Wind Energy

Submitted by : Eng . Omar Keshk

Submitted to : Dr. Ahmed Farouk
 Agenda
• History
• Principles of wind energy
• Wind Energy Technology
• wind turbine
• Principles of operation
• Wind turbine components
• Calculations
• Types of wind turbines
– HAWT
– VAWT
• Turbine placement
• Environmental effects
• Advantages & Disadvantages
• Wind energy statistics
 History
• Humans have been using wind power for at least 5,500 years to
propel sailboats and sailing ships,

• And architects have used wind-driven natural ventilation in

buildings since similarly ancient times.

• The use of wind to provide mechanical power came somewhat

later in antiquity.

• The Babylonian emperor Hammurabi planned to use wind power

for his ambitious irrigation project in the 17th century BC.

• The ancient Sinhalese utilized the monsoon winds to power

furnaces as early as 300 BC .
• The first practical windmills were later built in Sistan,
Afghanistan, from the 7th century.
A Sail Boat uses wind energy for its motion
Ancient Wind
Farms
6
Early “WINDMILL” in Afghanistan (900AD)

7
8
Smith-Putnam Turbine
Vermont, 1940's

9
1980’s California Wind Farm
Older Technology
+ Lower Elevations
+ Poorly Sited
= Bad News!

10
 Principles of wind energy
• Wind energy is a converted form of solar energy. The sun's radiation
heats different parts of the earth at different rates during the day and
night. Also, different surfaces (for example, water and land) absorb
or reflect heat at different rates. This in turn causes portions of the
atmosphere to heat differently. Hot air rises, reducing the
atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface, and cooler air is drawn
in to replace it. The result is wind.
 Principles of wind energy

• Land-sea breezes
created by
temperature
differentials
• Winds also stronger
near shore because
of long unobstructed
travel
• Sea breeze typically
strongest late in the
afternoon
 Principles of wind energy

• Air has mass, and when it is in motion, contains

kinetic energy. Some portion of that energy can be
converted into other forms such as mechanical force
or electricity.
• Mechanical energy is most commonly used for
pumping water in rural or remote locations- the
"farm windmill" can also be used for many other
purposes like grinding grain, sawing, pushing a
sailboat, etc.
• Wind electric turbines generate electricity for homes
and businesses and for sale to electricity grids.
 Principles of wind energy
• Today, the most common method of exploiting wind energy is to use
wind turbine driven generators to produce electricity.
• Wind plants can range in size from a few megawatts to hundreds of
megawatts in capacity. Wind power plants are "modular," which
means they consist of small individual modules (the turbines) and can
easily be made larger or smaller as needed.
• “Wind power plants” or “Wind farms” are groups of wind electric
turbines in groups of large machines (~660 kW and above).
 Wind Energy Technology
At it’s simplest, the wind
turns the turbine blades,
which spin a shaft
connected to a generator
that generates electricity.
Large turbines can be
grouped together to form a
wind power plant, which
feeds power to the electrical
transmission system.

15
How does a wind turbine work?

16
Conversion of Wind Energy to
Electricity

17
 How does a wind turbine work?
• A wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of the wind to rotary motion
(or torque) that can do mechanical work.
• There are two basic designs of wind electric turbines: vertical-axis and
horizontal-axis machines.
• Horizontal-axis wind turbines are most common today.
The horizontal wind turbine
The horizontal wind turbine
 Principles of operation

The pressure differential between

top and bottom surfaces results in
aerodynamic lift. In an aircraft wing,
this force causes the airfoil to rise,
lifting the aircraft off the ground.
Since the blades of a wind turbine
are constrained to move in a plane
with the hub as its center, the lift
force causes rotation about the
hub.
 How Wind Works ?

