IEC Classification of Turbines: Selecting the right turbine for the site based on wind data

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) creates and publishes standards for wind turbines among other electrical and electronics equipments. The IEC 6 !"" deals with wind turbine generators (#T$). This blog entr% will e&plain turbine classes. Turbine classes are determined b% three parameters the a'erage wind speed( e&treme )"*%ear gust( and turbulence. The following table e&plains the classifications.

I II III IV WTG Class Vave average wind speed at hub-height 10.0 8.5 7.5 6.0 (m/s) V50 extreme 50-year gust (m/s) 70 5 .5 5!.5 "!.0 #15 $hara$teristi$ turbu%en$e &%ass ' 18( #15 $hara$teristi$ turbu%en$e &%ass ) 16( * wind shear exp+nent 0.!0

+or standards purposes( wind speeds are measured e'er% , seconds( and e'er% " minutes wind speed and standard de'iation are recorded. +or design load calculations purposes the wind speed o'er " minutes is assumed to be a -a%leigh distribution. .ll wind speeds in the abo'e table are at hub height. The e&treme wind speed are based on the , second a'erage wind speed. I ) Turbulence is the standard de'iation of wind speed measured at ) m/s wind speed. .s an illustration consider $E .)sle( a Class II. #T$ and $E .)&le a Class III0 #T$. The

Class II. #T$ has a rotor diameter of 11m and hub heights of 6)m and 2"m. It is designed for a'erage wind speed at hub height of 2.) m/s with turbulence of 23. The Class III0 #T$ has a rotor diameter of 24.)m and hub height of 2"m. 0ecause the Class III0 #T$ is designed for lower wind speed (1.) m/s at hub height) and lower turbulence ( 63)( the design loads are going to be smaller( therefore its blades are larger

and hub height is taller. 0igger rotors of Class III0 #T$s therefore capture more wind energ% and %ield higher capacit% factors compared to Class I or II #T$. In conclusion( a wind resource assessment that is based on onsite wind measurements can pro'ide not onl% the annual a'erage wind speed( but also pro'ide turbulence and e&treme wind conditions. This data is necessar% to select the class of a turbine. #ind data that is t%picall% used for prospecting li5e reanal%sis data and "m airport wind data do not pro'ide information about turbulence.