Wind Energy Harvesting 111

0.5

cp, power coefficient

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Speed (m/s)

FIGURE 2.8 Power coefficient curve of a wind turbine.

The power coefficient cp depends on the specific design of the wind turbine (especially
the particular aerodynamic structure of the blades). Each wind turbine has its own power
coefficient cp that depends mainly on the tip speed ratio λ. As shown in Equation 2.15, the
tip speed ratio depends on the geometry of the wind turbine, its rotational speed, and the
length of the blades:

Rw
λ= , (2.15)
v

where w is the rotor speed, R is the length of the blades, and v denotes the wind speed.
In addition, the power coefficient depends on the pitch angle, which is defined as the angle
between the blade surface and the plane of the wind rotor, as shown in Figure 2.9. There
is a great difference between an onshore and offshore wind turbine’s power coefficient.
For onshore turbines, for example, the blades are designed such that the optimal tip speed
is limited to roughly 50–70 m/s, because the blade tips cause excessive acoustical noise
and can cause damage at higher speeds. On the other hand, the noise does not play an
important role in offshore turbines and higher speeds lead to slightly higher optimal values
of cp [10].

0.6 0°

0.5
Pextract/Ptotal

0.4 10° 5°

0.3
15°
0.2 25°
0.1
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Speed (m/s)

FIGURE 2.9 Speed versus power with respect to different pitch angle values.

© 2010 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC