WIND ENERGY

WIND ENERGY
• Wind energy is a secondary form of energy, reliant on the
sun’s uneven heating of the earth’s surface.
• This uneven heating creates temperature differentials that
result in density and pressure differences in the air.
• The direction of the wind is partly determined by the
rotation of the earth (trade winds).
• The topography of the land also influences wind direction,
with winds being channeled between mountains and hills,
and valleys acting as conduits.
• Considering these factors, the tops of hills and mountains,
gaps in mountain ranges, and coastal areas are often the
best places to harness onshore wind power.
WIND ENERGY
• The extraction of wind energy by turbine blades is based
on the same principle that gives airplane wings their lift.
• The wind causes a pocket of low-pressure air on the
downside of the blade, causing the blade to move towards
the low pressure and the rotor to turn. This is known as the
lift.
• The force of the lift is much stronger than the force of the
wind against the front side of the blade, which is called the
drag.
• A combination of lift and drag causes the rotor to spin,
turning the generator and producing electricity.
WIND ENERGY
• The power generated by a wind turbine is proportional to
the cube of the wind velocity.

𝑷 = 𝒂𝒗𝟑
𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕

𝒗
𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚
WIND ENERGY
• The power generated is also proportional to the
area swept out by the blades, making the power
a function of the square of blade length.

𝑷 = 𝒃𝒓𝟐
𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇
𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕

• Hence, the bigger the blade, the

more power can be extracted.
WIND ENERGY

• The wind offshore is stronger and more constant than it is

onshore, making it a better location for wind farms.
• Most cities are situated in coastal regions, which could
mean a reduction in electricity transmission costs if wind
farms are situated offshore and near the customer base.
• The winds are more stable and faster the higher the
turbine is from the ground or the sea.
• The offshore turbines tend to be larger than the onshore
turbines.
WIND TURBINE DEVELOPMENT
Development Description
Early The first serious wind turbines developed for electricity production in the 1970s were rated at
Wind Turbines about 500 kW.
Today, 8 MW and 10 MW turbines are being erected with plans to design 20 MW turbines. A
Modern
typical, modern 3 MW wind turbine can produce enough electricity to power 1000 American
Wind Turbines
homes.

The largest wind turbine today is the Chinese MySE 16.0-242 model, designed by MingYang
Largest
Smart Energy; it is rated at 15 MW and has a rotor diameter of 242 m. Seventy of those turbines
Wind Turbine
are equivalent to a typical 1 GW power station.

The limit to the size of wind turbines being manufactured and commissioned is determined by
Limitations the problems in transporting the large blades and pillar components, the mechanic strength of
the glass fiber blades, the size of the cranes required to erect the turbines, and the cost.
A solution to some of these problems is to build the blades and pillars offshore. A similar
Solutions
situation exists for oil rigs.
WIND ENERGY CONTRIBUTION
Contribution to
Installed
Country
Region/Country Capacity
able
Electricity
(GW)
• The global capacity of wind energy was Production
743 GW, producing only 6% of the world’s European Union 16.4% -
electricity in 2020
UK 24.8% -
• Largely made up of wind turbines in China
(288 GW), the USA (122 GW), Germany 63 Denmark 56% 5
GW, India (39 GW), and Spain 27 GW
China 9.3% 288
USA 26% 122
Germany 23.35% 63
India 9.3% 39
Spain 22% 27
Philippines 2% 0.443
Advantages of wind energy
Provision for a clean source of energy: The almost pollution-free nature of wind energy is one of
the compelling reasons for its development.
able The relatively small amount of greenhouse gas
emissions associated with wind turbines are produced in the manufacture and transport of the
turbines and blades. Replacing fossil fuel power stations with wind energy and other renewable
energy can rid-off dangerous pollutant.
Sustainability: Whenever the sun shines and the wind blows, energy can be harnessed and sent to
the grid. This makes wind a sustainable source of energy and another good reason to invest in wind
farms.
Location: Very often good windy sites are not in competition with urban development or another
land usage; such areas include the tops of mountains or gullies between hills.
Compatibility with other land uses: Wind turbines can be erected on pastureland with little
disturbance to the animals and the general farming activities. Other areas such as near landfills
sites, the sides of motorways, and major roads, where urban development is unlikely to take place,
are ideal locations to consider for wind farms.
Advantages of wind energy
Reduction of costly transport costs of electricity from far-away power stations: Transporting
alternating current electricity at great able
distances is expensive because of the cost of the cables and
pylons and also because of the loss of power due to the electrical resistance of the cables.
National security: The wind is a free source of energy. Being independent of foreign sources of fuel
(e.g., fossil fuel and indeed of electricity) is a great advantage. It means no price hikes over which
we have no control and no embargoes on importing fuel or even electricity from foreign countries.
Conservation of water: Traditional power stations using coal, oil, gas or nuclear fuel all use large
volumes of water. Wind farms use almost no water.

