Wind Energy

What
Makes
Wind
 History of Wind Turbines

• Technology is old, in some respects!

– Wind was used to propel sail boats as early as 5000
BC in Egypt.
– Chinese used wind energy to pump water by as early
as 200 BC
– Persians used wind energy about the same time to
grind grain
• By the 11th century, people in the middle east
were using wind mills for food production
• Traders and crusaders carried the ideas to
Europe.
 History of Wind Turbines
(Continued..)
• Dutch were looking for ways of draining lakes and marshes.
– Wind turbines became very popular.
• The technology spread to US when settler brought these ideas to
America.
• Industrialization (use of coal to generate steam) brought a decline in
the use of wind energy.
• Steam engines replaced wind mills for pumping water and
producing electricity.
• Rural electrification began in the 1930s.
• Wind turbines had to make their case economically!
– Their popularity rose and fell with the availability and cost of alternative
forms of energy production.
– Oil crisis in the 1970s and energy crisis during the past decade has
brought wind energy’s potential as a clean, renewable, sustainable,
energy source,
 Wind Power's Beginnings
(1000 B.C. - 1300 A.D.)
• Persians used the drag of
the blades (i.e.
aerodynamic force along
the direction of the wind)
to generate rotation of the
blades.
• Struts connected the sails
to central shaft.
– Grinding stone was
attached to the central
shaft.
• Only one half of the
turbine was useful at any
instance in time.
 Why Wind
Energy?
• Clean, zero emissions
– NOx, SO2, CO, CO2
– Air quality, water quality
– Climate change
• Reduce fossil fuel dependence
– Energy independence
– Domestic energy—national
security
• Renewable
– No fuel-price volatility
Renewable Electric Capacity
Worldwide

US DOE, EERE 2013 Renewable

Energy Data Book
 Lift vs Drag
• The aerodynamic force along the direction of the
wind is called drag
– Early wind turbines used drag to generate the torque.
• The aerodynamic force normal to the wind
direction is called lift.
– For a properly designed blade (or airfoil) lfit to drag
ratio may be 100 to 1!
• Dutch began using lift force rather than drag to
turn the rotor.
• Over the past 500 years, the design has evolved
through analysis and experimentation.
Use of Drag to Produce Torque
Pelton Wheel uses this
concept

Wind Drag Force

Use of Lift forces for Torque Production

Lsin
Dcos
r


Vwind - Vinduced

Propulsive force = Lsin - Dcos

V  Vinduced 
 L  wind  D
 Ωr 
 Wind Turbine History in the US
• During the 19th century wind mills were
used to pump water.
– Rotor diameter reached 20 meters.
– Water was used to operate steam
engines,
• Eray designs used wood as the
material and had a paddle like shapes.
– Drag force was used.
• Later designs used steal blades which
could be shaped to produce lift forces.
– The blades spun fast, requiring gears
to reduce the angular velocity.
– Mechanisms were developed for
folding blades in case of high winds.
• In 1888, electricity was produced using
the wind turbine shown on the lower
right by Charles F. Brush.
• By 1910s, coal and oil fired steam
plants became popular, and the use of
wind turbines became less common.
Installed Wind Power Generation (in MW)
http://www.windenergyinstitute.com/installed.html

Rank County 2005 2006 2007

1 Germany 18,415 20,622 22,247
2 United States 9,149 11,603 16,818
3 Spain 10,028 11,615 15,145
4 India 4,430 6,270 8,000
5 China 1,260 2,604 6,050
6 Denmark (& Faeroe Islands) 3,136 3,140 3,129
7 Italy 1,718 2,123 2,726
8 France 757 1,567 2,454
9 United Kingdom 1,332 1,963 2,389
10 Portugal 1,022 1,716 2,150
11 Canada 683 1,459 1,856
12 Netherlands 1,219 1,560 1,747
 Modern Wind Turbines
Turbines can be categorized into two classes based on the orientation of the rotor.
 Vertical-Axis Turbines

Advantages Disadvantages
• Omni-directional • Rotors generally near ground
– accepts wind from any where wind is poorer
direction • Centrifugal force stresses
• Components can be blades
mounted at ground level • Poor self-starting capabilities
– ease of service • Requires support at top of
– lighter weight towers turbine rotor
• Requires entire rotor to be
• Can theoretically use less removed to replace bearings
materials to capture the • Overall poor performance
same amount of wind and reliability
Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines

Small (<10 kW) Intermediate(10-250 kW)

•Homes •Village Power
•Farms •Hybrid Systems
•Remote Applications •Distributed Power
(e.g., water pumping,
Telecom sites, ice
making)

Large (250 kW-2+ MW)

•Central Station Wind Farms
•Distributed Power
•Schools
 Terminology (Continued)
http://www.energybible.com/wind_energy/glossary.html

