SI

TESELECTI
ON CONSI
DERATI
ON FORWECS
 Thepoweravai l
ableinthewi ndincreasesr apidl
ywi t
ht hespeed,
hence wi nd energy conver sion machi nes shoul d be l ocated
preferabl
ei n areaswher ethe wi ndsar e strong and persist
ent.
Although dail
ywi ndsatagi ven sitemaybehi ghl
yvar iabl
e,t he
mont hly and especi
all
y annualaver age arer emarkably constant
from yeart oyear.
Themaj orcontri
but
iontothewindpoweravailabl
eatagi vensite
i
s actuall
y made by wi nds wit
h speeds above the average.
Nevert
heless,themostsuitabl
esitesforwi
ndt urbi
neswouldbe
foundinareaswher etheannualaveragewi
ndspeedsar eknown
tobemoder atel
yhighorhigh.
The site choi
ce fora si
ngle ora spati
alarray ofWECS is an
important matter when wind el
ectri
cs isl
ooked at from the
systemspoi ntofview ofaeroturbi
ne gener
at or
sfeedi
ng power
int
oaconvent i
onalel
ectr
icgri
d.
Ift he WECS si t
es ar e wr ongly orpoor l
y chosen the netwi nd
electri
cs gener ated ener gy peryearmay be sub opt imalwi th
resultinghighcapi talcostf ort heWECSappar atus,highcost sfor
windgener at edelectricener gy,andl ow Returnson I nvestment .
Even i ft he WECS i st o be a smal lgener at
ornott ied tot he
electri
cgr i
d,t he sit
ting mustbe car efull
y chosen i
fi nordinat
el y
l
ong br eak- even t i
mesar et o be avoided.Technical,Economi c,
Envi r
onment al,Socialand Ot heractors are examined bef orea
decisioni smadet oer ectagener ati
ngpl antonaspeci ficsit
e.
Someoft
hemai
nsi
tesel
ect
ionconsi
der
ati
onsar
egi
venbel
ow:
 
1.
   Hi
ghannualaver
agewi
ndspeed:
2.
   Avai
labi
li
tyofanemomet
rydat
a:
3.
   Avai
labi
li
tyofwi
ndV(
t)Cur
veatt
hepr
oposedsi
te:
4.
   Wi
ndst
ruct
ureatt
hepr
oposedsi
te:
5.
   Al
ti
tudeoft
hepr
oposedsi
te:
6.
   Ter
rai
nandi
tsaer
odynami
c:
7.
   LocalEcol
ogy
8.
   Di
stancet
oroadorr
ail
ways:
9.
   Near
nessofsi
tet
olocalcent
re/
user
s:
10.
 Nat
ureofgr
ound:
11.
 Favour
abl
elandcost
:
 
1.
  
   
   
  Hi
  ghannualaver
agewi
ndspeed:
 
Thespeedgener atedbyt hewi ndmi lldependsoncubi cvaluesof
vel
ocity ofwind,t he smallincreasesin velocity markedly aff
ect
the power in t he wind. For exampl e, Doubl ing the velocit
y,
i
ncreasespowerbyaf actorof8.I tisobviouslydesirabletoselect
asiteforWECSwi thhi ghwindvel oci
ty.Thusahi ghaver agewi nd
vel
ocityi sthe princi
pl efundament alpar amet er ofconcer ni n
i
niti
all
yappraisingWESCSsi te.Formor edet ai
ledest i
mat evalue,
onewoul dli
ket ohavet heaverageoft hevelocitycubed.
2.
  
   
   
  Avai
  labi
li
tyofanemomet
rydat
a:
Itis another i
mpr ovementsitt
ing fact
or.The aenomet ry data
shoul
d be avail
able oversome t ime peri
od atthe preci
se spot
whereanypr oposedWECS i stobebui ltandthatthisshouldbe
accompli
shedbef or
easi t
tingdecisi
onismade.
3.
  
   
   
  Avai
  labi
li
tyofwi
ndV(t) Cur
veatt
hepr
oposedsi
te:
Thisimportantcurve deter
mi nes t
he maximum ener gy inthe
wind and hence ist he pri
ncipalini
ti
all
y contr
oll
ing fact
or i
n
predi
cti
ng t
he elect
ricalout
putand hence revenue ret
urnot he
WECSmachi nes.
Itisdesirabletohaveaver agewi ndspeed‘ V’sucht hatV>=12-
16 km/ hr( 3.5 – 4.5 m/sec)whi ch is aboutt he lowerlimi
tat
which presentl ar
ge scale WECS gener ator
s‘ cutin’i.e.
,start
turni
ng. The V(t) Curve also determi nes the reli
abil
it
y of the
deli
veredWECSgener at
orpower ,f oriftheV(t) 
curvegoest ozero
therebenogener atedpowerdur ingt hatt i
me.
Ifther
earelongperi
odsofcalmtheWECSr eli
abi
lit
ywi l
lbelower
than i
fthe cal
m peri
ods ar
e shor
t.I
n maki ng such r
eal
iabi
li
ty
esti
matesi
tisdesi
rabl
etohavemeasuredV(t) 
Curveoverabouta
5 yearperi
od f
ort
he hi
ghestconf
idence l
eveli
nthe r
eli
abi
li
ty
est
imate.
4.
  