Fuel Type Water Usage (L/MWh) Additional Notes

Nuclear 2660-4180 Closed-loop
Coal 1750-2280 Closed-loop
Biomass 152,000-380,000 Irrigating crops
Solar 855-1976 Washing panels
Wind 170-320
Advantages of wind energy
Reduction of destructive mining: Theablepumping of oil and gas (especially from ocean beds) and
the mining of coal or uranium all have serious environmental impacts on the sea or land.
Cost-effectiveness: The cost of turbines has decreased significantly because of improved designs
and mass production. Together, with the drop in investment costs, there has been a significant
increase in the efficiency of turbines through increased hub height and larger rotor blade diameter.
Creation of jobs and local resources: The wind turbine industry is a rapidly growing industry and
employs thousands of workers in the manufacturing processes, transport of turbines, erection of
turbines, and in servicing working turbines.
Rapid Instigation of power: National grids supply a steady level of electricity (the base load) to
meet the needs of a country. If, for some reason, the supply of electricity needs to be suddenly
increased. If the wind is blowing or if the wind energy has been stored, then the supply can take just
minutes to feed into the National grid.
Advantages of wind energy
Diversification of power supply: Withable
our total reliance on electricity, it is well worth diversifying
our energy sources so that we are not reliant on one type of energy, be it fossil fuel, nuclear or solar.
Stability of cost of electricity: Once the wind farm is in place, the cost of the electricity to
customers should be stable. It is not a function of the price of imported fuels.
Challenges facing the wind turbine industry

The Intermittency of wind: Wind is unpredictable,

able
and this is perhaps the most important of all
the problems associated with electricity production from wind farms.
The wind may not be blowing when the electricity from a wind farm is required. Furthermore, when
the wind is blowing and electricity is being produced, it is possible that the energy is not required.
The solution is to store the electricity when it is not required and use the stored electricity in times
of need. This can be done in a number of ways: batteries, pumped water storage, pumped air or
methane into caverns, and even driving trains uphills.
Good sites are often in remote locations: The best windy sites are often in hilly, mountainous
regions away from urban areas. This does mean that the electricity produced onshore must be
transported along expensive high voltage cables to reach customers.
Noise pollution: The noise from a rotating wind turbine falls off exponentially with distance from
the tower, and at 500 m the sound level is less than 35 dB which is not substantial when the normal
conversation is rated at 60 dB.
Challenges facing the wind turbine industry

Turbine blades can damage wildlife:able There is much evidence that birds and bats are being killed
by the turning blades of wind turbines.
Safety: The major safety hazard associated with turbines, once they are in place, is the possibility
of a blade coming adrift, which could cause serious harm to people or animals nearby.
Frequency of light and shadows: It has been reported that the frequency and strobe effect of
turning blades could affect the human brain. Wind turbines produce a shadow flicker by the
interruption of sunlight by the turbine blades.
Shortage of the Rare Earth Element, Neodymium, needed to Manufacture Turbine Magnets:
Modern turbines require special permanent magnets, and these are made from an alloy that
contains the rare earth element neodymium (Nd).
Initial Cost: The initial cost of setting up a wind farm is perhaps the most serious drawback. It is for
this reason that many governments throughout the world still offer subsidies.
Wind power fundamentals
Wind is atmospheric air in motion. Theable
velocity of the air
motion defines the strength of wind and is directly related to
the amount of mechanical energy in the wind, that is—its
kinetic energy.
The original source of this energy, however, is solar radiation.
Uneven heating of the earth’s surface is converted through
convective processes to air movement, which is adjusted by
the rotation of the earth.
The convective processes are disturbances of the
hydrostatic balance whereby, otherwise stagnant, air masses
are displaced and propelled in reaction to forces induced by
changes in air density and buoyancy due to temperature
differences.
Fundamental equation of wind power
Wind energy depends on:
• Amount of air (the volume of air in consideration)
able

• Speed of air (the magnitude of its velocity)

• Mass of air (related to its volume via density)

Wind energy is the energy content of airflow due to its motion.

This type of energy is called kinetic energy and is a function of
its mass and velocity, given by

𝟏
𝑲𝑬 = 𝒎𝒗𝟐
𝟐
Wind Turbines
We generally categorize wind turbines by the
able
orientation of their axis of rotation:
• Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs).
• Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and
Wind Turbines
• The disk area A of a wind turbine as the area normal to the wind direction swept
out by the turbine blades as they rotate

The available wind power Wavailable in the

disk area is calculated as the rate of change
of kinetic energy of the wind.
Wind Turbines
• For comparison of various wind turbines and locations, it is
more useful to think in terms of the available wind power per
unit area, which we call the wind power density, typically in
units of W/m2

Thus,
• Wind power density is directly proportional to air
• Wind power density is proportional to the cube of the wind
speed—doubling the wind speed increases the wind power
density by a factor of 8.
Wind Turbines
• For an ideal wind turbine without irreversible losses
such as friction, the power generated by the turbine is
simply the difference between the incoming and outgoing
kinetic energies.

