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.
- A wind turbine extracts energy from moving air by slowing the wind down, and
transferring this energy into a spinning shaft, which usually turns a generator to produce
electricity.
- The power in the wind that is available for harvest depends on both the wind speed and
the area that is swept by the turbine blades.

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:
i. Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT), in which the axis of rotation is vertical with
respect to the ground (and roughly perpendicular to the wind stream),
ii. Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT), in which the axis of rotation is horizontal with
respect to the ground (and roughly parallel to the wind stream.)

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 Vertical axis Turbine Horizontal axis Turbine

Characteristics of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)

 Shaft mounted on a vertical axis, perpendicular to the ground.
 Always aligned with the wind, thus no adjustment when the wind direction changes.
 Can’t start moving all by itself, thus needs a boost from its electrical system to get
started.
 Uses guy wire for support.
 Less efficient since the rotor elevation is lower near the ground.
Advantages of VAWT
 Easy installation and servicing since all equipment is at ground level.
 Does not need a yaw mechanism to turn the rotor against the wind.
Disadvantages of VAWT
 Wind speeds are very close to the ground level and hence very low
 Poor overall efficiency.
 Machine not self-starting.
 May need guy wires to hold it, making it not appropriate in heavily farmed areas.
 Replacing the main bearing for the rotor require dismantling the whole machine

Characteristics of Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT)

 Shaft mounted horizontally, parallel to the ground.
 Need to be constantly aligned with the wind using a yaw-adjusted mechanism.
 Yaw system consists of motors and gearboxes that move the entire rotor left or right in
small increments so as to capture the wind energy available.

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  Use a tower to lift the turbine components to an optimum elevation for wind speed.
Advantages of HAWT
 Variable blade pitch which gives the turbine blades optimum angle of attack. This allows
the angle of attack be adjusted so that the turbine collects the maximum amount of wind
energy.
 Tall tower allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear.
 Higher efficiencies since the blades are always perpendicular to the wind receiving power
thro’ the whole rotation.
Disadvantages of HAWT
 Tall towers and blades are difficult to transport.
 Tall HAWT are difficult to install needing tall and expensive cranes and skilled
operators.
 Require massive tower construction to support the heavy blades, gearbox and generator.
 Require yaw control mechanism to turn the blades nacelle towards the wind.

Main components of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

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 Parts of Wind turbines
 Rotor – capture wind energy and convert it to mechanical rotational energy of shaft
 Shaft (low and high) – transfers rotational energy into the gearbox and generator
 Gearbox – increases speed of shaft between rotor hub and generator
 Generator – convert rotational energy of shaft to electricity
 Yaw controller – moves rotor to align it with direction of wind
 Brakes – stop rotation of shaft in case of power overload or system failure

Rotor
- The portion of the wind turbine that collects energy from the wind is called the rotor.
- The rotor usually consists of two or more wooden, fibreglass or metal blades (new
design) which rotate about an axis (horizontal or vertical) at a rate determined by the
wind speed and the shape of the blades. The blades are attached to the hub, which in turn
is attached to the main shaft.
-
Rotor Blade Variables
 Blade Length
 Blade Number
 Blade Pitch
 Blade Shape
 Blade Materials
 Blade Weight
What should be the angle of attack?
What should be the blade profile?
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How many blades to use?
Blade designs operate on either on principle of drag or lift
Drag Design
- For the drag design, the wind literally pushes the blades out of the way.
- Drag powered wind turbines are characterized by slower rotational speeds and high
torque capabilities.
- They are useful for the pumping, sawing or grinding work. For example, a farm-type
windmill must develop high torque at start- up in order to pump, or lift, water from a
deep well.
Lift Design
- The lift blade design employs the same principle that enables airplanes, kites and birds to
fly.
- The blade is essentially an airfoil, or wing.

- When air flows past the blade, a wind speed and pressure differential is created between
the upper and lower blade surfaces.
- The pressure at the lower surface is greater and thus acts to "lift" the blade. When blades
are attached to a central axis, like a wind turbine rotor, the lift is translated into rotational
motion.
- Lift-powered wind turbines have much higher rotational speeds than drag types and
therefore are well suited for electricity generation.

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Angle of attack (blade angle)
- The angle between the chord line of the airfoil and the flight direction is called the angle
of attack.
- Angle of attack has a large effect on the lift generated by an airfoil.

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Blade Number
- The determination of the number of blades involves design considerations of
aerodynamic efficiency, component costs, system reliability, and aesthetics.
- Aerodynamic efficiency increases with the number of blades but with diminishing
return.
- Increasing the number of blades from one to two yields a 6% increase in efficiency,
whereas increasing the blade count from two to three yields only an additional 3% in
efficiency.
- Further increasing the blade count yields minimal improvements in aerodynamic
efficiency and sacrifices too much in blade stiffness as the blades become thinner.
- Generally, the fewer the number of blades, the lower the material and manufacturing
costs will be.

Even or Odd Number of Blades

- A rotor with an even number of blades will cause stability problems for a wind turbine.
- The reason is that at the very moment when the uppermost blade bends backwards,
because it gets the maximum power from the wind, the lower most blades passes into the
wind shade in front of the tower.
- This produces uneven forces on the rotor shaft and rotor blade.

Wind Turbine – Blade Design (Shape)

- Rotor blades for wind turbines are always twisted.
- Seen from the rotor blade, the wind will be coming from a much steeper angle (more
from the general wind direction in the landscape), as you move towards the root of the
blade, and the center of the rotor.
- A rotor blade will stop giving lift (stall), if the blade is hit at an angle of attack which is
too steep.
- Therefore, the rotor blade has to be twisted, so as to achieve an optimal angle of attack
throughout the length of the blade.

