e le ct rical-e ngine e ring-po rt al.co m http://electrical-engineering-po rtal.

co m/wind-po wer-applicatio ns-grid-co nnected-o r-no t

Wind power applications, Grid connected or not?

by Edvard

Wind p o we r ap p lic atio ns , G rid c o nne c te d o r no t? (o n p ho to : The wind turb ine s , e ac h with a rate d p o we r o utp ut o f 3.2 me g awatts (MW) and a hub he ig ht o f 143 me tre s , are inte nd e d fo r the Po ys d o rf-Wilfe rs d o rf III wind farm in the no rth-e as t o f Aus tria.)

T here are perhaps f our distinct categories of wind power which should be discussed. These are: By small, we mean a size appropriate f or an individual to own, up to a f ew tens of kilowatts. Large ref ers to utility scale.

Small, Non-Grid Connected

If one wants electricity in a location not serviced by a utility, one of the options is a wind turbine, with batteries to level out supply and demand. T his might be a your home, a remote antenna and transmitter site, or a T hird-World village. T he costs will be high, on the order of $0.50/kWh , but if the total energy usage is small, this might be acceptable. T he alternatives, photovoltaics, Ho me wind turb ine s - d e s ig ne d microhydro, and diesel generators, are not cheap either, so a caref ul economic study needs to be done f or each situation. Go to top

fo r e as e o f us e , the y are s mo o th and q uie t.

Small, Grid Connected

T he small, grid connected turbine is usually not economically feasible. T he cost of wind-generated electricity is less because the utility is used f or storage rather than a battery bank, but is still not competitive. In order f or the small, grid connected turbine to have any hope of f inancial breakeven, the turbine owner needs to get something close to the retail price f or the wind-generated electricity. Advertisement One way this is done is f or the owner to have an arrangement with the utility called net metering. With this system, the meter runs backward when the turbine is generating more than the owner is consuming at the moment.

Small wind turb ine - G rid c o nne c te d (Ho riz o ntal-axis turb ine d e s ig ne d and ins talle d in San Franc is c o )

T he owner pays a monthly charge f or the wires to his home, but it is conceivable that the utility will sometimes write a check to the owner at the end of the month, rather than the other way around. The utilities do not like this arrangement. T hey want to buy at wholesale and sell at retail. T hey f eel it is unf air to be used as a storage system without remuneration. For most of the twentieth century, utilities simply ref used to connect the grid to wind turbines. T he utility had the right to generate electricity in a given service territory, and they would not tolerate competition. T hen a law was passed that utilities had to hook up wind turbines and pay them the avoided cost f or energy. Unless the state mandated net metering, the utility typically required the installation of a second meter, one measuring energy consumption by the home and the other energy production by the turbine.

T he owner would pay the regular retail rate, and the utility would pay their estimate of avoided cost, usually the f uel cost of some base load generator. T he owner might pay $0.08 to $0.15 per kWh , and receive $0.02 per kWh f or the wind-generated electricity. T his was f ar f rom enough to eco-nomically justif y a wind turbine, and had the ef f ect of killing the small wind turbine business. Go to top

Large, Non-Grid Connected

Larg e , no n-g rid c o nne c te d wind turb ine s ins talle d o n mo untain

T hese machines would be installed on islands, high mountains or native villages in the f ar north where it is virtually impossible to connect to a large grid. Such places are typically supplied by diesel generators, and have a substantial cost just f or the imported f uel. One or more wind turbines would be installed in parallel with the diesel generators, and act as f uel savers when the wind was blowing. T his concept has been studied caref ully and appears to be quite feasible technically. One would expect the market to develop af ter a f ew turbines have been shown to work f or an extended period in hostile environments. It would be helpf ul if the diesel maintenance companies would also carry a line of wind turbines so the people in remote locations would not need to teach another group of maintenance people about the realities of lif e at places f ar away f rom the nearest hardware store. Go to top

Large, Grid Connected

We

In Sc hlalac h-Mhle nflie , a s mall to wn in the G e rman re g io n o f Brand e nb urg , 16 g ig antic wind turb ine s s tre tc h into the air. Eve ry to we r has hug e , ro tating b lad e s and a he ig ht o f c lo s e to 180 me te rs .

might ask if the utilities should be f orced to buy wind-generated electricity f rom these small machines at a premium price which ref lects their environmental value. Many have argued this over the years. A better question might be whether the small or the large turbines will result in a lower net cost to society. Given that we want the environmental benef its of wind generation, should we get the electricity f rom the wind with many thousands of individually owned small turbines, or should we use a much smaller number of utility-scale machines? If we could make the argument that a dollar spent on wind turbines is a dollar not spent on hospitals, schools, and the like, then it f ollows that wind turbines should be as ef f icient as possible. Economies of scale and costs of operation and maintenance are such that the small, grid connected turbine will always need to receive substantially more per kilowatt hour than the utility-scale turbines in order to break even. T here is obviously a niche market for turbines that are not connected to the grid, but small, grid connected turbines will probably not develop a thriving market. Most of the action will be f rom the utilityscale machines. Sizes of these turbines have been increasing rapidly. Turbines with ratings near 1 MW are now common, with prototypes of 2 MW and more being tested. T his is still small compared to the needs of a utility, so clusters of turbines are placed together to f orm wind power plants with total ratings of 10 to 100 MW. Go to top Resource: Electric Power Generation: Non-Conventional Methods Saifur Rahman Virginia Tech