WIND POWER SYSTEMS

Chapter 6
 Advantages:
• Wind energy is friendly to the surrounding environment, as no fossil fuels
are burnt to generate electricity from wind energy.
• Wind turbines take up less space than the average power station. Windmills
only have to occupy a few square meters for the base, this allows the land
around the turbine to be used for many purposes, for example agriculture.
• Newer technologies are making the extraction of wind energy much more
efficient. The wind is free, and we are able to cash in on this free source of
energy.
• Wind turbines are a great resource to generate energy in remote locations,
such as mountain communities and remote countryside. Wind turbines can
be a range of different sizes in order to support varying population levels.
• Another advantage of wind energy is that when combined with solar
electricity, this energy source is great for developed and developing
countries to provide a steady, reliable supply of electricity.
 Disadvantages
• The main disadvantage regarding wind power is winds unreliability
factor. In many areas, the winds strength is too low to support a wind
turbine or wind farm, and this is where the use of solar power or
geothermal power could be great alternatives.
• Wind turbines generally produce allot less electricity than the average
fossil fuelled power station, requiring multiple wind turbines to be built
in order to make an impact.
• Wind turbine construction can be very expensive and costly.
• The noise pollution from commercial wind turbines is sometimes similar
to a small jet engine. This is fine if you live miles away, where you will
hardly notice the noise, but what if you live within a few hundred
meters of a turbine? This is a major disadvantage.
• Protests and/or petitions usually confront any proposed wind farm
development. People feel the countryside should be left in tact for
everyone to enjoy it's beauty.
 vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT)
• Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are a type of wind turbine where the main rotor shaft is
set vertically and the main components are located at the base of the turbine.
• This arrangement allows the generator and gearbox to be located close to the ground,
facilitating service and repair. VAWTs do not need to be pointed into the wind, which
removes the need for wind-sensing and orientation mechanisms.
• The blades on a rotor, as they spin around, are almost always in pure tension, which means
that they can be relatively lightweight and inexpensive since they don’t have to handle the
constant flexing associated with blades on horizontal axis machines.
• There are several disadvantages of vertical axis
turbines, the main one being that the blades are
relatively close to the ground where wind speeds
are lower.
• Winds near the surface of the earth are not only
slower but also more turbulent, which increases
stresses on VAWTs.
• Finally, in low-speed winds, rotors have very little
starting torque; in higher winds, output power
must be controlled to protect the generator, they
can’t be made to fall the wind as easily as pitch-
controlled blades on a HAWT.
 horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT)
• Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at
the top of a tower, and must be pointed into the wind.
• there is still some controversy over whether an upwind machine or a downwind machine is
best.
• A downwind machine has the advantage of letting the wind itself control the yaw (the left –
right motion) so it naturally orients itself correctly with respect to wind direction.
• Every time a blade swings behind the tower, it encounters a brief period of reduced wind,
which causes the blade to bend. This flexing not only has the potential to lead to blade
failure due to fatigue, but also increases blade noise and reduces power output.
• Upwind turbines, on the other hand, require some
what complex yaw control systems to keep the
blades facing into the wind.
• In exchange for that added complexity, however,
upwind machines operate more smoothly and
deliver more power.
• Most modern wind turbines are of the upwind
type.
• Another fundamental design decision for wind turbines relates to
the number of rotating blades.
• Most modern European wind turbines have three rotor blades while
American machines have tended to have just two.
• Three-bladed turbines show smoother operation since impacts of
tower interference and variation of wind-speed with height are
more evenly transferred from rotors to drive shaft, The third blade,
however, does add considerably to the weight and cost of the
turbine.
• Some things you can test about blades include
– Blade Length
– Blade Number
– Blade Pitch
– Blade Shape
– Blade Materials
– Blade Weight
• other systems to start, stop, and control the turbine
 Power control
• A wind turbine is designed to produce a maximum of power at a
wide spectrum of wind speeds. All wind turbines are designed for a
maximum wind speed, called the survival speed, above which they
do not survive. The survival speed of commercial wind turbines is in
the range of 40 m/s (144 km/h, 89 MPH) to 72 m/s (259 km/h, 161
MPH). The most common survival speed is 60 m/s (216 km/h, 134
MPH). Wind turbines have three modes of operation:
• Below-rated wind speed operation
• Around rated wind speed operation (usually at nameplate capacity)
• Above-rated wind speed operation
– If the rated wind speed is exceeded the power has to be limited. There are
various ways to achieve this.
– A control system involves three basic elements: sensors to measure process
variables, actuators to manipulate energy capture and component loading,
and control algorithms to coordinate the actuators based on information
gathered by the sensors
• doubling the wind speed increases the power by eight-fold.
• Another way to look at it is that the energy contained in 1 hour of 20 mph winds is the same
as that contained in 8 hours at 10 mph.
• wind power is proportional to the swept area of the turbine rotor.
• For a conventional horizontal axis turbine, the area
A is obviously just
• so wind power is proportional to the square of the
blade diameter. Doubling the diameter increases
the power available by a factor of four.
• That simple observation helps to explain the
economies of scale that go with larger wind
turbines. The cost of a turbine increases roughly in
proportion to blade diameter,
• but power is proportional to diameter squared, so
bigger machines have proven to be more cost
effective.
 IMPACT OF TOWER HEIGHT
• One way to get the turbine into higher winds is to mount it on a taller tower.
• In the first few hundred meters above the ground, wind speed is greatly affected by the
friction that the air experiences as it moves across the earth’s surface.
• where z is called the roughness length.

