nicobar and 1 in Uttar Pradesh. Out of 208 suitable stations 7 stations have shown
wind power density more than 500 Watts/ m2.

Wind Energy
Wind energy is basically harnessing of wind power to produce electricity. The kinetic energy
of the wind is converted to electrical energy. When solar radiation enters the earth’s
atmosphere, different regions of the atmosphere are heated to different degrees because of earth
curvature. This heating is higher at the equator and lowest at the poles. Since air tends to flow
from warmer to cooler regions, this causes what we call winds, and it is these airflows that are
harnessed in windmills and wind turbines to produce power.

Wind power is not a new development as this power, in the form of traditional windmills -for
grinding corn, pumping water, sailing ships – have been used for centuries. Now wind power
is harnessed to generate electricity in a larger scale with better technology.

Wind Energy Technology

The basic wind energy conversion device is the wind turbine. Although various designs and
configurations exist, these turbines are generally grouped into two types:

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1. Vertical-axis wind turbines, in which the axis of rotation is vertical with respect to the
ground (and roughly perpendicular to the wind stream).

2. Horizontal-axis turbines, in which the axis of rotation is horizontal with respect to the
ground (and roughly parallel to the wind stream).

Fig.1 Wind turbine configuration

Figure 1 illustrates the two types of turbines and typical subsystems for an electricity generation
application. The subsystems include a blade or rotor, which converts the energy in the wind to
rotational shaft energy; a drive train, usually including a gearbox and a generator, a tower that
supports the rotor and drive train, and other equipment, including controls, electrical cables,
ground support equipment, and interconnection equipment.

Wind Potential

In order for a wind energy system to be feasible there must be an adequate wind supply. A
wind energy system usually requires an average annual wind speed of at least 15 km/h.
The following table represents a guideline of different wind speeds and their potential in
producing electricity.

A wind generator will produce lesser power in summer than in winter at the same wind speed
as air has lower density in summer than in winter.

Similarly, a wind generator will produce lesser power in higher altitudes - as air pressure as
well as density is lower -than at lower altitudes.

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The wind speed is the most important factor influencing the amount of energy a wind turbine
can produce. Increasing wind velocity increases the amount of air passing the rotor, which
increases the output of the wind system.

In order for a wind system to be effective, a relatively consistent wind flow is required.
Obstructions such as trees or hills can interfere with the wind supply to the rotors. To avoid
this, rotors are placed on top of towers to take advantage of the strong winds available high
above the ground. The towers are generally placed 100 metres away from the nearest obstacle.
The middle of the rotor is placed 10 metres above any obstacle that is within 100 metres.

Horizontal Axis single blade Wind mills

If extremely long blades are mounted on rigid hub. Large blade root bending moments can
occur due to tower shadow, gravity and sudden shifts in wind directions on a 200ft long blade.
Fatigue load may be enough to cause blade root failure. To reduce rotor cost, use of single long
blade centrifugally balanced by a low cost counter Weight as shown in figure. The relatively
simple rotor hub consists of a Universal Joint between the rotor shaft and blade allowing for
blade. This type of hub design contains fewer parts and costs less.

Fig.2 Horizontal axis single blade wind mill

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Horizontal axis – two bladed wind mills
In this arrangement rotor drives generator through a step-up gear box. The components are
mounted on a bed plate which is mounted on a pinttle at the Top of the tower. The two-blade
rotor is Usually designed to be oriented down wind of the tower. The arrangement of all the
Components used in horizontal axis wind mill is shown in Fig.3.

Fig.3 Horizontal axis two blade wind mill

When the machine is operating its rotor blades are continuously flexed by Unsteady
aerodynamic, gravitational and inertial loads. If the blades are metal, flexing reduces their
fatigue life. The tower is also subjected to unsteady load and dynamic interactions between the
components of the machine-tower system can cause serious damage.
Horizontal Axis – Multi bladed Wind Mills
This type of wheel have narrow rims and Wire spokes. The wire spokes support light weight
aluminium blades. The rotors of this design have high strength to weight ratios and have been
known to survive hours of free wheeling operation in 100kmph winds. They have good power
Co-efficient, high starting torque added advantage of simplicity and low cost.

Vertical Wind Mills

Wind turbines mounted with the axis of rotation in a vertical Position have advantage that they
are omni-directional that is, they need not to be turned to Force the wind. The Vertical mounted
Wind Machines eliminates the need for some of the complex mechanical devices and control
systems necessary for horizontal mounted wind Machines.
Two types of vertical axis Wind Machines have received attention. The Darrievs rotor consists
of two or three convex metal blades with an air foil cross section, mounted on a Central shaft
which is supported by bearings at the top and bottom. The rotor assembly is held in position
by guy wires running from the top of the rotor to the ground.

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 Fig.4 Vertical wind mill (Darrievs rotar)

The savonius rotor consists of a long solid’s- shaped surface mounted to turn at the center of
‘s’ the savonius rotor is self starting and has an efficiency of about 31% while the Darrievs
rotor has a slightly higher efficiency of 35% but is not self starting.

Fig.5 (a) Savonius rotor Fig.5(b) Air flow through a Savonius rotor

Advantages of Wind energy

• The wind energy is free, inexhaustible and does not need transportation.
• Wind mills will be highly desirable and economical to the rural areas which are far from
existing grids.
• Wind power can be used in combination with hydroelectric plants. Such that the water
level in the reservoir can be maintained for longer periods.
Disadvantage of Wind energy

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 • Wind power is not consistent and steady, which makes the complications in designing
the whole plant.
• The wind is a very hazard one. Special and costly designs and controls are always
required.
• The cost factor, which has restricted the development of wind power in large scale for
feeding to the existing grid.
• It has low power coefficient.
• Careful survey is necessary for plant location.

Applications
• Utility interconnected wind turbines generate power which is synchronous with the grid
and are used to reduce utility bills by displacing the utility power used in the household
and by selling the excess power back to the electric company.
• Wind turbines for remote homes (off the grid) generate DC current for battery charging.
• Wind turbines for remote water pumping generate 3 phase AC current suitable for
driving an electrical submersible pump directly. Wind turbines suitable for residential
or village scale wind power range from 500 Watts to 50 kilowatts.