RENEWABLE ENERGY POWER PLANTS (REPP)

Module-3
Wind Energy
Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, variations in the earth's surface, and
rotation of the earth. Thus the wind energy is a form of solar energy
Wind is the moving air and is caused by the differences in air pressure in our atmosphere. Mountains,
bodies of water, and vegetation all influence wind flow patterns
Wind energy (or wind power) describes the process by which wind is used to generate electricity
Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power by rotating propeller like
blades. A generator can convert mechanical power into electricity i.e. by rotating the propeller blades
around a rotor. Mechanical power can also be utilized directly for specific tasks such as pumping water.

PROPERTIES OF WIND
 Wind is non-conventional energy source
 Wind is due to differences in air pressure in the atmosphere
 Wind at high pressure tends to move to areas at low air pressure, greater the pressure difference
faster will be the flow of air
 In meteorology, winds are often referred to according to their strength, and the direction from
which the wind is blowing.
 Wind strength can vary from light breeze to hurricane force
 The wind is also a critical means of transportation for seeds, insects, and birds, which can travel on
wind currents for thousands of miles.
 Wind is characterized by two parameters. They are wind speed and wind direction. Wind speed
indicates the speed of air movement from one point to another measured through a device called
―anemometer‖ and the wind direction indicated the direction at which air is moving measured
through
a device ―wind vane‖ attached to a direction indicator.

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AVAILABILITY OF WIND ENERGY IN INDIA

The total installed capacity of wind power in India as on March 2017 is around 32 GW. Wind power
generation capacity in India has significantly increased in recent years. As of 28 February 2021, the total
installed wind power capacity is 38.789 GW, the fourth largest installed wind power capacity in the world.
Wind power capacity is mainly spread across the Southern, Western and Northern regions
(Note: GW = Gigawatt, 1 GW = 1000 megawatt = 109 watts)
Wind power costs in India are decreasing rapidly. The levelised tariff of wind power reached a record low
of ₹2.43 per kWh (without any direct or indirect subsidies) during auctions for wind projects in December
2017. However, the levelised tariff is increased to ₹2.77 per kWh in March 2021.

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The potential is far from exhausted. Indian Wind Energy Association has estimated that with the current level
of technology, the ‗on-shore‘ potential for utilization of wind energy for electricity generation is of the order of
65,000 MW. The unexploited resource availability has the potential to sustain the growth of wind energy sector
in India in the years to come.
Wind in India are influenced by the strong south-west summer monsoon, which starts in May-June, when
cool, humid air moves towards the land; further, the weak north-east winter monsoon, which starts in
October, when cool, dry air moves towards the ocean. During March- August, the winds are uniformly
strong over the whole Indian Peninsula, except the eastern peninsular coast. Wind speeds during
November-March are relatively weak, although high winds are available during a part of the period on the
Tamil Nadu coastline. WIND VELOCITY
Wind velocity is the measure of speed of wind in horizontal direction. Wind velocity means pedestrian
level wind speed measured at 2 m above ground. It is a measure of air ventilation which has a direct effect
on outdoor thermal comfort
WIND POWER
Kinetic energy exists whenever an object of a given mass is in motion with a translational or rotational
speed. When air is in motion, the kinetic energy in moving air can be determined as
Ek = 0.5 mṻ2… (1)
Where m is the air mass and ṻ is the mean wind speed over a suitable time period.
The wind power can be obtained by differentiating the kinetic energy in wind with respect to time, i.e.
Pw = dEk / dt = 0.5 ṁṻ2 … (2)
However, only a small portion of wind power can be converted into electrical power.
When wind passes through a wind turbine and drives blades to rotate, the corresponding wind mass flow
rate is
ṁ = ρAṻ … (3)
Where is ρ the air density and A is the swept area of blades
Substituting (3) into (2), the available power in wind Pw can be expressed as
Pw = 0.5 ρAṻ3

MAJOR PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH WIND POWER

Wind energy can have adverse environmental impacts, including the potential to reduce, fragment, or
degrade habitat for wildlife, fish, and plants.
 Wind power must still compete with conventional generation sources on a cost basis i.e. wind
projects must be able to compete economically with the lowest-cost source of electricity, and some
locations may not be windy enough to be cost competitive.

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 Good land-based wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the
electricity is needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to
the city.
 Wind resource development might not be the most profitable use of the land. Land suitable for
wind- turbine installation must compete with alternative uses for the land, which might be more
highly valued than electricity generation.
 Turbines might cause noise and aesthetic pollution.
 Wind plants can impact local wildlife. Birds have been killed by flying into spinning turbine blades.

