1/8/2021

TURBULANCE

48

Shelter belts

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 1

 1/8/2021

Percentage variation of idealized Ridge

Micro Siting
• Micro siting involves laying out the turbine and its
accessories at optimum locations at the selected
site.
• Turbines are placed in rows with the direction of
incoming wind perpendicular to it.
• When several turbines are installed in clusters,
the turbulence due to the rotation of blades of
one turbine may affect the nearby turbines.

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 2

 1/8/2021

Micro Siting
In order to minimize the effect of
rotor induced turbulence,
• a spacing of 3 DT to 4 DT is
provided within the rows,
• spacing between the rows
may be around 10 DT,
– so that the wind stream
passing through one
turbine is restored before
it interacts with the next
turbine.
• It is a usual practice to leave a
clearance of (hT + DT ) from
the roads,

WIND DIRECTION OR WIND ROSE?

A wind rose is a graphical tool used by meteorologists to give a brief and
clear view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a
particular location.

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 3

 1/8/2021

Wake Loss

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 4

 1/8/2021

WAsP Wake Effect Model

• U0 is the undisturbed wind speed at the up-wind turbine ("0") with rotor diameter D0,
Ct the thrust coefficient, X01 the downwind horizontal distance between the wind
turbines and k is the wake decay constant.

• The thrust coefficient Ct is related to the thrust force FT, rho being the density of the
air, as

I. Katic, J. Højstrup and N.O. Jensen: "A Simple Model for

Cluster Effeciency", European Wind Energy Association
Conference and Exhibition, 7-9 October 1986, Rome, Italy.

Wind Turbine Subsystems

– Foundation
– Tower
– Nacelle
– Hub & Rotor
– Drivetrain
– Gearbox
– Generator
– Electronics & Controls
– Yaw
– Pitch
– Braking
– Power Electronics
– Cooling
– Diagnostics

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 5

 1/8/2021

Foundations and Tower

• Truss (early 1970s) to monopole towers

Foundations and Tower

Offshore wind turbine

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 6

 1/8/2021

Active vs. Passive Yaw

• Active Yaw (all medium &
large turbines produced
today, & some small turbines
from Europe)
– Anemometer on nacelle tells
controller which way to point
rotor into the wind
– Yaw drive turns gears to point
rotor into wind
• Passive Yaw (Most small
turbines)
– Wind forces alone direct rotor
• Tail vanes
• Downwind turbines

Lift & Drag Forces

• The Lift Force is
perpendicular to the
direction of motion. We
want to make this force
BIG.

α = low

α = medium
• The Drag Force is parallel <10 degrees
to the direction of motion.
We want to make this
force small. α = High
Stall!!

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 7

 1/8/2021

Pitch Control vs. Stall Control

• Pitch Control
– Blades rotate out of the
wind when wind speed
becomes too great
• Stall Control
– Blades are at a fixed pitch
that starts to stall when
wind speed is too great
– Pitch can be adjusted for
particular location’s wind
regime

• Active Stall Control

– Many larger turbines today
have active pitch control that
turns the blades towards stall
when wind speeds are too
great

Power Capture
Power
[kW]

Pwind  V3 Ideal turbine

(max. 60% efficient)
Torque Control

Pitch Control
Prated
Region 1

Region 2

Region 3

Wind Speed, V
[m/s]
Vcut-in Vrated Vcut-out

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 8

 1/8/2021

Wind Turbine Generator Technologies

Presently four major types of WTG Technologies used:

A. Squirrel Cage Induction Generators driven by fixed-speed, stall-

regulated wind turbines
B. Induction Generators with variable external rotor resistance
driven by a variable-speed, pitch regulated wind turbines
C. Doubly-Fed Induction Generators driven by variable-speed, pitch
regulated wind turbines
D. Synchronous or Induction Generators with full converter
interface (back-to-back frequency converter), driven by variable-
speed, pitch regulated wind turbines