• Both the exponential formulation in (6.15) and the logarithmic

version of (6.16) only provide a first approximation to the variation
of wind speed with elevation.
• In reality, nothing is better than actual site measurements.
 MAXIMUM ROTOR EFFICIENCY

The power extracted by the blades Pb is equal to the difference in kinetic energy
between the upwind and downwind air flows:

the upwind velocity of the undisturbed wind is v, the velocity of the wind through the
plane of the rotor blades is vb, and the downwind velocity
is vd .
The usual way to illustrate rotor efficiency is to present it as a function of its tip-speed
ratio (TSR). The tip-speed-ratio is the speed at which the outer tip of the blade is moving
divided by the winds peed:
• The American multiblade spins relatively slowly, with an optimal TSR of less than 1 and
maximum efficiency just over 30%.
• The two- and three-blade rotors spin much faster, with optimum TSR in the 4–6 range and
maximum efficiencies of roughly 40–50%.
AVERAGE POWER IN THE WIND

• Discrete Wind Histogram

We will begin with some simple concepts involving discrete functions involving
windspeeds, and then we can move on to more generalized continuous
functions.
Wind Power Probability Density Function
• The type of information displayed in the discrete windspeed
histogram in Fig. 6.22 is very often presented as a continuous
function, called a probability density function (p.d.f.).
• the area under the curve is equal to unity, and the area under
the curve between any two windspeeds equals the probability
that the wind is between those two speeds.
Weibull and Rayleigh Statistics
• Of the three Weibull p.d.f.s in Fig. 6.24, intuition probably would lead us to think that the
middle one, for which k = 2, is the most realistic for a likely wind turbine site.
• When the shape parameter k is equal to 2, the p.d.f. is given its own name, the Rayleigh
probability density function:
Average Power in the Wind with Rayleigh Statistics
Annual Cost of Electricity from Wind Turbines
Wind Farms
• Certainly wind turbines located too close together will result in upwind
turbines interfering with the wind received by those located downwind.
• As we know, the wind is slowed as some of its energy is extracted by a
rotor, which reduces the power available to downwind machines.
• Experience has yielded some rough rules-of-thumb for tower
spacing of such rectangular arrays. Recommended spacing is
3–5 rotor diameters separating towers within a row and 5–9
diameters between rows.
 WIND TURBINE GENERATORS
• Synchronous Generators
The fact that synchronous generator rotors needs dc current for their field windings creates two
complications.
– First, dc has to be provided, which usually means that a rectifying circuit, called the
exciter , is needed to convert ac from the grid into dc for the rotor.
– Second, this dc current needs to make it onto the spinning rotor, which means that slip
rings on the rotor shaft are needed, along with brushes that press against them.
Replacing brushes and cleaning up slip rings adds to the maintenance needed by these
synchronous generators.
 Asynchronous Induction Generator
• induction machines do not turn at a fixed speed, so they are often described as
asynchronous generators.
• the key advantage of asynchronous induction generators is that their rotors do not require
the brushes, and slip rings that are needed by most synchronous generators.
• They do this by creating the necessary magnetic field in the stator rather than the rotor.
This means that they are less complicated and less expensive and require less maintenance.
• squirrel-cage induction generator (SCIG)
• The turbine speed is fixed (or nearly fixed) to the electrical grid’s frequency, and generates
real power (P) when the turbine shaft rotates faster than the electrical grid frequency
creating a negative slip.
• A major drawback of the induction machine is the reactive power that it consumes for its
excitation field and the large currents the machine can draw when started “across-the-line.”
• The   natural  characteristic   of   an  induction  generator  is   that   it   draws  