• The efficiency of the wind turbine is expressed as the

power coefficient
Betz limit
• States that the maximum power
coefficient CPmax of any wind turbine
is equal to 0.5926

• All real wind turbines have a

maximum achievable power
coefficient less than Cpmax due to
irreversible losses.

• The “best” wind turbine is the high-

speed HAWT
Three key locations on the wind-speed scale
• Cut-in speed is the minimum wind speed at which useful power can be generated.
• Rated speed is the wind speed that delivers the rated power, usually the maximum power.
• Cut-out speed is the maximum wind speed at which the wind turbine is designed to
produce power.

• At wind speeds greater than the

cut-out speed, the turbine
blades are stopped by some
type of braking mechanism to
avoid damage and for safety
issues.
To save money, a school plans to generate some of their own electricity using a HAWT
wind turbine on top of a hill where it is fairly windy. They hope to achieve a power
coefficient of 40 percent. The combined efficiency of the gearbox and generator is
estimated to be 85 percent. If the diameter of the wind turbine disk is 12.5 m, estimate
the electrical power production when the wind blows at 10.0 m/s.
𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕
𝑪𝒑 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟎 = , η𝒈𝒎 = 𝟎. 𝟖𝟓 = ,
ሶ
𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 ሶ
𝑾𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕

ρ = 𝟏. 𝟐 𝒌𝒈/𝒎𝟑 𝒅𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒆 = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓 𝒎 𝒗 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟎 𝒎/𝒔

𝟑 𝟐
𝑾ሶ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 = 𝟏 𝝆𝑽𝟑 𝑨 = 𝟏 𝟏. 𝟐 𝒌𝒈 𝟏𝟎
𝒎 π 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓 𝒎 𝟏 𝒌𝑾 𝟏 𝒌𝑱 𝟏 𝒌𝑵
𝟐 𝟐 𝒎𝟑 𝒔 𝟒 𝒌𝑱 𝒌𝑵. 𝒎 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒌𝒈. 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝒔
𝑾ሶ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 = 𝟕𝟑. 𝟔𝟑𝟏 𝒌𝑾

𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = 𝑪𝒑 𝑾ሶ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 = (𝟎. 𝟒𝟎)(𝟕𝟑. 𝟔𝟑𝟏 𝒌𝑾) = 𝟐𝟗. 𝟒𝟓𝟐𝟒 𝒌𝑾

𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = η𝒈𝒎 𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = (𝟎. 𝟖𝟓)(𝟐𝟗. 𝟒𝟓𝟐𝟒 𝒌𝑾) = 𝟐𝟓 𝒌𝑾
The average wind speed at a proposed HAWT wind farm site is 12.5 m/s. The power coefficient
of each wind turbine is predicted to be 0.41, and the combined efficiency of the gearbox and
generator is 92 percent. Each wind turbine must produce 2.5 MW of electrical power when the
wind blows at 12.5 m/s.
(a) Calculate the required diameter of each turbine disk. Take the average air density to be 𝜌 =
1.2 kg/m^3.
(b) If 30 such turbines are built on the site and an average home in the area consumes
approximately 1.5 kW of electrical power, estimate how many homes can be powered by
this wind farm, assuming an additional efficiency of 96 percent to account for the
powerline losses.
𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 η = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟐 𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕
𝒗 = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓 𝒎/𝒔 𝑪𝒑 = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟏 = , 𝒈𝒎 = , ρ = 𝟏. 𝟐 𝒌𝒈/𝒎𝟑
𝑾ሶ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕
𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = 𝟐. 𝟓 𝑴𝑾
𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝟐. 𝟓 𝑴𝑾
𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = = = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟕𝟑𝟗 𝑴𝑾
η𝒈𝒎 𝟎. 𝟗𝟐
𝑾ሶ 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟕𝟑𝟗 𝑴𝑾 𝟏 𝟑
𝑾ሶ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 = = = 𝟔. 𝟔𝟐𝟖𝑴𝑾, = 𝝆𝑽 𝑨
𝑪𝒑 𝟎. 𝟒𝟏 𝟐
𝟏 𝟑 π 𝟐 𝟏 𝒌𝒈 𝒎 𝟑 π𝒅𝟐 𝟏 𝒌𝑾 𝟏 𝒌𝑱 𝟏 𝒌𝑵
𝟔𝟔𝟐𝟖 𝒌𝑾 = 𝝆𝑽 𝒅 = 𝟏. 𝟐 𝟑 𝟏𝟐. 𝟓 , 𝒅 = 𝟖𝟓𝒎
𝟐 𝟒 𝟐 𝒎 𝒔 𝟒 𝒌𝑱 𝒌𝑵. 𝒎 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒌𝒈. 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝒔
The average wind speed at a proposed HAWT wind farm site is 12.5 m/s. The power coefficient
of each wind turbine is predicted to be 0.41, and the combined efficiency of the gearbox and
generator is 92 percent. Each wind turbine must produce 2.5 MW of electrical power when the
wind blows at 12.5 m/s.
(a) Calculate the required diameter of each turbine disk. Take the average air density to be 𝜌 =
1.2 kg/m^3.
(b) If 30 such turbines are built on the site and an average home in the area consumes
approximately 1.5 kW of electrical power, estimate how many homes can be powered by
this wind farm, assuming an additional efficiency of 96 percent to account for the
powerline losses.
𝑾ሶ 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕
𝑾ሶ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = 𝟐. 𝟓 𝑴𝑾 η𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 = 𝟎. 𝟗𝟐 = ,
ሶ
𝑾𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕

𝑾ሶ 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = 𝟐. 𝟓 𝑴𝑾𝒙 𝟑𝟎 = 𝟕𝟓 𝑴𝑾,

𝑾ሶ 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = η𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑾ሶ 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 = (𝟎. 𝟗𝟔)(𝟕𝟓 𝑴𝑾) = 𝟕𝟐 𝑴𝑾 = 𝟕𝟐, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒌𝑾

𝑾ሶ 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝟕𝟐, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒌𝑾

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 = = = 𝟒𝟖, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔
𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝑾/𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆
WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

• A wind turbine consists of a tower and a nacelle that is

mounted on the top of a tower.
• The nacelle contains several components, which
contribute with their specific function in the energy
conversion process from wind energy to electrical Nacelle
energy.
• The nacelle contains turbine rotor, transmission
system(gearbox), generator, power electronics, control
system, and transformer

Tower
 Rotor

Sensors
Power Electronic
Transmission Hub
Interface Pitch System

Generator Shaft
Tower
Aerodynamic rotor
• The aerodynamic rotor of a wind turbine captures the
power from the wind and converts it to kinetic mechanical
power.
• Mainly made up of a hub and blades, with the latter
attached to the hub by mechanical joints.
• Modern wind turbines have typically two or three blades,
made up by a matrix of fiberglass mats impregnated with
polyester
• In the old wind turbines, the blades can be firmly attached
to the hub,
• While modern turbines the blades can be turned around
their longitudinal axes.
Transmission system
• The kinetic mechanical power from the aerodynamic
rotor is transmitted to the generator through a
transmission system, which typically consists of the rotor
shaft, mechanical brake (s), and a gearbox.
• The mechanical brakes are usually used as a backup
system for the aerodynamic braking system of the wind
turbine and/or as a parking brake once the turbine is
stopped.
• The aerodynamic brake system usually consists of turning
the blade out of the wind, namely 90 degrees about the
longitudinal axis of the blade.
Transmission system

• The main purpose of the gearbox is to act as a rotational

speed increaser;
• The gearbox of a wind turbine converts the slow high
torque rotation of the aerodynamic rotor into the much
faster rotation of the generator shaft.
• As the gearbox is continuously subjected to large and
varying torques due to the increased size of wind
turbines and wind speed variability, the gearbox is the
weakest link in the wind turbines, many of them failing in
less than two years of operation.
Generator
• The generator is an electromechanical component, which
converts mechanical power into electrical power.
• Generators have typically a stator and a rotor.
• The stator is a stationary housing, which has coils of wire
mounted in a certain pattern.
• The rotor is the rotating part of the generator and is
responsible for the magnetic field of the generator.
Power Electronic Interface
• The generator is Each turbine in a wind farm is equipped with a
Power Electronic Interface.
• It is integral in systems where there is a need to change the
form of electrical energy, such as converting DC to AC,
changing voltage levels, or regulating power flow.
• This regulation allows the system to efficiently manage power
flow and respond quickly to grid problems, contributing to
grid stability.
• Control systems are used to control the rotational speed of
wind turbines enabling them to operate with optimum speed
to extract maximum power from wind.
Transformer
• Transformer is a passive electrical device that transfers
electrical energy from one circuit to another through the
process of electromagnetic induction.
• It is most commonly used to increase (‘step up’) or decrease
(‘step down’) voltage levels between circuits.
• Each turbine in a wind farm is equipped with a step-up
transformer. The transformer boosts turbine generator output
voltage from a few hundred volts to the collector system’s
medium voltage distribution levels.
• The transformer in a wind turbine is commonly located at the
base of the wind turbine. This design minimizes the risk of
damage to the transformer in the event of a turbine collapse
and reduces the length of conductor required between the
generator and transformer.