WIND MACHINES
Wind machines or wind turbines or wind energy converter, are the devices that converts the wind's kinetic
energy into electrical energy. Wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of sizes, with either
horizontal or vertical axes.
Two important wind rotor configurations are as follows:
1. Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT), here the axis of rotation is vertical with respect to the ground (and
roughly perpendicular to the wind stream). The following are the two main types of VAWT:
 Darrieus (which uses lift forces generated by aerofoil)
 Savonius (which uses drag forces)

2. Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT), in which the axis of rotation is horizontal with respect to
the ground (and roughly parallel to the wind stream). HAWT can be further divided into three types:
 Dutch windmills
 Multi-blade water-pumping windmills
 High-speed propeller-type wind machines

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VERTICAL AXIS WIND MILLS/TURBINES

1. Vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine

Fig 4.1: Vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine

 Constructional details
o Tower: The tower is a hollow vertical rotor shaft, which rotates freely about vertical axis
between top and bottom bearings. It is installed above a support structure. The upper part of
the tower is supported by guy ropes. The height of the tower of a large turbine is around 100
m
o Blades: It has two or three thin, curved blades shaped like an eggbeater in profile, with
blades curved in a form that minimizes the bending stress caused by centrifugal forces-the
so-called
‗Troposkien‘ profile. The blades have airfoil cross section with constant chord length. The
pitch of the blades cannot be changed.
o Support Structure: Support structure is provided at the ground to support the weight of the
rotor. Gearbox, generator, brakes, electrical switchgear and controls are housed within this
structure.
o The turbine consists of a number of aero foil usually but not always vertically mounted on a
rotating shaft or framework
o Darrieus design, the aero foils are arranged so that they are symmetrical and have zero
rigging angles, that is, the angle that the aero foils are set relative to the structure on which
they are mounted.

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o This arrangement is equally effective no matter which direction the wind is blowing—in
contrast to the conventional type, which must be rotated to face into the wind.
 Working principle
o In terms of operation, Darrieus utilizes the ―lift‖ aerodynamic force to rotate.
o By flowing around the structure, the wind creates suction on the front side of the turbine,
driving the wings to rotate.
o Because of the shape of the wings, they do not experience as much drag as Savonius
turbines do. Once the rotation starts, Darrieus wind turbines are able to accelerate to rotate
faster than the wind speed.
o As the turbine tends to rotate, the electrical generator generates the electrical energy from
the mechanical energy supplied by the rotation of rotor shaft.
 Advantages
o The equipment (gear box and generator) can be placed close to the ground.
o There is no need of a mechanism to turn the rotor against the wind
 Disadvantages
o The efficiency is not very remarkable
o The Darrieus is not a self-starting turbine, the starting torque is very low but it can be
reduced by using three or more blades that result in a high solidity for the rotor.
o Because wind speeds are close to the ground level, there is very low wind speed on the
lower part of the rotor.
o They are very difficult to mount high on a tower to capture the high level winds. Because of
this, they are usually forced to accept the low, more turbulent winds, and they produce less
in possibly more damaging winds.
2. Vertical axis Savonius wind turbine

Fig 4.2: Vertical axis Savonius wind turbine

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 Constructional details
o The Savonius wind turbine is a simple vertical axis device having a shape of half-cylindrical
parts attached to the opposite sides of a vertical shaft (for two-bladed arrangement) and
operate on the drag force, so it can‘t rotate faster than the wind speed.
o Aerodynamically, it is a drag-type device consisting of two or three scoops.
o Because of the curvature, the scoops experience less drag when moving against the wind
than with the wind.
 Working principle
o The differential drag causes the Savonius turbine to spin.
o Because they are drag-type devices, Savonius turbines extract much less of the wind‘s
power than other similarly sized lift-type turbines.
o As the wind blows into the structure and comes into contact with the opposite faced surfaces
(one convex and other concave), two different forces (drag and lift) are exerted on those two
surfaces.
o The basic principle is based on the difference of the drag force between the convex and the
concave parts of the rotor blades when they rotate around a vertical shaft. Thus, drag force is
the main driving force of the Savonius rotor
 Advantages
o Always self-starting, if there are at least three scoops
o Relatively easy to make
 Disadvantages
o Low efficiency: around 15%.

