Wind Energy

5-1 INTRODUCTION
Windmill: It is used for mechanical power generation (grinding grain,
pumping water, etc.).
Wind turbine: It is used for electrical power generation.
Technically both devices are turbines since they extract energy from the
fluid.
Example: Altamont Pass in California is the world’s largest wind farm
with 15,000 modern wind turbines.
This farm and two others in California produce about 3 billion kWh of
electricity per year, which is enough power to meet the electricity needs
of San Francisco.
USA, Germany, Denmark, and Spain account for over 75% of current
wind energy generating capacity worldwide.
Denmark uses wind turbines to supply 10% of its national electricity.
Speed: The rotation speed of rotors of wind turbines is usually
under 40 rpm (under 20 rpm for large turbines).
Capacity: Commercial wind turbines generate from 100 kW to 3.2
MW of electric power each at peak design conditions. The largest
one has over 8 MW capacity.
Rotor diameter: The blade span (or rotor) diameter of the 3.2
MW wind turbine built by Boeing Engineering is 320 ft (97.5 m).
Location: Wind turbines need to be located where the wind
blows, which is often far from traditional power grids, requiring
construction of new high-voltage power lines.
Wind turbines produce power only when the wind is blowing,
and the power output of a wind turbine is not constant.
Wind turbines are expected to play an ever increasing role in the
global supply of energy for the foreseeable future.
Figure 5-1
(a) Wind farms are popping up all over the world to help
reduce the global demand for fossil fuels. (b) Some wind
turbines are even being installed on buildings! These three
turbines are on a building at the Bahrain World Trade Center.
5-2 WIND TURBINE TYPES AND POWER
PERFORMANCE CURVE
Numerous innovative wind turbine designs have been proposed
and tested over the centuries.
Categories: We generally categorize wind turbines by the
orientation of their axis of rotation
- horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs)
- vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs)
Alternative classification: An alternative way to categorize them is
by the mechanism that provides torque to the rotating shaft:
- lift - drag
Which type is used? Lift-type HAWT
Other designs have not achieved the same success.
Wind farm: Clusters of wind turbines.
Horizontal Axis Turbines

Figure 5-2
Various wind
turbine designs and
their categorization.
Primarily drag-type Vertical Axis Turbines Others

Primarily lift-type

Combinations
Every wind turbine has a characteristic power performance curve.
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. The short section of dashed curve line indicates
the power that would be produced if cut-out were not implemented.

Figure 5-3
Typical qualitative wind-turbine
power performance curve with
definitions of cut-in, rated, and
cut-out speeds.
The design of HAWT turbine blades includes tapering and
twist to maximize performance.
While the fluid mechanics of wind turbine design is critical,
the power performance curve also is influenced by
- electrical generator
- gearbox
- structural issues
Inefficiencies appear in every component.
5-3 WIND POWER POTENTIAL
Mechanical energy: The form of energy that can be converted to
mechanical work completely and directly by an ideal mechanical
device such as an ideal turbine.

P/ρ flow energy,

V²/2 kinetic energy
gz potential energy
ṁ mass flow rate of the fluid

The pressures at the inlet and exit of a wind turbine are both equal to
the atmospheric pressure and the elevation does not change across a
wind turbine.
Flow energy and potential energy do not change across a wind turbine.
A wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of the fluid into power.
Available wind power: The maximum power a wind turbine
can generate for the given wind velocity V.

Mass flow rate

Wind power
potential

ρ density of air
A disk area of a wind turbine
(the circular area swept out by the turbine
blades as they rotate)
The available power relation indicates that the power potential of a
wind turbine is proportional to density of air. As a result, cold air
has a higher wind power potential than the warm air.

P = ρRT Ideal gas relation Gas constant, R = 0.287

kPam³/kgK
A = D²/4 Disk area D: blade diameter

Effect of velocity: The power potential of a wind turbine is

proportional to cubic power of the wind velocity.
Effect of blade diameter: The power potential of a wind turbine
is proportional to the square of the blade diameter.
Doubling blade diameter increases the power potential by a
factor of four.
Consider a location where the wind with a density of 1.2 kg/m³ is blowing
at a velocity of 4 m/s.
The maximum power a wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 1.03 m can
generate is

If the wind velocity is doubled, the available power becomes 242 kW.
Doubling the wind velocity will increase the power potential by a
factor of 8.
Minimum wind speed: A wind turbine investment is usually not
justified if the location does not have a steady wind at a velocity of
about 6 m/s or higher.
Figure 5-4 The power
potential of a wind turbine is
proportional to cubic power of
the wind velocity. Therefore,
doubling the wind velocity will
increase the power potential
by a factor of 8.
Wind Power Potential in a Location
A wind turbine with a blade diameter of 90 ft is to be installed in a location where
average wind velocity is 20 ft/s. The average temperature and pressure of ambient
air in this location are 75°F and 14.5 psia, respectively. Determine the wind power
potential.

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5-4 WIND POWER DENSITY
Wind power density: For comparison of various wind turbines and
locations, it is more useful to think in terms of available wind power
per unit area, typically in units of W/m²:

The average wind power density should be calculated based on hourly wind
speed averages for the entire year. For the construction of wind turbines,
- WPD is less than about 100 W/m², poor site
- WPD is around 400 W/m², good site
- WPD is greater than about 700 W/m², great site
A wind power density of 100 W/m² corresponds to a wind speed of 5.5 m/s
for an air density of 1.2 kg/m³.
Other factors affect the choice of a wind turbine site, such as atmospheric
turbulence intensity, terrain, obstacles (buildings, trees, etc.), environmental
impact, etc.
Figure 5-6 A rule of thumb criteria for
construction of wind turbines in a
proposed site.
 Comparison of Wind Power Potentials Based on
Wind Power Densities
Consider two locations, location A and location B, with average wind power densities
of 250 W/m2 and 500 W/m2, respectively. Determine the average wind speed in
each location. Take the density of air to be 1.18 kg/m3. If a turbine with a diameter of
40 m is to be installed in location A and a turbine with a diameter of 20 m is to be
installed in location B, what is the ratio of wind power potentials in location A to
location B?

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5-5 WIND TURBINE EFFICIENCY
Wind turbine efficiency: The fraction of available power
potential converted into actual shaft power.

Ẇshaft rotor shaft power output

 density of air
V wind velocity

Here, Wshaft refers to rotor shaft power output. A gearbox/generator connected

to the turbine converts shaft power into electrical power output Ẇelectric
ƞgearbox/generator is the
gearbox/generator efficiency,and
is typically above 80 percent.

Overall wind
turbine efficiency
The efficiency of wind turbines usually ranges between 30 and 40%.
The efficiency of wind turbine is usually referred to as power
coefficient Cp.
Using the wind turbine efficiency, the actual shaft power output
from a wind turbine can be expressed as
If we neglect frictional effects in a wind turbine and take the wind velocity as
the average velocity of air at the turbine inlet, the portion of incoming kinetic
energy not converted to shaft power leaves the wind turbine as outgoing
kinetic energy.

Figure 5-7
This relation enables us to determine the exit The flow of air across a wind turbine.
velocity when the turbine efficiency is known
and the frictional effects are neglected.