   
   
  Wi
  ndst
ruct
ureatt
hepr
oposedsi
te:
The i dealcase f or t
he WECS woul d be a site such thatt he
V(t) Cur vewasflat,i
.e.,asmoot hst eadywindt hatblowsal lthe
ti
me;buta t ypi
calsitei salwaysl esst han i
deal.Wind speciall
y
neart he ground isturbulentand gust y,and changesr apidlyin
directionandi nvelocit
y.Thi sdepatur efr
om homogeneousf low i
s
collectivelyr
efer
redt oas“ thestructureofthewi nd”.
5.
  
   
   
  Al
  t
itudeoft
hepr
oposedsi
te:
Itaffect
st he airdensit
y and thus t
he poweri nt he wi
nd and
hence the usefulWECS electr
ic powerout put.Also,as i
s well
known,t hewindt endtohavehighervel oci
tiesathi
gheralti
tudes.
One mustbe car eful
lyto di
sti
nguish alti
tude f
rom heightabove
ground.Theyar enotthesameexceptf oraseal evelWECSsi te.
6.
  
   
   
  Ter
  rai
nandi
tsaer
odynami
c:
One shoul
d know aboutt errai
n ofthe siteto be chosen.I fthe
WECSi stobepl acednearthet opbutnotont hetopofanott oo
bl
unthillf
acing t he pr
evail
ing wind,then itmay be possiblet o
obtai
na‘ speed- up’oft he wind velocit
y over what i t would
other
wisebe.Al sot hewindher emaynotf l
ow hori
zontalmaki ng
i
tnecessarytot ipt heaxisofther ot
orsot hattheaeroturbineis
al
waysperpendi culartotheactualwindf l
ow.
Itmay be possi
bleto make use ofhi
ll
s or mountai
ns whi
ch
channelt
heprevai
li
ngwindint
oapassr egion,t
herebyobt
aini
ng
higherwi
ndpower.
7.
  
   
   
  LocalEcol
  ogy
Ifthesur f
acei sbaser ockitmaymean l owerhub hei
ghthence
l
owerst ructurecost
.I ftreesorgr assorvegetati
onarepresent,
allofwhicht endtodest ruct
uret hewind,thehigherhubheights
willbe needed result
ing inl ar
ges system coststhatthe bar
e
groundcase.
8.
  
   
   
  Di
  st
ancet
oroadorr
ail
ways:
Thi
si s anot
her fact
or the syst
em engi
neer mustconsi
der f
or
heavy machi ner
y, structure, mat
eri
als, bl
ades and other
appar
atuswi
llhavet
obemovedi
ntoanychoosenWECSsi
te.
9.
  
   
   
  Near
  nessofsi
tet
olocalcent
re/
user
s:
This obvious cr
iter
ion mini
mi zes t
ransmissi
on li
ne lengt
h and
hence losses and cost.After appl
ying allthe previ
ous st
ring
cri
ter
ia,hopefull
yasonenar r owstheproposedWECSsi t
estoone
ortwot heywoul dber el
ati
vel yneartotheuseroft hegenerated
el
ectri
cener gy.
10.
  
   
  Nat
ureofgr
ound:
Groundcondi t
ionshouldbesucht hatthef oundati
onf oraWECS
are secured.Ground sur
face should be st
able.Er osi
on pr
obl
em
should notbe t her
e,as itcoul d possi
blyl ater wash outthe
foundati
onofaWECS,dest royi
ngt hewhol esystem.
11.
  
   
  Favour
abl
elandcost
:
Land costshoul
d be favour
abl
e as thi
s al
ong wi
th ot
hersi
ti
ng
cost
s,entersi
ntothetotalWECSsystem cost
.
12.Ot hercondit
ionssuchasi cingpr obl
em,saltsprayorblowing
dust should not pr esent at t he sit
e, as they may af f
ect
aerot
ur bi
ne blades or environment alis general
ly adver
se to
machineryandel ect
ricalapparatus.