LIFT AND DRAG

• Old-fashioned windmills
use DRAG
• DRAG devices are
pushed by the wind
• Modern wind turbines
use LIFT
• LIFT devices work like
airplane wings
 Lift & Drag Forces
• The Lift Force is
perpendicular to the low
direction of motion. We
want to make this force
BIG. medium

• The Drag Force is High!!

parallel to the direction
of motion. We want to
make this force small.
 Principles of operation

• The wind passes over both surfaces of

the airfoil shaped blade but passes more
rapidly over the longer (upper) side of
the airfoil, thus creating a lower- pressure
area above the airfoil. The pressure
differential between top and bottom
surfaces results in aerodynamic lift.
• In addition to the lift force, a drag force
perpendicular to the lift force opposes
rotor rotation.
•A prime objective in wind turbine design
is for the blade to have a relatively high
lift-to-drag ratio.
 Lift vs. Drag
• Lift force
– Perpendicular to flow direction (airplane wing)
• Drag force
– Parallel to flow direction

• “Drag Machines” less efficient

 Principles of operation
• Most wind turbines start generating electricity at wind speeds of 3-4
meters per second (about 12 km/h); generate maximum rated power at
around 15 m/s (55 km/h); and shut down to prevent storm damage at 25
m/s or above (90km/h).
 Wind turbine components
• A rotor with blades of aerofoil section
to convert wind energy to shaft power.
• A drive train including a gear box and a
generator.
• Tower that supports the rotor and the
drive train.
• Controls, electrical cables, ground
support equipment and interconnection
equipments.
• A “yawing” system to always orient the
rotor to head wind.
• Automatic rotor parking (arresting)
system to protect against high winds.
Blades materials
 Blade Composition
Wood

Wood

– Strong,
– light weight,
– cheap,
– abundant,
– flexible.
Blade Composition Metal

• Steel
– Heavy & expensive
• Aluminum
– Lighter-weight and
easy to work with
– Expensive
– Subject to metal fatigue
Blade Construction
Fiberglass
• Lightweight, strong,
inexpensive, good
fatigue characteristics

• Most modern large

turbines use
fiberglass
 Towers

• Monopole (Nearly all

large turbines)
– Tubular Steel or
Concrete

• Lattice (many
Medium turbines)
– 20 ft. sections
 Coefficient of performance and Betz’ limit
• Higher the kinetic energy extracted
from the wind, lower will be the
velocity with which wind leaves the
turbine. That is, the wind will be
slowed down as it leaves the turbine.
• If we tried to extract all the energy
from the wind, the air would move
away with zero speed, i.e. the air will
not leave the turbine. In that case we
would not extract any energy at all,
since this condition also prevents
wind from entering the rotor of the
turbine.
• In the other extreme case, the wind
could pass though the turbine
without being hindered at all. In this
case also we would not have
extracted any energy from the wind.
 Coefficient of performance and Betz’ limit

• Betz' law (formulated by the German physicist Albert Betz in 1919)

says that we can only convert less than 16/27 (or 59%) of the kinetic
energy in the wind to mechanical energy using a wind turbine.
• To prove Betz’ theorem, consider a wind turbine to be placed inside a
“stream tube”.

V2
Stream tube

V1

• V1 is the velocity at entry and V2 is the velocity at exit of the turbine.

 The Betz’ Law
• Average speed of wind through the rotor = (V1 + V2)/2 = Va ----- (1)
• Mass of air flow through the rotor per second
m = Area * Density of air * velocity of flow
m = A * ρ * Va ----- (2)
• The power extracted from the wind, according to Newton’s second law is,
P = 0.5 * m * (V12 – V22) ----- (3)
Substituting for m from equation (2), we get
P = 0.25 * ρ * A *(V1 + V2) (V12 – V22) ----- (4)
• Now, let us compare the result with the total power in the undisturbed
wind flowing through exactly the same area A, with no rotor to block the
wind. Let this power be Po.
P0 = 0.5 * m * V12 = 0.5 * AρV1 * V12
P0 = 0.5 * AρV13 ----- (5)
 The Betz’ Law
• The ratio of power extracted from the wind to the power in the
undisturbed stream is (Equation 4 / Equation 5):
(P/Po) = {0.25 * ρ * A * (V1 + V2) (V12 – V22)} / {0.5 * AρV13}
simplifying, we get

P 1   V2    V2 

2

   1     1   
P0  2    V1     V1 
 
Betz’ limit, 0.59

0.7

• The ratio (P/P0) is known as the 0.6

0.5
coefficient of performance of a
0.4
wind turbine.
P/Po
0.3
• We can see that the function 0.2
reaches its maximum for v2/v1 0.1 Velocity ratio, 0.33

= 1/3, and that the maximum 0

value for the power extracted from 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

the wind is 0.59 or 16/27 of the total V2/V1

power in the wind.

 Calculation of wind power
• The kinetic energy of wind is = 0.5 * Mass * Velocity 2

• At sea level, air density is ~1.23 kg/m3. Therefore, the mass of air
striking a turbine per second is:
Mass/sec (kg/s) = Velocity (m/s) x Area (m2) x Density (kg/m3)
• The power (energy/second) in the wind striking the turbine with a
certain swept area is:
Power = Mass flow rate of air x Kinetic energy
= 0.5 x swept area x Air density x Velocity 3
Where,
Swept area = π r2
r being the outer radius of the turbine rotor
Therefore, the theoretical wind power is, ρ = Density of air in kg/m3

P = 0.5 πρr2v3 Watts r = Radius of wind turbine in m

v = Velocity of air in m/s
 Calculation of wind power

• The power output of a wind generator is proportional to the area

swept by the rotor - i.e. if the swept area is doubled, the power output
will also double.
• The power output of a wind generator is proportional to the cube of
the wind speed - i.e. if the wind speed is doubled, the power output
will increase by a factor of eight (23).
 Wind speed – Effect of height

• Wind speed varies with height. At

ground level the speed is low and
turbulent and at higher altitudes, it
is faster and smoother. This is due
to friction as wind passes across
the earth's surface.

• As the power generated is

proportional to the velocity cubed,
there is an advantage in locating the
turbine on some form of tower,
typically in the range 30 to 80 metres
high.
 Power in wind
The output from the wind machine
depends upon following factors:
Wind velocity
The cross-sectional area swept by the rotor
Overall efficiency of the wind power unit.
 Size
• Larger turbines enjoy higher wind
speeds.
 Tip-Speed Ratio
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the ΩR
speed of the rotating blade tip to
the speed of the free stream wind.
R
There is an optimum angle of attack
which creates the highest lift to
drag ratio.
Because angle of attack is
dependant on wind speed, there
is an optimum tip-speed ratio

ΩR
TSR =
Where,
V
Ω = rotational speed in radians /sec
R = Rotor Radius
V = Wind “Free Stream” Velocity
Cp for Various Configurations
 Types of wind turbines
Basically there are two types of wind turbines:
• Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
• Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Depending upon the wind conditions available and ingenuity of
design, there are innumerable variants as shown on following slides.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

 Types of Wind Turbine
• Turbines can be categorized into two classes
based on the orientation of the rotor.
1.Vertical Axis 2.Horizontal Axis
 Types of turbine
• Horizontal axis wind turbine (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.

• Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)

• VAWT have the main rotor shaft arranged
vertically and turbine does not need to be pointed
into the wind to be effective.
 Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Three Blade Two Blade Single Blade

Classic modern horizontal axis wind turbines

 Rotor Solidity
Solidity is the ratio of total rotor
planform area to total swept area
R
Low solidity (0.10) = high speed, low torque
a

A
High solidity (>0.80) = low speed, high torque
Solidity = 3a/A
 Number of Blades – One
• Rotor must move more
rapidly to capture same
amount of wind
– Added weight of
counterbalance negates
some benefits of lighter
design
– Higher speed means more
noise, visual, and wildlife
impacts

• Captures 10% less energy

than two blade design
 Number of Blades - Two
• Advantages &
disadvantages similar to
one blade
• Need teetering hub and
or shock absorbers
because of gyroscopic
imbalances
• Capture 5% less energy
than three blade designs
 Number of Blades - Three
• Balance of
gyroscopic forces
• Slower rotation
– increases gearbox
& transmission
costs
– More aesthetic,
less noise .
 Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Highway mounted wind turbines, use the turbulence