• Availability Factor
– The percentage of time that a wind turbine is able to
operate and is not out commission due to
maintenance or repairs.
• Capacity Factor
– A measure of the productivity of a wind turbine,
calculated by the amount of power that a wind turbine
produces over a set period of time, divided by the
amount of power that would have been produced if
the turbine had been running at full capacity during
that same time interval.
 Terminology (Continued)
• Rotor
– Comprises the spinning parts of a wind turbine, including the turbine
blades and the hub.
• Hub
– The central part of the wind turbine, which supports the turbine blades
on the outside and connects to the low-speed rotor shaft inside the
nacelle.
• Root Cutout
– The percentage of the rotor blade radius that is cut out in the middle of
the rotor disk to make room for the hub and the arms that attach the
blades to the shaft.
• Nacelle
– The structure at the top of the wind turbine tower just behind (or in some
cases, in front of) the wind turbine blades that houses the key
components of the wind turbine, including the rotor shaft, gearbox, and
generator.
Parts of a Wind Turbine
• Turbine controller
is connected to the
rotor.
• Converter
controller,
connected to
converters and
main circuit
breaker, is needed
to control the
output voltage and
power
 Wind Power Classification
http://www.awea.org/faq/basicwr.html
Power
density
W/m^2 at
Power density W/m^2 at 0 m Wind Speed m/sec 50 m Wind Speed
Wind Power Class height (mph) height m/sec (mph)

1 <100 <4.4 (9.8) <200 <5.6 (12.5)

5.6 (12.5)/6.4
2 100 - 150 4.4 (9.8)/5.1 (11.5) 200 - 300 (14.3)

6.4 (14.3)/7.0
3 150 - 200 5.1 (11.5)/5.6 (12.5) 300 - 400 (15.7)

7.0 (15.7)/7.5
4 200 - 250 5.6 (12.5)/6.0 (13.4) 400 - 500 (16.8)

7.5 (16.8)/8.0
5 250 - 300 6.0 (13.4)/6.4 (14.3) 500 - 600 (17.9)

8.0 (17.9)/8.8
6 300 - 400 6.4 (14.3)/7.0 (15.7) 600 - 800 (19.7)

7 >400 >7.0 (15.7) >800 >8.8 (19.7)

Wind Power is Ready

Clean Energy
Technology for Our
Economy and
Environment
 Potential Impacts and Issues
• Property Values
• Noise
• Visual Impact
• Land Use
• Wildlife Impact

Properly siting a wind turbine can mitigate

many of these issues.
• Impacts
of Wind
Power:
Noise
Ancient Resource Meets 21st
Century Technology
 Offshore Wind Farms

Exploring Wind - 1/23/17 -

• The Enercon E-126 is a wind turbine model manufactured by the
German company Enercon. With a hub height of 135 m (443 ft), rotor
diameter of 126 m (413 ft) and a total height of 198 m (650 ft), this large
model can generate up to 7.58 megawatts of power per turbine, making
it the wind turbine with the second highest nameplate capacity after the
Vestas V164. The power output of the generator was changed from 6
MW to 7 MW after technical revisions were performed in 2009. Since
2011 the E-126 is available as a 7.6 MW nameplate wind turbine. Actual
output in service may slightly exceed the nominal rating. The weight of
the foundation of the turbine tower is about 2,500 t, the tower itself 2,800
t, the machine housing 128 t, the generator 220 t, the rotor (including the
blade) 364 t. The total weight is about 6,000 t.
• The first turbine of this model was installed in Emden, Germany in 2007.
• The list price of one unit is $14 million plus install costs
Wind Power Economics
Cost Nosedive Driving Wind’s
Success

38 cents/kWh
$0.40

$0.30

$0.20

$0.10 2.5-3.5 cents/kWh

$0.00
1980 1984 1988 1991 1995 2000 2005

Levelized cost at excellent wind sites in nominal dollars, not

including tax credit
 Wind Power Cost of Energy
Components

Cost (¢/kWh) = (Capital Recovery Cost + O&M) /

kWh/year
– Capital Recovery = Debt and Equity Cost
– O&M Cost = Turbine design, operating
environment
– kWh/year = Wind Resource
 Capital Costs
• Revenue Streams
– Commodity Power Sale: $30-$45/MWh
– Production Tax Credit: $18/MWh
– “Green Credit”: New Market, Values Vary
• Debt/equity ratios close to 50%/50%
– Increased debt/equity ratios can significantly
increase return
 Long-Term Debt

• Better loan terms with longer-term

power purchase agreement (PPA)
• Loan terms up to 22 years, determined
largely by PPA
 Equity Considerations
• Return requirements vary with risk
– Perceived risk of wind projects may be larger than
real risk
• Returns evaluated after tax credit
– Wind energy projects can expect return in low
teens (10% to 15%)
Turbine Technology Constantly
Improving

• Larger turbines
• Specialized blade design
• Power electronics
• Computer modeling produces more efficient
design
• Manufacturing improvements
 80

59.6

How big is a
2.0 MW wind
turbine?
This picture shows a Vestas
V-80 2.0-MW wind turbine
superimposed on a Boeing
747 JUMBO JET
Benefits of Wind Power
 Advantages of Wind Power

• Environmental
• Resource Diversity &
Conservation
• Cost Stability
• Economic Development
 Benefits of Wind Power
Environmental
• No air pollution
• No greenhouse gasses
• Does not pollute water with mercury
• No water needed for operations
Benefits of Wind Power
Economic Development
• Expanding Wind Power
development brings jobs to
rural communities
• Increased tax revenue
• Purchase of goods &
services
Benefits of Wind Power
Fuel Diversity

• Domestic energy
source
• Inexhaustible supply
• Small, dispersed
design reduces
supply risk
Benefits of Wind Power
Cost Stability

• Flat-rate pricing can

offer hedge against
fuel price volatility
risk
• Electricity is
inflation-proof