Power Generated by Wind Turbine

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Theoretical Power Generated by Wind Turbine
Energy in wind is in form of kinetic energy.
1 2
K.E = 2 mV where m = mass of air, v = velocity of air.
mass
Density , ρ= , i.e. mass = density x volume
volume

Volume of air reaching the turbine per second

= Area swept by blades x velocity of wind
Mass of air reaching the turbine
= density x area swept by blades x velocity of the wind
i.e. m=ρAV

1 2
Energy per second = 2 ( ρAV ) .V
1 3
= 2 ρA V
Energy per second is the power of the wind
1 3
power of the wind = ρA V
2

Power = ½ (ρ) (A) (V) 3

ρ = Density of air
A = swept area = π (radius) 2, m2
V = Wind Velocity, m/sec.

Wind Turbine Efficiency

Betz Limit (Cp)
- It is the flow of air over the blades and through the rotor area that makes a wind turbine
function.
- The wind turbine extracts energy by slowing the wind down. The theoretical maximum
amount of energy in the wind that can be collected by a rotor of a wind turbine is
approximately 59.3%. This value is known as the Betz limit or power coefficient denoted
as CPmax.
- If the blades were 100% efficient, a wind turbine would not work because the air, having
given up all its energy, would entirely stop.
- In practice, the collection efficiency of a rotor is not as high as 59%. A more typical
efficiency is 35% to 45%.
- A complete wind energy system, including rotor, transmission, generator, storage and
other devices, which all have less than perfect efficiencies, will deliver between 10% and
30% of the original energy available in the wind.
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 - Hence factoring the power coefficient, the extractable power from the wind is given by:
Power = ½ (ρ) (A) (V) 3 Cp

Power Generated by Horizontal Wind Turbine

- How much power a wind turbine with 50 meters long blade can generate with a wind
speed of 12 m/s? The site of the installation is about 1000 feet above sea level. Assume
power coefficient of 40%.
- Air density is lower at higher elevation. For 1000 feet above sea level, ρ is about 1.16
kg/m3

Power = ½ (ρ) (A) (V) 3 (Cp)

= 0.5(1.16) ( π 502) (12)3(0.4)
= 3.15 x 106 Watt
= 3.15 MW

Cut-in Speed
- Cut-in speed is the minimum wind speed at which the wind turbine will generate usable
power.
- This wind speed is typically between 3 – 7 m/s
Rated Speed
- The rated speed is the minimum wind speed at which the wind turbine will generate its
designated rated power.
- Rated speed for most machines is in the range of 11 – 16 m/s.
- At wind speeds between cut-in and rated, the power output from a wind turbine increases
as the wind increases.
Cut-out Speed
- At very high wind speeds, typically between 20 – 36 m/s, most wind turbines cease
power generation and shut down.
- The wind speed at which shut down occurs is called the cut-out speed.
- Having a cut-out speed is a safety feature which protects the wind turbine from damage.
Shut down may occur in one of several ways.
- In some machines an automatic brake is activated by a wind speed sensor.
- Some machines twist or "pitch" the blades to spill the wind (pitch controlled).
- Still others use "spoilers," drag flaps mounted on the blades or the hub which are
automatically activated by high rotor rpm's, or mechanically activated by a spring loaded
device which turns the machine sideways to the wind stream (stall controlled).
- Normal wind turbine operation usually resumes when the wind drops back to a safe level.
Speed and Power Output Control
Pitch Controlled Wind Turbines
- In a pitch controlled wind turbine the turbine's electronic controller checks the power
output of the turbine several times per second.
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 - When the power output becomes too high, it sends an order to the blade pitch mechanism
which immediately pitches (turns) the rotor blades slightly out of the wind.
- Conversely, the blades are turned back into the wind whenever the wind drops again.
- The pitch mechanism is usually operated using hydraulics.
Stall Controlled Wind Turbines
- Passive stall controlled wind turbines have the rotor blades bolted onto the hub at a
fixed angle.
- The geometry of the rotor blade profile is aerodynamically designed to
ensure that as wind speed becomes too high, it creates turbulence on the leeward side of
the rotor blade.
- Active stall controlled turbines at low wind speed operate as pitch controlled turbines but
at high speeds (extreme), they operate like passive stall wind turbines with the blade
facing opposite direction.

The Wind Resource

Before wind turbines are installed, there is need to do wind resource assessment as well as site
assessment.

Wind resource assessment i.e. determine

 velocity of the wind(use anemometer)
 dominance direction of the wind (wind vane)
 quantity of the wind (investigate the variation of wind speeds for a period of one year)

Site assessment
 Fix factor - how steep is the terrain
 Roughness – type of vegetation present e.g. grass, trees
 Obstacles – are there houses or buildings in the path of the wind
 Orography – how is the landscape
 Transport and communication – are there roads to access the site

Offshore Wind Energy

- Offshore wind turbines harness the energy of ocean winds

- Offshore wind turbines typically generate more energy per hour than onshore or land-
based turbines due to their large size and higher wind speeds.
- At different depths, turbines require different types of bases for stability
 Monopole base which is a simple column about six metres in diameter and is
installed in water upto 30 metres
 Tripod or a steel jacket for stabilization of turbines in water 20-80 metres deep
 Floating structure for floating turbines in water 40-900 metres

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