Lopez, Jon Claude M.

Which is more viable to use in the Philippines,

Solar Energy Power Plant or Wind Energy Power Plant?

Harnessing electricity without raising the carbon dioxide content in the

atmosphere is the main reason why engineers/scientist developed the so-called
Sustainable Energy Power Plants. I am often asked which is better - wind turbines,
or solar modules. The answer, of course, is that it isn't as simple as stating which
technology is better - both have their benefits and drawbacks and which technology
is best depends very much on the application and the location of the system.
For large scale applications - such as for commercial scale power production for the
national grid - wind turbines are the most obvious solution. Large scale wind
turbines are efficient and effective, and can be installed in a variety of locations including far out to sea - comparatively quickly. Unlike the early large turbines,
modern turbines are virtually silent and the largest systems can generate in the
region of 2 megawatts of power - enough to power over 2,000 homes.
On smaller scale systems, turbines can be a good alternative to solar power, but
more often than not achieve their best when implemented together with a solar
system: a small wind turbine can generate electricity in a breeze even when the sun
is not shining, whilst the solar modules can generate electricity during the daytime
when the wind is not blowing.
Small wind turbines do have disadvantages however, and are very site specific.
Compared to large turbines used by the power companies, small wind turbines are
not particularly efficient and need to be situated in an area of above average wind
in order to generate reasonable amounts of power. They also require a very smooth
airflow: the smaller turbines are very susceptible to turbulence - so if you live near
to a busy road, or near trees, or in a built up area, a wind turbine is unlikely to work
well for you. Turbulent air - where the wind is constantly changing direction - leaves
the turbines constantly changing direction, constantly chasing the wind rather than
extracting power from it.
The UK DIY chain, B&Q, found this to their cost when they started selling their own
1kW turbine system in 2006. Eager customers lined up to buy the competitively
priced systems only to find that they did not provide the power advertised. More
often than not, the turbines were installed in inappropriate locations - on the sides
of houses, in built up areas, and not high enough to catch the breeze. As a
consequence, B&Q withdrew the turbines from sale in early 2009.
Wind turbines work best near the coast, or in open exposed areas where average
wind speeds are high. Ideally, turbines should be mounted high up - even small
turbines are often mounted 8-10 meters high in order to get sufficient wind power and away from buildings. Roof mounting a turbine is not ideal as the building itself

generates turbulence, and the vibrations from a turbine being affected by turbulent
air can be magnified through brick walls, creating a loud and annoying vibrating
sound.
All this means substantial foundations and framework for a turbine which can add
significant cost to a project. This height can also cause problems if you are planning
to mount a system close to neighbouring properties.
If you are planning to install a small turbine in combination with a solar electric
system, a smaller turbine that generates a few watts of power at lower wind speeds
is usually better than a large turbine that generates lots of power at high wind
speeds.
Small wind turbines can often be found on small leisure boats - the turbine
maintains the batteries whilst the boats are not in use. Boat owners have mixed
reports on their benefits: those who have the turbines mounted relatively low down
on the boat find they do not perform well at all - especially in busy marinas where
there are lots of boats around. Those who have the turbines mounted high up on a
mast report much better performance from their wind turbines.
Vitally important when installing a turbine system is the site survey. Accurately
measuring wind speeds at different locations throughout your site will ensure you
get the optimum performance for your system. The best way to do this is using a
professional wind power predictor tool that measures wind speed and turbulence
and allows you to predict the amount of power you can generate using wind power.
There are a number of wind turbine manufacturers around. Unfortunately, a lot of
the cheaper turbines - such as the type found for sale on eBay - are quite often
extremely heavy and have poor low-wind performance. The best turbines will
typically start spinning in a 5km/h breeze and will start generating electricity at
around 8km/h (5mph) whilst a lot of second-rate models won't start generating
electricity until they get a 20km/h (12mph) wind. The additional weight of these
cheap turbines mean you have to have significantly stronger mountings and the
extra cost of this will often outweigh the cost savings made by buying a cheap
turbine as opposed to a good one.
Wind turbines are an area where buying cheap is almost always a false economy.
Buying a good make, such as Rutland, Wren or Coemi will save you money and
ensure you have a reliable system in the long run.
Compared to solar, turbines are extremely location sensitive. Whereas most people
can implement a small solar array in most locations and achieve success, the same
cannot be said about turbines. Find the right site, and a turbine can be unbeatable.
Find the wrong site, and they can be a complete waste of money and time.

Vestas V90-3.0 MW Wind

Turbine

Photovoltaic solar
panels (PV)

Energy consumed (kWh)

4,304,221

577.5 (28,126,560)

Energy generated/year
(kWh)

7,890,000

162

Total kg of Co2 emitted

19,971.59

226.8 (11,046,067)

Grams of CO2/ 1kWh

4.64

70

Energy Balance

6.6 months

3.2 years

Energy Return on
Investment (EROI)

36.5:1

5:1

One wind turbine generated the same amount of electricity per kWh as about 48704
solar panels. To manufacture and maintain 48704 solar panels, 28,126,560 kWh
must be consumed. It took 23,822,339 kWh more to produce 48704 solar panels
than it takes to produce one wind turbine.
When comparing the amount of CO2 released per kWh during a wind turbine and
solar panel's life cycle, the wind turbine produced 4.64 grams of CO2/1kWh while
the solar panel produced 70 grams of CO2/1kWh. This means the wind turbine
released less CO2 than the solar panel to the atmosphere.
Energy balance is the amount of time needed to pay back the energy consumed.
The lower the pay back time, the sooner the machine starts producing energy that
is renewable. The wind turbine took only 6.6 months to repay its energy balance
while the solar panel took 3.2 years. Because the turbine took less time to repay its
energy balance, the turbine can then profit from the energy generated after its
payment.
Energy Return on Investment (EROI) is used to compare the quantity of energy
supplied to the quantity of energy used in supply process. The higher the ratio, the
less energy is consumed in producing the energy. The wind turbine's EROI is
approximately 36.5 :1 while solar energy has a EROI of 5:1. We can deduce that that
the wind turbines return more energy for a certain amount of energy invested.