Asynchronous Machines or Synchronous Machines

Fixed speed

AC Bypass Generator
f = constant contactor switchgear
n = costant

Parking
Gearbox brake
HV
switchgear
Rotor
bearing

Asynchronous generator Soft start

equipment
Step-up
transformer

6 ... 33 kV, f = 50 Hz
WTG
control

ABB drawing
Passive Stall

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 9

 1/8/2021

Fixed speed

AC Bypass Generator
f = constant contactor switchgear
n = costant

Parking
brake
Gearbox
HV
switchgear
Rotor
bearing

Asynchronous generator Soft start

equipment
Step-up
transformer

6 ... 33 kV, f = 50 Hz
WTG
Pitch control
drive

ABB drawing
Active Stall, Pitch Control

Semi-variable speed

AC Bypass Generator
f = constant contactor switchgear
n = semi-variable

Parking
Gearbox brake
HV
switchgear
Rotor
bearing

Asynchronous RCC Soft start

generator unit equipment
Step-up
HEAT transformer
6 ... 33 kV, f = 50 Hz

Pitch RCC
drive control

WTG
control

ABB drawing
Variable slip, pitch control

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 10

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Variable speed

AC Generator
f = constant switchgear
n = variable

Parking
Gearbox brake
HV
switchgear
Rotor
bearing
Doubly-fed Generator Grid
asynchronous side side
generator converter converter
Step-up
transformer
6 ... 33 kV, f = 50 Hz

Pitch
drive
Converter
control

WTG
control

ABB drawing
Variable speed control DFIG (doubly fed induction generator)

Variable speed

AC Generator
f = variable switchgear Converter
n = variable

Parking
Gearbox brake
HV
Converter switchgear
Rotor control
bearing

Asynchronous or
synchrounous generator
Step-up
transformer
6 ... 33 kV, f = 50 Hz/

Pitch
drive

WTG
control

ABB drawing
Variable speed control with full scale converter

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 11

 1/8/2021

Wind Plant Costs

• 60 MW Wind Farm (1.5 MWx40) in Canada

Levelized Cost
• LCOE (Levelized Cost of Energy):
– Constant unit cost (per kWh) of a payment stream
that has the same present value as the total cost of
building and operating a generating plant over its life.
– Annual Cost divided by annual energy delivered
– Unit: USD/kWh….

• Annual cost :
– Spread the capital cost out over the lifetime
– Add the annual O&M cost
– Unit: USD/yr…

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 12

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Levelized Cost of Energy

• If a wind farm project is financed by debt
– principal amount = P [USD]
– interest rate i [decimal fraction]
– loan term n [yr]

• Annual Payment, A [USD/yr]

𝒊 𝟏 𝒊 𝒏
𝑨=𝑷 = 𝐏. 𝐂𝐑𝐅 𝒊, 𝒏
𝟏 𝒊 𝒏 𝟏

– CRF(i,n)= Capital Recovery Factor (CRF): with interest rate i [decimal fraction]
and loan term n [yr]

• Annual Cost = A + O&M Cost

• LCOE = Annual cost [USD/yr] / Annual Energy Production [kWh/yr]

Example
• 900 W small wind turbine with 2.13 m blade costs USD1600. By the time
the system is installed and operational, it costs a total of USD2500, which
is to be paid from with a 15 yrs, at 7% interest. O&M costs is $100/yr.
Average wind speed at hub height is 6.7 m/s.
Estimate the cost per kWh (LCOE) over the 15-year period.

Answer:
P= USD 2500, i=0.07, n=15
𝒊 𝟏 𝒊 𝒏 𝟎.𝟎𝟕 𝟏 𝟎.𝟎𝟕 𝟏𝟓
 𝑪𝑹𝑭(𝟎. 𝟎𝟕, 𝟏𝟓) = = = 0.1098 /yr
𝟏 𝒊 𝒏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟎.𝟎𝟕 𝟏𝟓 𝟏
Annual Payment= P. CRF(0.07,15)= 2500x0.1098=USD 274.49 /yr

Annual Cost= A+O&M= 274.49+100= USD 374.49 /yr

Annual Energy Production= 8760 × 𝑃 0.087 × 𝑉 −
.
= 8760 × 0.9 0.087 × 6.7 − = 3035 kWh/yr
.

LCOE= (USD 374.49/yr)/(3035 kWh/yr)=USD 0.123 /kWh

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 13

 1/8/2021

Example
A wind farm project has 40 numbers of 1500 kW turbines with
64-m blades. Capital cost of wind farm is USD60 million and the
O&M cost is USD1.8 million/yr.

The project will be financed with a USD45 million, 20-yr loan at

7% plus an equity investment of USD15million that needs a 15%
return. Turbines are exposed to averaging 8.5 m/s wind speed.

What price would the electricity have to sell for to make the
project viable?

@Dr. Asanka Rodrigo, UoM 14