reactive power   from  the utility supply.
• Thus, this type of turbine requires reactive power compensation implemented   in
the   form  of   switched  capacitors   in   parallel  with  each  phase  of   the
winding. 
• Operation without switched capacitors can lead to excessive reactive power drawn
from the utility.
• The   size   of   the   capacitors   switched   in   and   out  is   automatically  adjusted
 according  to   the operating  point  of   the   induction  generator.
• At  higher   wind  speed,   the   generated  power increases and the operating slip
of   the   induction  generator  is   higher   and   as   a   result,   the   reactive power
required   is   also   larger.  
 Variable speed wind turbine
• Variable-speed wind turbines are designed to achieve maximum aerodynamic
efficiency over a wide range of wind speeds.
• It is typically equipped with an induction or synchronous generator and connected to
the grid through a power converter.
• The advantages of variable-speed wind turbines are an increased energy capture,
improved power quality and reduced mechanical stress on the wind turbine.
• The disadvantages are losses in power electronics, the use of more components and
the increased cost of equipment because of the power electronics.
• wound rotor induction generator (WRIG) This configuration corresponds to
the limited variable speed wind turbine with variable generator rotor resistance.
• The unique feature of this concept is that it has a variable additional
rotor resistance, which can be changed by an optically controlled
converter mounted on the rotor shaft. Thus, the total rotor resistance is
controllable.
• As wind  speed   increases,  the   input   aerodynamic   power   increases,
the rotor  slip   increases, and   the electrical output power increases. In
this region (P   <  P   rated), the external rotor resistors are short circuited
(duty   ratio  =1).
• Once  the   output  power   reaches  its  rated  output,  the   external rotor 
resistance  is   adjusted   to   keep  the   output  of   the   turbine constant.  
• to   reduce  the   mechanical  loads   on  the blades and the turbine
structures, the aerodynamic power is also   controlled   by  controlling   the
pitch  angle  of   the   blades   in   the  high  wind  speed   regions.   The
blade  pitch  is   controlled   to   keep the rotor speed below its maximum
speed (up   to   10%   slip   above   synchronous   speed).
• The range of the dynamic speed control depends on the size of the
variable rotor resistance. Typically, the speed range is 0 to10% above
synchronous speed.
 Doubly fed induction generator(DFIG)
• This configuration, known as DFIG based wind turbine, corresponds to the limited
variable speed wind turbine with a WRIG and partial scale frequency converter (rated
at approximately 30% of nominal generator power) on the rotor circuit.
• depending on the size of the frequency converter, the speed range comprises synchronous
speed -40% to +30 %.
• The power  converter  connected   to   the   rotor  winding  is   a   variable   frequency   three‐
phase  power converter,   and   the   power   converter  connected to the line is a 60‐Hz
power converter.
• The size of the power converter is smaller than the rating of the induction generator
because it is designed  only   to   carry  the   slip ‐ power. Thus, for operation of 30% slips,
the size of the   power converter is about 30% of the rating of the induction  generator.
• A  larger operating slip range is possible, however, larger slip operation requires a
larger   power   converter  (added  cost,   reduced efficiency,   etc).  
• Below   synchronous   speed,   the   rotor  power   flows   from  the   line   to   the
rotor winding,  and   above   synchronous   speed,   the   rotor  power   flows   from 
the   rotor  winding  to   the lines.
• The   wind  turbine  is   usually  controlled   to   generate   optimum  aerodynamic  
power   for  low   wind speed up to rated wind speed.
• Above   rated  wind  speed, the   pitch  controller  adjusts  the   pitch angle to limit
the  aerodynamic   power,  thus,  the   rotor  speed   is   limited.
