WIND ENERGY

POWER GENERATION (EE_414)

PRESENTED BY DR. UMBRIN SULTANA
 Kinetic Energy:

➢Consider a “packet” of air with mass m moving at a speed v. its

kinetic energy K.E, is given by the familiar relationship:

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Power In The Wind

➢Power is energy per unit time, the power represented by a

mass of air moving at velocity v through area A will be

------Eq. 1

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Mass Flow Rate:
➢The mass flow rate m˙ , through area A, is the product
of air density ρ, speed v, and cross-sectional area A,

---------- Eqn 2

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 Power In The Wind:
➢Combining Eqn. 1 and Eqn. 2 gives an important relationship:

➢Pw is the power in the wind (watts)

• ρ is the air density (kg/m3) (at 15◦C and 1 atm, ρ = 1.225 kg/m3)
• A is the cross-sectional area through which the wind passes (m2)
• v = wind speed normal to A (m/s) (1 m/s = 2.237 mph)
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 Factors Affecting Power Output:
➢The three main factors that influence power output are:
1. Wind speed,
2. Air density, and
3. Blade radius
Note: Wind turbines need to be in areas with a lot of wind on a
regular basis, which is more important than having occasional
high winds.
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 1. Wind Speed Characteristics Of a Site:
➢Wind speed largely determines the amount of electricity
generated by a turbine.
➢Higher wind speeds generate more power because stronger
winds allow the blades to rotate faster.
➢ Faster rotation translates to more mechanical power and more
electrical power from the generator.
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Characteristics Of Wind Turbine
➢A wind turbine as a power source leads to special conditions.
➢The shaft speed power function is pre-determined because the
aerodynamic efficiency of the turbine depends on the ratio between
the blade tip speed and the wind speed, called the tip speed ratio.
➢To keep the turbine efficiency at its maximum, the speed of the
turbine should be changed linearly with the wind speed.

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Characteristics Of Wind Turbine
➢The turbine power curve is shown in Fig. together with the
turbine speed curve.

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 Characteristics Of Wind Turbine
•An ordinary wind turbine has a rated wind speed of about 13–14 m/s
but the median wind speed is much lower, about 5–7 m/s.
•Therefore, the power of the turbine is most of the time considerably
less than the rated power.
•It can be seen that the wind speed usually is about half of the rated
wind speed.
•Only during a small fraction of the time, less than 10 % of the year,
the turbine produces rated power.
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 Relationship B/W Wind Speed And Power

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 Characteristic parameters for wind machine
➢Rated power of the machine, is the maximum power developed by the
rotor and is also the generator rating.
➢Cut-in speed, uc is the minimum wind speed at which the machine starts
rotating.
➢Rated speed, uR is the minimum wind speed at which the machine
develops rated power. This is the speed at which the blade regulation
becomes active.
➢Furling speed, uF is the maximum wind speed at which the machine
develops power. The machine is stopped beyond this speed.

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 Relationship B/W Wind Speed And Power

➢ Turbines are designed to operate within a specific range

of wind speeds.
➢The limits of the range are known as the cut-in
speed and cut-out speed.

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 Relationship b/w Wind Speed and Power

➢ The cut-in speed is the point at which the wind turbine is able
to generate power.
➢Between the cut-in speed and the rated speed, where the
maximum output is reached, the power output will increase
cubically with wind speed.

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 Relationship b/w Wind Speed and Power

➢For example, if wind speed doubles, the power output will increase
8 times. This cubic relationship is what makes wind speed such an
important factor for wind power.