Classic ‘Dutch style’ wind mill
created by passing vehicles
(Concept by University of Arizona)

Examples of Classic and Innovative Designs

 Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Proposed giant turbine on top of

Wind turbines at the Bahrain World Trade Centre
600m sky scraper in Dubai

Examples of Innovative Designs

• Turbine blades are made stiff to prevent
the blades from being pushed into the
tower by high winds. Additionally, the
blades are placed a considerable distance
in front of the tower.
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
 HAWT advantages
• Variable blade pitch, which gives the
turbine blades the optimum angle of attack.
Allowing the angle of attack to be remotely
adjusted gives greater control, so the turbine
collects the maximum amount of wind energy
for the time of day and season.

• The tall tower base allows access to

stronger wind in sites with wind shear. In
some wind shear sites, every ten meters up,
the wind speed can increase by 20% and the
power output by 34%.
 HAWT disadvantages
• The tall towers and blades up to 90 meters
long are difficult to transport.

• Tall HAWTs are difficult to install.

• HAWTs require an additional yaw control

mechanism to turn the blades toward the
wind
 Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

In this type of wind turbine the axis of rotation is

perpendicular the ground .
Vertical-axis wind turbines fall into two
major categories: 
• Savonius
• Darrieus
 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

The Savonious wind turbine:

•Invented by the Finnish engineer Sigurd J Savonius in 1922.
• Aerodynamically, they are drag-type devices, consisting of two
or three scoops.
•Because they are drag-type devices, Savonius turbines extract
much less wind power than other similarly-sized lift-type
12 m Windmill with rotational sails in Osijek, Croatia
Savonius wind turbine
 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Darrieus turbine

Savonious rotors
to start Darrieus
turbine

The Darrieus Wind Turbine:

•A Darrieus wind turbine can spin at many times the speed of the wind hitting it.
• Hence it generates less torque than a Savonius but it rotates much faster.
•This makes Darrieus wind turbines much better suited to electricity generation rather
than water pumping and similar activities.
• Darrieus wind turbines are not self starting. Therefore a small Savonious rotor is fitted
to start the turbine, and then when it has enough speed the wind passing across the
aerofoil's starts to generate torque and the rotor is driven around by the wind.
30 m Darrieus wind turbine in the Magdalen Islands
 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Helical wind turbine ‘Jelly Fish’ micro wind turbine

Examples of Innovative Designs

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Variants of Darrieus wind turbine

Examples of Innovative Designs

 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

‘Wind side’ wind turbine ‘Aerofoil’ wind turbine

Examples of Innovative Designs

 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

‘Maglev’- magnetically levitated wind turbines – several in operation in China

Examples of Innovative Designs

 Lift vs Drag
VAWTs
Lift Device
“Darrieus”
– Low solidity,
aerofoil blades
– More efficient
than drag device
Drag Device
“Savonius”
– High solidity, cup
shapes are
pushed by the
wind
– At best can
capture only 15%
of wind energy
 VAWT advantages:

• Designs without yaw mechanisms are possible with fixed

pitch rotor designs.

• A VAWT can be located nearer the ground, making it

easier to maintain the moving parts.

• VAWTs have lower wind startup speeds than HAWTs.

Typically, they start creating electricity at (10 km/h).

• VAWTs may be built at locations where taller structures

are prohibited.

• VAWTs may have a lower noise signature.

 VAWT disadvantages
• Rotors generally near ground where wind poorer.

• Centrifugal force stresses blades.

• Poor self-starting capabilities.

• Requires support at top of turbine rotor.

• Overall poor performance and reliability.

• Have never been commercially successful.

 Turbine placement:
 Good selection of a wind turbine site is critical to
economic development of wind power.