• voltage-sourced converters, i.e., rotor-side converter (RSC) and grid-side converter
(GSC), which are connected “back-to-back.” Between the two converters a dc-link
capacitor is placed, as energy storage, in order to keep the voltage variations (or
ripple) in the dc-link voltage small.
• With the rotor-side converter it is possible to control the torque or the speed of the
DFIG and also the power factor at the stator terminals,
• while the main objective for the grid-side converter is to keep the dc-link voltage
constant regardless of the magnitude and direction of the rotor power.
• The back-to-back arrangement of the converters provides a mechanism of
converting the variable voltage, variable frequency output of the generator (as its
speed changes) into a fixed frequency, fixed voltage output compliant with the grid.
 Indirect Grid Connection Systems
• This configuration corresponds to the full variable speed wind turbine, with the
generator connected to the grid through a full-scale frequency converter.
• The generator can be excited electrically (WRSG/WRIG) or by a permanent magnet
(PMSG).
• The   output  of   the   generator  is passed through the power converter to the grid.
Thus, the   rating   of   the   power   converter  is   the same as the rating of the electric
machine used.
 Idealized Wind Turbine Power Curve
• The most important technical information for a specific wind turbine is the power curve,
which shows the relationship between wind speed and generator electrical output.
• Cut-in Wind speed: Low-speed winds may not have enough power to overcome friction in
the drive train of the turbine and, even if it does and the generator is rotating, the electrical
power generated may not be enough to offset the power required by the generator field
windings.
• Since no power is generated at wind-speeds below VC , that portion of the wind’s energy is
wasted.
• Rated Wind speed: As velocity increases above the cut-in wind speed, the
power delivered by the generator tends to rise as the cube of wind speed.
• When winds reach the rated wind speed VR, the generator is delivering as much power as it
is designed for.
• Above VR, there must be some way to shed some of the wind’s power or else the generator
may be damaged.
• pitch-controlled: an electronic system monitors the generator out-put power; if it exceeds
specifications, the pitch of the turbine blades is adjusted to shed some of the wind.
– Physically, a hydraulic system slowly rotates the blades about their axes, turning them a
few degrees at a time to reduce or increase their efficiency as conditions dictate.
• stall-controlled machines: the blades are carefully designed to automatically reduce
efficiency when winds are excessive.
– Nothing rotates — as it does in the pitch-controlled scheme — and there are no moving
parts, so this is referred to as passive control.
– The aerodynamic design of the blades, especially their twist as a function of distance
from the hub, must be very carefully done so that a gradual reduction in lift occurs as
the blades rotate faster. The majority of modern, large wind turbines use this passive,
stall-controlled approach.
– The blades are designed so that they will perform worse (in terms of energy extraction)
in high wind speeds to protect the wind turbine without the need for active controls.
• active stall control:
• For these machines, the blades rotate just as they do in the active, pitch-control approach.
• The difference is, however, that when winds exceed the rated wind speed, instead of
reducing the angle of attack of the blades, it is increased to induce stall.
• The benefit of stall-regulation over pitch-regulation is limited the capital cost of the turbine,
as well as lower maintenance associated with more moving parts.

• Cut-out or Furling Wind speed:

• At some point the wind is so strong that there is real danger to the wind turbine.
• At this wind speed VF, called the cut-out wind speed or the furling wind speed (“furling” is
the term used in sailing to describe the practice of folding up the sails when winds are too
strong), the machine must be shut down. Above VF, output power obviously is zero.