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 Relationship b/w Wind Speed and Power
➢The cut-out speed is the point at which the turbine must be shut
down to avoid damage to the equipment.
➢The cut-in and cut-out speeds are related to the following
factors:
1. Turbine design and
2. Turbine size
Note: These factors are decided on prior to construction.
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BETZ LIMIT OR BETZ' LAW
➢A German physicist Albert Betz concluded in 1919 that no
wind turbine can convert more than 16/27 (59.3%) of the kinetic
energy of the wind into mechanical energy turning a rotor
➢ The theoretical maximum power efficiency of any design of
wind turbine is 0.59 (i.e. no more than 59% of the energy
carried by the wind can be extracted by a wind turbine)

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BETZ LIMIT OR BETZ' LAW

Power Coefficient= Cp= power extracted by the turbine /

total contained in the wind resource

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BETZ LIMIT OR BETZ' LAW
• Betz Limit is the maximal possible Cp = 16/27=0.59
• 59% efficiency is the BEST a conventional wind turbine can do in
extracting power from the wind
• Wind turbines cannot operate at this maximum limit
• Real world limit is well below the Betz Limit i.e. (0.35-0.45)
• Power Coefficient is basically the wind turbine efficiency
• Including Cp in the power in the wind eqn,
P = 1/2 ΡA V3 CP

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 Power In The Wind:
➢Combining Eqn. 1 and Eqn. 2 gives an important relationship:

➢Pw is the power in the wind (watts)

• ρ is the air density (kg/m3) (at 15◦C and 1 atm, ρ = 1.225 kg/m3)
• A is the cross-sectional area through which the wind passes (m2)
• v = wind speed normal to A (m/s) (1 m/s = 2.237 mph)
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RELATIONSHIP B/W WIND SPEED AND
POWER

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 Wind Energy and Power Calculations
➢Thus, the power available to a wind turbine is based on the density of the
air ρ (usually about 1.2 kg/m3),
➢The swept area ( A) of the turbine blades (picture a big circle being made
by the spinning blades), and the velocity (V) of the wind. Of these, clearly,
the most variable input is wind speed.
➢However, wind speed is also the most impactful variable because it is
cubed, whereas the other inputs are not.

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 Wind Energy and Power Calculations

➢The following are calculations for power available in the wind at three
different velocities for the Northwind 100C turbine.
➢The calculations will show what happens when you double, and then triple
the velocity.
➢Take a moment to think about how much available power will increase if
you double and triple the velocity:

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 Wind Energy and Power Calculations

• The standard density of air is 1.225 kg/m3

• The turbine has a 24 m diameter, which means the radius is 12 m.
• Thus, the swept area (A) of the turbine is: (pi)r2 = 3.14159(12*12)
= 452.4 m2
• We'll start with a 6 m/s wind.

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 Wind Energy and Power Calculations
➢We'll start with a 6 m/s wind.
• The power in the wind at 6 m/s is: 1/2 x ρ x A x v3 = 0.5 x 1.225 kg/m3 x
452.4 m2 x (6 m/s)3 = 59,851 W = 59.85 kW
➢At 12 m/s: 1/2 x ρ x A x v3 = 0.5 x 1.225 kg/m3 x 452.4 m2 x (12 m/s)3 =
478,808 W = 478.8 kW (8 times as large)
➢At 18 m/s: 1/2 x ρ x A x v3 = 0.5 x 1.225 kg/m3 x 452.4 m2 x (18 m/s)3 =
1,615,979 W = 1,616 kW = 1.616 MW (27 times as large)

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 Wind Energy and Power Calculations

➢As you can see, when the velocity doubles, the power increases
by a factor of 8, and
➢when the velocity triples, it increases by a factor of 27.
➢This is because the velocity is cubed: 23 = 8 and 33 = 27.

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 Calculating Wind Turbine Output
➢The output of a wind turbine is dependent upon the velocity of the wind
that is hitting it.
➢But, the power is not proportional to the wind velocity. Every turbine is
different.
➢ To determine the output of a specific turbine at a given wind velocity, you
need its power curve.
➢The power curve and corresponding data for the Northwind 100C can be
seen below:

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Calculating Wind Turbine Output

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Calculating Wind Turbine Output

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 Calculating Wind Turbine Output

➢As you can see, even though this is a 95 kW turbine, it only

provides (approximately) that much power at a very limited
number of wind speeds - about 12 m/s through about 15 m/s.
Counterintuitively, the power output decreases if the wind
speeds up past that point. For safety reasons, the turbine will
stop spinning if the wind speed is higher than 25 m/s.