 Aside from the availability of wind itself, other factors

include:

• the availability of transmission lines,

• value of energy to be produced,
• cost of land acquisition,
• land use considerations,
• and environmental impact of construction and operations.
Environmental effects
• Wind power consumes no fuel for continuing operation,
and has no emissions directly related to electricity
production.
• Operation does not produce :
– carbon dioxide,
– sulfur dioxide,
– mercury particulates,
– or any other type of air pollution, as fossil fuel power sources
do.

• Wind power plants consume resources in manufacturing

and construction. During manufacture of the wind
turbine, steel, concrete, aluminum and other materials
will have to be made and transported using energy-
intensive processes, generally using fossil energy
sources.
Dangerous for birds:

• Danger to birds is often the main complaint against the

installation of a wind turbine. However, studies show that
the number of birds killed by wind turbines is negligible
compared to the number that die as a result of other
human activities such as :
– traffic,
– hunting,
– power lines
– and high-rise buildings
– and especially the environmental impacts of using non-clean
power sources.
• For example, in the UK, where there are several
hundred turbines, about one bird is killed per turbine per
year; 10 million per year are killed by cars alone.
• Noise:
– The noise created by wind turbines is often cited as an issue,
although the noise of large turbines is far less than of smaller
turbines.

• Aesthetics:

– Aesthetics have also been a concern. The Massachusetts Cape

Wind project was delayed for years mainly because of aesthetic
concerns.
 Advantages of wind energy
• Wind energy is a renewable resource meaning that the Earth will continue to
provide this and it's up to people to use it and harness it to best advantage.
• Wind energy is cheap and is largely dependent upon the manufacturing,
distribution and building of turbines for the initial costs.
• Wind energy replaces electricity from coal-fired power plants and thus reduces
greenhouse gases that produce global warming.
• Wind energy is available worldwide and though some countries may be
"windier" than others, the product is not like oil that has to be transported on
tankers to the far regions of the earth.
• Wind farms on average have a smaller footprint than coal-fired power plants.
Wind turbines can also share space with other interests such as the farming of
crops or cattle.
• Wind energy is available in many remote locations where the electrical grid
doesn't reach. Farms, mountain areas and third world nations can take advantage
of wind energy.
• Wind energy is creating jobs that are far outpacing other sectors of the
economy.
• Wind energy doesn't have to be used solely on a commercial scale as residential
wind turbines are now gaining ground in many communities.
Wind Energy
Benefits
No air emissions
No fuel to mine, transport,
or store
No cooling water
No water pollution
No wastes
 Disadvantages of wind energy
• Wind is an intermittent source of energy and when connected to the
electrical
grid provides an uneven power supply. Some places may have too strong winds
during hurricane season that may damage wind turbines.
• Some people object to the visual site of wind turbines disrupting the local
landscape.
• The wind doesn't blow well at all locations on Earth. Wind maps are needed to
identify the optimal locations.
• The initial cost of a wind turbine can be high, though government subsidies,
tax breaks and long-term costs may alleviate much of this.
• Even though costs of wind energy have come down dramatically it still has to
compete with the ultra low price for fossil fuel power plants.
• Transmission of electricity from remote wind farms can be a major hurdle for
utilities since many time turbines are not located around hurdle .
• The storage of excess energy from wind turbines in the form of batteries, or
other forms still needs research and development to become commercially viable.
• Depending upon the type of wind turbine, noise pollution may be a factor for
those living or working nearby.
• Utility scale wind turbines can interfere with television signals of those living
within a mile or two of the installation, which can be frustrating for homeowners.
Wind energy statistics
Growth of wind energy power capacity - Top 5

Growth of wind energy power capacity

30
Installed capacity

25
(x 1000 MW)

20
15
10
5
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year

USA Germany Spain China India

 Sources
• BOOKS :
– Wind-Energy-Basics
• By : Paul-Gipe.
– Non-conventional energy resources
• By : D.S.Chauhan and S.K. Srivastava.
– Wind electrical systems
• S.N.Bhadra, D.Kastha, and S.Banerjee.
 Sources
• Websites :
– www.thewindpower.net
– www.awea.org
– www.scribd.com