Large Scale Renewable Energy

Resource: Wind Power

Lecture:3

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 ABOUT WIND ENERGY
Solar radiation: The ultimate source of all energy including wind energy.
1-2% of incident solar power is converted into wind.
Absorbed by Heat the surrounding
Solar energy
land and sea air and causes
temperature gradients

Pressure changes and

Winds are produced
convection currents are set up
WIND Pattern over a day: During day: Land is more warm than sea:
Wind flows from sea to Land
During Night: Sea is warmer than land: Wind flows from land to sea.
Available wind power is ~109 MW which is 100 times the total
Global power usage.
Limitation: It is Diffuse resource: Only a fraction of it could
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be harnessed.
 GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS
GLOBAL WIND PATTERN: Highest intensity of SOLAR
RADIATION at equator causes warm air to rise up and cooler air to
flow in from north and south.
Wind varies both with time and location.
Earth’s rotations decides the places of high and low wind.

Wind moving north or south

will have a component of
velocity towards east to an
observer in space.

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GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS
The force responsible for deviation of wind is Coriolis Force.

At 300 latitude, wind flow becomes

unstable and north-south motion of
the wind dissipates.

In northern hemisphere, the

sinking air at 300 latitude gives
rise to north east trade winds
and westerly wind belt.

Westerly wind belt prevails

over Europe.
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GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS
This is a simplified model, other
effects, like varying effect of oceans,
surface friction, large scale eddy
motions and seasonal effects.

Within these boundaries, there are

many regions where winds are
very strong.

These constitute best sites for

exploiting wind energy.

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 Kinetic energy and Power of Wind
Estimation of Kinetic energy of the wind.
For a wind speed u and air density , the energy density E
(kinetic energy per unit volume) of wind is given by:
1 2
E  u (1)
2
The volume of the wind flowing per second across a cross sectional
area A = uA.
 Wind power , P is the wind energy over an area A per second

1 2 1
P u Au  Au 3 (2)
2 2

This shows that wind power varies as cube of the wind speed.

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 Factors affecting Wind Power
If the wind speed is doubled  New wind speed is 2u
1 1
Pnew  A(2u)3  8  Au 3  8P
2 2
Doubling the wind speed results in 8-fold increase in the power
available in the wind.
1
P  Au 3
2

Hence, it can be noted that for 1 h of wind blowing at 20 kmph carries

as much energy as 64 hrs (2.7 days) of wind blowing at 5 kmph.

Also, P A

Hence, Doubling the blade diameter increases power by a factor

of 4.
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Factors affecting Speed and Power of Wind
The wind speed increases with increase in height above the
ground, hence, much more power is available at higher
elevations.

Wind turbines should, therefore, be designed so as to capture

the fast wind.

Typically, in daytime the variation follows the 1/7th power law,

which predicts that wind speed rises proportionally to the seventh
root of altitude.
Doubling the altitude of a turbine, then, increases the expected
wind speed by 10% and the expected power by 34%.

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 Example: Power in Wind

Calculate the power in wind moving with a speed u =5 m/s incident

on a wind turbine with blades of 100 m diameter . (Assume density
of air is 1.2 kg/m3.
1 1
P  Au  ( 50 2 )1.2  53  0.6MW
3

2 2
How does the power change if the wind speed increases to 10 m/s?
P u3
Doubling the wind speed increases power
by 23=8 times.

Enhanced Power = 8×0.6=4.8 MW

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 SOME SITES WITH STRONG
WIND
North America was found to have the greatest wind power
potential.

In North America, the most consistent winds were found in the

Great Lakes region and from ocean breezes along the eastern,
western and southern coasts.

Some of the strongest winds were observed in Northern Europe,

along the North Sea.

Southern tip of South America and the Australian island of

Tasmania also recorded significant and sustained strong winds
at the turbine blade height.

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 HISTORY OF WIND POWER
First recorded use of wind power was in 10th Century, in Persia, for
pumping water and grinding grains using vertical axis wind mills.

Horizontal axis windmills first appeared in England, France and

Holland during 12th Century.