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 Calculating Wind Turbine Output

➢Assuming the turbine is operating properly, the output calculation is pretty

straightforward. You just multiply the output at a given velocity by the
number of hours the wind is blowing at that velocity.
➢For example, let's assume that the wind hitting a Northwind 100C in a
given day has the following velocities. (Note that in reality, the wind would
likely change much more frequently than this. I just wanted to make the
math relatively easy.):

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Calculating Wind Turbine Output

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 Calculating Wind Turbine Output
➢The total output at 6 m/s would be: 24.7 kW (the
output at 6 m/s from the power curve table) x 4 hrs
= 98.8 kWh.
➢Based on the power curve table above, the total
output for this day would be:

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Calculating Wind Turbine Output

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 Capacity Factor

➢Capacity factor indicates how much energy is generated by a

source relative to the maximum amount of energy it could provide.

➢This is expressed as a percentage and is usually determined over

the course of a single year.

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 Capacity Factor
➢This provides insight into how well-sited the turbine is, but in
general indicates how available an energy source is throughout the
year.

➢The closer to 100%, the more the energy source is available

throughout the year.

➢Capacity Factor = actual output/maximum possible output.

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 Capacity Factor
➢For a wind turbine, the maximum possible output would be the capacity x
8760 hr (there are 8760 hrs in a year).

➢So for the Northwind 100C, the maximum output is: 95 kW x 8760 hr/yr
= 832,200 kWh/yr (or 832.2 MWh). If the actual output over the course of
a year was 250,000 kWh, the capacity factor would be:

➢capacity factor = actual/maximum output = 250,000 kWh/832,200 kWh =

30%
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 Capacity Factor

➢The average capacity factor of the U.S. wind fleet hovers

around 32% - 34%, but new turbine designs have been tested in
the 60%+ range, like the 12 MW behemoth by GE.
➢It's not unusual to see 40% and up capacity factors for well-
sited wind farms.

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 2. AIR DENSITY:

➢Power output is related to the local air density,

➢Air density is a function of altitude, pressure, and temperature.
➢Dense air exerts more pressure on the rotors, which results in
higher power output.
➢Air density is low at very high altitude (mountain peak)
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 3. TURBINE DESIGN:

➢Wind turbines are designed to maximize the rotor blade radius

to maximize power output.
➢Larger blades allow the turbine to capture more of the kinetic
energy of the wind by moving more air through the rotors.
➢However, larger blades require more space and higher wind
speeds to operate.
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 TURBINE DESIGN:

➢As a general rule, turbines are spaced out at four times the rotor
diameter.
➢This distance is necessary to avoid interference between
turbines, which decreases the power output.
➢The relative spacing between wind turbines is visible in
following Figure
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WIND FARM IN TEXAS:

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POWER OF HAWT:
•Rotor swept area
in m² (A= πr² for
HAWT)
• r= radius or blade
length

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POWER OF HAWT:

•For a conventional horizontal axis turbine,

area A = (π/4) D²,
•So wind power is proportional to the square of the
blade diameter

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POWER OF HAWT:

➢Doubling the diameter increases the power available by a factor

of four
➢Conversely, halving the rotor swept blade area will reduce the
output power to one-forth (P / 4).
➢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

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 POWER OF VAWT:
Swept area of a vertical axis
Wind Turbine (Darrieus type)
A= 0.67 D.H

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 POWER OF VAWT:
•Swept area of a vertical axis Wind
Turbine (Savonius type)
•A=D.H
•D=Diameter
•H=Height

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20winds.

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