The document discusses speed control methods used in small to medium sized wind turbines and issues around assigning power ratings to wind turbines. Early wind turbine designers rated turbines based on their power output at an arbitrary wind speed between 10-15 m/s, but this did not work well since different rated wind speeds were used. Now, manufacturers rate turbines based on the maximum power they can produce under average wind speed conditions specified in standards set by international certification organizations.
The document discusses speed control methods used in small to medium sized wind turbines and issues around assigning power ratings to wind turbines. Early wind turbine designers rated turbines based on their power output at an arbitrary wind speed between 10-15 m/s, but this did not work well since different rated wind speeds were used. Now, manufacturers rate turbines based on the maximum power they can produce under average wind speed conditions specified in standards set by international certification organizations.
The document discusses speed control methods used in small to medium sized wind turbines and issues around assigning power ratings to wind turbines. Early wind turbine designers rated turbines based on their power output at an arbitrary wind speed between 10-15 m/s, but this did not work well since different rated wind speeds were used. Now, manufacturers rate turbines based on the maximum power they can produce under average wind speed conditions specified in standards set by international certification organizations.
Speed control methods used in small to medium size turbines.
5.2 Turbine Rating
The wind turbines are manufactured in sizes ranging from a few kW for stand-alone remote applications to a couple of MW each for utility scale power generation. The grid-connected turbine as large as 2 MW capacity was installed in 1979 on Howard Knob Mountain in the United States, and 3 MW capacity was installed in 1988 at Berger Hill in the United Kingdom. The method of assessing the nominal rating of the wind turbine has no globally acceptable standard. The difficulty arises because the power output of the turbine depends on the square of the rotor diameter and the cube of the wind speed. The rotor of a given diameter will, therefore, generate different power at different wind speed. The turbine that can generate 300 kW at 7 m/s would produce 450 kW at 8 m/s wind. What rating should then be assigned to this turbine? Should we also specify the “rated speed”? Early wind turbine designers created a rating system that specified the power output at some arbitrary wind speed. This method did not work well as everyone could not agree on one speed to specify the power rating. The “rated” wind speeds varied from 10 to 15 m/s under this practice. Manufacturers are