Primary uses are: Grinding Corn, pumping water and sawing wood.

Horizontal axis wind mills were found more efficient than vertical
axis wind mills.

Use of wind mills peaked around 18th Century, after which they were
substituted with coal powered engines. The latter are more compact,
adaptable and source of continuous power supply. 11
HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND MILLS

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 HISTORY OF WIND POWER
In 19th Century, small multivane wind mills were developed in
USA for pumping water and became very popular.
Later they were replaced by the national electricity grid.
From 1930 till date a number of wind machines were developed
for the production of electricity. These are termed as WIND
TURBINES.
During second world war, when oil was not available, Denmark has
used wind energy to meet its energy requirements.
After the 1973 OIL CRISIS, there was renewed interest in wind
power and many countries began looking at it as alternative
energy resource.
More recent alarm about global warming has stimulated further
interest in WIND ENERGY RESOURCE. 13
DESIGN OF MODERN WIND TURBINES

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HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES (HAWT)
Two Designs: Upwind and downwind
Upwind Design: Wind strikes the blades before reaching the tower.
Down wind design: Wind strikes the blades after passing over the
tower. Thus, wind always keeps the blades away from the tower.
In this case presence of tower causes wind shadowing effect on
the blades. It causes the blades flexing and therefore more fatigue
in blades, leading to their early failure.

Down wind design

also reduces output
power and increases
blade noise.

Practically
Viable Design 15
HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINES (HAWT)
The turbine consists of a tower. An enclosure called NACELLE is
mounted atop the tower.
Nacelle houses bearings for turbine shaft, gear
box and the generator.

Turbine blades generally 2 or 3 in number are

Yaw
mounted on the shaft.
Mechanism

The turbine blades are of the shape of aerofoil.

The aerofoil shape provides lift force to rotate the

turbine.

YAW CONTROL is the drive mechanism which orients the nacelle

in the direction of the incident wind.
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VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES (VAWT)
An example: Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine.

Driving force: Lift force/drag force,

depending on the blade design.
Supporting
cables

Torque is maximum when the blades are

moving across the wind.

Torque is minimum when the blades are

moving along the direction of the wind.
In this particular design, cables are required to support the top, this
limits its height and the advantage of stronger winds at higher
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altitudes.
Siemens and Shanghai join hands for China Wind
Power
 VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES (VAWT)
Advantages of VAWT over HAWT
VAWT do not require any yaw mechanism.
Gear box and generator are situated at
ground level, maintenance is easy.
Limitations of VAWT over HAWT
VAWT are proven to be less cost effective over HAWT.

These designs takes the advantage of drag and lift forces for running.

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 MODERN WIND TURBINES FOR
ELECTRICITY GENERATION

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Hybrid : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba8B8CuykUk&NR=1
 OPTIMUM WIND SPEED FOR TURBINE
OPERATION
STANDARD WIND POWER CLASSIFICATION SCHEME

Class 4, with wind speed ~7.0 m/s is considered as the threshold limit
for economic viability of the wind turbines.
Above table is a rough guide to choose the site for setting up wind
turbines. 21
 Principle of Operation of wind turbine: Lift and Drag Force

For a body (example, cylinder) immersed in a viscous fluid, the fluid flow is
along the streamlines in the bulk of the fluid but the viscous force is quite
significant at the boundary layers close to the surface of the body.
Rotational component of flow called vorticity is generated within the boundary
layer of the fluid around the cylinder.

At a certain point called the separation point, the boundary layer becomes detached
from the surface and the vorticity is discharged into the body of the fluid. It is then
transported downstream of the fluid.

Resultant effect of this is the pressure

difference on the upstream and the
downstream sides of the cylinder.

Hence the cylinder experiences a net force in

the direction of the flow of fluid. This force is
known as DRAG.
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 Principle of Operation: Lift and Drag Force
If the cylinder in the fluid is spinning, another force also comes into play at right
angles to the direction of flow. This is LIFT FORCE.
An example: A spinning ball swerves sideways as it flies through the air.
Model: Assume an invicid fluid (to eliminate drag force) and a cylinder in it.
For the fluid flow from left to right, fluid velocity profiles will be according to Fig. (a)
Assuming that a cylinder is spinning in a still invicid fluid, so the fluid around it is
also set into circumfrencial rotation as shown in Fig. (b).
A superposition of the two gives the resultant velocity profile of the fluid as per Fig. ( c).
The fluid moves faster on the upper side then on the lower side.
It implies that pressure is lower on the upper side than that on the lower side.

This manifests into a net force, the

LIFT FORCE on the cylinder at
right angles to the incident fluid
flow. 23
Principle of Operation: Lift and Drag Force
Rotation of turbine blades is based on the principle of lift
force and drag force.
Closest models: Flying mechanism adopted by birds
Birds control the lift and drag forces by changing the shape of
their wings and the ruffle of their feathers.
This has been copied in designing the shape of an aerofoil
shape for aircraft wings and turbine blades.

For small angle of attack, the

pressure distribution on the
upper side of aerofoil is
significantly lower than that of
the lower side, resulting in a net
lift and drag force on the
aerofoil.
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 Wind Turbine blade design
Primary forces acting on the turbine blades are: Lift and Drag.
A good blade design is the one which maximizes the lift force and
minimizes the drag force.
Aerofoil design of the blades ensures maximum lift and minimum
drag.

Wind turbine blade design http://www.kidwind.org/PDFs/SUPPORT_AdvancedBlades.pdf 25

Material used for making the blades of Wind
Turbines
Originally blades were made of wood, aluminum and steel.
Now a days, fibre glass and other composite materials are used
due to their high strength, stiffness and low density.

Fatigue causes the blades to bend permanently and finally break.

Blades are quite long. The study of their fatigue properties is

needed since they have to rotate for years together (typically
30 years).

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 Technical Term: TSR
Tip Speed Ratio (TSR)--This is defined as the ratio of the speed of
rotation of the outer tip of the blade and the speed of the incident
wind.

Speed of the rotationof the outer tip of theblade

TSR 
Speed of theincident wind
The rotor efficiency is a function of the tip speed ratio as shown in figure.

Maximum theoretical efficiency of the

rotor is called Betz Limit.

Betz limit is achievable when the rotor

slows down the wind speed to two- thirds.

TSR is a measure of rotations per

minute of the rotor.
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 How fast does a turbine rotate?
When you see a modern turbine, you may feel how
slowly it turns.
Imagine a three blade turbine with a blade diameter of 102 m that generates 3.6
MW power when exposed to a wind speed of 14 m/s. If we assume a tip speed
ratio (TSR) of 4, estimate how fast the tip of the blade is moving.

Blade tip speed

TSR 
Wind Speed

Blade tip speed  56m / s

Can you estimate how fast is the turbine rotation?

 (rev / min)  10.5 rpm

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OPTIMUM NUMBER OF BLADES IN WIND
TURBINE
For electricity generation : The tip speed of the blades is very high
and the turbulence caused by one blade on another can
significantly reduce the overall efficiency.

The fewer the number of blades, the better it is.

Most new turbines have three blades: They run smoother than 2
blade turbines because the impact of tower interference and the
variation of wind speed with height are more evenly transferred
from rotors to drive the shaft.

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 Maximum Power Extraction Efficiency
As the wind flows through the turbine, part of the kinetic energy of the wind is
transferred to the turbine. This causes the turbine to rotate. In this process the wind
slows down.

Using concepts of mechanics and fluid dynamics, Power extracted Pext, is given by
16 1
Pext  ( Au 3 )  0.59  Incident wind Power
27 2
=density of air and A is the area swept by
the rotating turbine blades and u is the free
incident wind speed

Fraction, 16/27 59%

Maximum power extracted by the turbine
is 59% of the incident wind power and is
known as BETZ LIMIT.

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 Energy output from a turbine using
average power in the wind………….

The actual energy delivered and the deliverable energy at the rated power differ from
each other.

The ratio of the annual energy yield to that which would be produced at the rated power is
called capacity factor (CF).

It is typically~ 1/3 (30%) for modern wind turbines.

Wind plants installed in Class-4 and Class-5 sites, result in CFs of roughly 30% - 40%.

Comparison of capacity factor : Coal plants operate with CF of 80%-90%.

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 Parameter governing CF
CF is affected by wind speed
Below the cut in wind speed vc, the turbine is not
turned on since the power generated is insufficient to
off set generator losses.

Above vc, the output power increases as cube of wind

speed, till wind speed vR, when the output power is
same as the rated power, PR.

Above vR, the pitch of the turbine blades is reduced

Turbine’s Power curve
to shed some of the wind, to prevent the generator
from overpowering.

At vF, the cut off wind speed or furling, the winds are just high and too dangerous, so the
turbine shuts down.

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 Variation of Wind Turbine Capacity Factor
as a function of wind speed
CF is very low if a lot of wind is below the cut
in wind speed.

At very high wind speed , the value CF attains

is nearly constant.

In the range of wind speeds between the

above limits of speed, the variation of CF is
almost linear.

Thus, once the design specifications of actual turbines are known, the energy
delivered by the turbine increase linearly with average wind speed.

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 New Designs of Wind Turbines

Vortex bladeless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDuxK8iljbk

Solar wind tower:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwL2eU
C3o4

wind lens
 Applications of Wind turbines
based on the output power
1. Large turbines are connected to the national electricity grid for
power production (Capacity> 150 kW).

2. Intermediate size wind turbines find applications in hybrid

energy systems: wind turbine generators could be connected to
other energy sources such as photovoltaics/hydo/diesel used in
small remote grids (size range, 10 kW-150 kW size range).

3. Small stand alone turbines (<10 kW) are used for battery
charging, water pumping, heating etc. For battery charging, the size
range, 25-150 Watt is sufficient(i.e., blades with 0.5m-1.5 m
diameter). Around 200,000 small battery charging wind turbines are
now in use.
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 What is Wind Farm
A wind farm constitutes a group of wind turbines located close at a place.
These are used for the production of electric power. Individual turbines are
interconnected with a medium voltage (usually 34.5 kV) power collection
system and communications network.
At a substation, this medium-voltage electrical current is increased in voltage
with a transformer for connection to the high voltage transmission system.

A large wind farm may consist of a few dozen to several hundred individual
wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the
land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other purposes.

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Wind farms Classification based on location
Onshore, nearshore and offshore are the most widely used classification of
wind farms by location. There are also aerial turbines.
Each class of turbines has unique design characteristics intended to suit their
specific location.

The size of a turbine will influence its power generating capacity. The
smaller turbines, which produce under 50 kilowatts, are most commonly used
to power water pumps, telecommunication dishes, and homes.

A 5-15 kilowatt turbine should suffice the need of home that uses under 10,000
kilowatt hours of electricity per year. This type of system will cost between
$6,000-$22,000 to install.

A hybrid wind system uses smaller turbines in combination with

photovoltaic systems, rechargeable deep-cycle batteries, and diesel
generators to provide storable, on-demand power in remote, off-the-grid
locations.
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 Onshore Wind Farms
Onshore wind turbines are installed in hilly or mountainous regions on
ridge lines generally three kilometres or more inland from the nearest
shoreline.

This is done to exploit the topographic acceleration of the wind due to its
passage over the ridge.

The additional wind speeds gained in this way contributes significantly towards
enhancement in the amount of energy produced by the turbines.

Hence, due care needs to be taken in deciding the location of the turbines since
shifting of locations even by 30 metres can cause two folds increase in the power
output.

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 Offshore Wind Farms
Offshore wind power development zones are generally considered to be ten
kilometers or more from land.
The average wind speed is usually considerably higher and stable over open
water of the sea.
Capacity factors (utilisation rates) are considerably higher than for onshore and
nearshore locations.
Offshore wind turbines are less obtrusive than turbines on land, as their apparent
size and noise is mitigated by large distance from habitation.
Wind turbines in offshore farms can also be bigger in size than those located on
land because it is easier to transport very large turbine components by sea.
Existing offshore technology: Fixed-bottom, foundation-based tower
technology
In areas with extended shallow continental shelves, water not deeper than 40 m
(130 feet), windy but without Category 4 or higher storms, fixed-bottom
turbines are now available and in use as well.

Offshore fixed-bottom towers are generally taller than onshore

towers once their submerged height is included.
Transportation of Wind Turbine Blades

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 Offshore Wind Farms: Limitations
Compared to onshore wind towers, off shore winds tower is more complex and
costly to install and maintain.

Offshore foundations for towers are more expensive than the onshore
foundations.
Corroding of Offshore towers due to saltwater environment also enhances
maintenance cost.

Repair and maintenance of Offshore Turbines are usually costlier than those of
the onshore turbines. Hence, for a desired power production, it is preferred to
reduce the number of wind turbines by installing the largest available units.

Denmark has many offshore windfarms.

The United Kingdom is using offshore wind turbines to generate enough power to
produce 630 MW of power and light every home in the U.K. by 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jul/04/offshore-windfarm-opens-
thames-estuary 41
Upcoming offshore technology: Floating wind turbine
A floating wind turbine is an offshore wind turbine mounted on a floating structure that
allows the turbine to generate electricity in water depths where bottom-mounted towers are
not feasible.
Floating wind parks are wind farms that site several floating wind turbines closely together
to take advantage of common infrastructure such as power transmission facilities.
Wind turbines

cables

tower-bearing pulled by the tensioned A single floating cylinder

structure (grey) cables (red) down moored by cables.
is free floating towards the seabed
anchors (light-grey)

The electricity generated is transmitted to onshore places through undersea cables.

The initial capital cost of floating turbines is competitive with bottom-mounted, near-shore
wind turbines. 42
 Near shore Wind Farms
Near shore turbine installations are on land within three kilometres
of a shoreline or, on water within ten kilometres of land.

These areas are good sites for turbine installation, because of high
wind speeds produced by convection due to differential heating of
land and sea each day.

Wind speeds in these zones share the characteristics of both onshore

and offshore wind.

The province of Ontario in Canada is pursuing several proposed near

shore locations in the Great Lakes fresh water - Hence, no problem
of corrosion of towers.
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World Wind Energy Status
 Economics of WIND POWER
The cost of the new turbines is decreasing due to:

Cost of a rotor is roughly proportional to its diameter but power delivered is proportional to
the square of diameter.

Taller towers reach in higher winds which increases energy faster than the tower cost.

Planning, permitting, site preparation, and installation costs don’t increase much when
size increases.

Servicing large turbines is not much different from servicing small ones and newer
turbines are designed to need less servicing in the first place.

Wind power plants can be installed rapidly. Example: 50 MW power plant can be in
operation in less than a year from signing the contract.

All these factors have contributed towards reduction in the capital costs for US projects by
85% in the last two decades.

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 Environmental Impact
Atmospheric emission: No direct atmospheric emissions are caused by
the operation of wind turbines.
Energy balance: Energy invested in production, installation,
operation and maintenance of a typical wind turbine has a payback
time of less than half a year of its operation.

Land use: Wind farms have the advantage of dual land use. 99%
of the area occupied by a wind farm can be used for agriculture.
As a thumb rule wind farms require 0.08-0.13 km2/MW (8-13
MW/km2).
Noise emission: Noise produced by wind turbines is composed of a
mechanical component and an aero dynamical component. For rotor
diameters up to 20 m, mechanical component dominates while for
larger rotors, aero dynamical component dominates.
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 Environmental Impact
Visual Impact: The modern wind turbines with hub height greater than 40 m and blade length
greater than 20 m have a visual impact, which mainly is the effect of moving shadows of the
rotor blades.

Interference with electromagnetic communication systems: The wind turbines can reflect
electromagnetic waves, which will be scattered and diffracted. As a result of this, the
telecommunication links are disturbed.

Safety of personnel: Accidents with wind turbines involving humans are extremely rare.

Impact on birds: Birds mortality due to wind

turbines is only a fraction of the overall birds
mortality.

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