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HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE

 Fig 4.3: Horizontal axis wind turbine

Constructional details
o The rotor consists of the hub and blades of the wind turbine. Most turbines today have
upwind rotors with three blades
o The drive train consists of the other rotating parts of the wind turbine downstream of the
rotor. These typically include a low-speed shaft (on the rotor side), a gearbox, and a high-
speed shaft (on the generator side). Other drive train components include the support
bearings, one or more couplings, a brake
o The purpose of the gearbox is to speed up the rate of rotation of the rotor from a low value
(tens of rpm) to a rate suitable for driving a standard generator (hundreds or thousands of
rpm).
o This category includes the wind turbine housing, the machine bedplate or main frame, and
the yaw orientation system. The main frame provides for the mounting and proper alignment
of the drive train components. The nacelle cover protects the contents from the weather
o This category includes the tower itself and the supporting foundation. The principal types of
tower design currently in use are the free-standing type using steel tubes, lattice (or truss)
towers, and concrete towers.
o A wind turbine control system includes the following components:
Sensors – speed, position, flow, temperature, current, voltage, etc.;

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Controllers – mechanical mechanisms, electrical circuits;

Power amplifiers – switches, electrical amplifiers, hydraulic pumps, and valves; Actuators –
motors, pistons, magnets, and solenoids; Intelligence – computers, microprocessors.

o In addition to the generator, the wind turbine system utilizes a number of other electrical
components. Some examples are cables, switchgear, transformers, power electronic
converters, power factor correction capacitors, yaw and pitch motors that forms the balance
of electrical system
 Working principle
o The horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT) is a wind turbine in which the main rotor shaft is
pointed in the direction of the wind to extract power
o The rotor receives energy from the wind and produces a torque on a low-speed shaft.
o The low-speed shaft transfers the energy to a gearbox, high-speed shaft, and generator,
which are enclosed in the nacelle for protection.
o The low-speed shaft connects to the gearbox, which has a set of gears that increase the
output speed of the shaft to approximately 1,800 rpm for an output frequency of 60 Hz (or a
speed of 1,500 rpm if the frequency is 50 Hz).
o The high-speed shaft is then connected to the generator, which converts the rotational
motion to AC voltage.
 Advantages
o High power output
o High efficiency
o Highly reliable
o High operational wind speed
 Disadvantages
o Difficult to transport, install and maintenance
o Stronger impact on environment
o Strict regulations to be followed

ELEMENTARY DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Wind turbine design is the process of defining the form and specifications of a wind turbine to extract energy
from the wind. A wind turbine installation consists of the necessary systems needed to capture the wind's
energy, point the turbine into the wind, convert mechanical rotation into electrical power, and other systems to
start, stop, and control the turbine.

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 Aerodynamics: The shape and dimensions of the blades of the wind turbine are determined by the
aerodynamic performance required to efficiently extract energy from the wind, and by the
strength required to resist the forces on the blade.
 Power control: The centrifugal force on the spinning blades increases as the square of the rotation
speed, which makes this structure sensitive to over speed. A wind turbine is designed to
produce power over a range of wind speeds. The cut-in speed is around 3–4 m/s for most
turbines, and cut-out at 25 m/s. 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.
 Stall: A stall on an airfoil occurs when air passes over it in such a way that the generation of lift
rapidly decreases. Usually this is due to a high angle of attack (AOA), but can also result
from dynamic effects. The blades of a wind turbine with fixed pitch can be aerodynamically
designed to stall in high wind speeds, causing slower rotation.
 Furling: Furling works by decreasing the angle of attack, which reduces the induced drag from the
lift of the rotor, as well as the cross-section. A fully furled turbine blade, when stopped, has
the edge of the blade facing into the wind.
 Yawing: Modern large wind turbines are typically actively controlled to face the wind direction
measured by a wind vane situated on the back of the nacelle. By minimizing the yaw angle
(the misalignment between wind and turbine pointing direction), the power output is
maximized and non-symmetrical loads minimized
 Turbine size: For a given survivable wind speed, the mass of a turbine is approximately
proportional to the cube of its blade-length. Wind power intercepted by the turbine is
proportional to the square of its blade-length. The maximum blade-length of a turbine is
limited by both the strength, the stiffness of its material, and transportation considerations.

COEFFECIENT OF PERFORMANCE OF A WIND MILL ROTOR

 It is the proportion of the power in the wind that the rotor can extract (it is also called power
coefficient or efficiency; symbol Cp) and its variation as a function of tip-speed ratio is commonly
used to characterize different types of rotor.
 It is physically impossible to extract all the energy from the wind, without bringing the air behind
the rotor to a standstill.
 Consequently, there is a maximum value of Cp of 59.3% (known as the Betz limit), although in
practice, real wind rotors have maximum Cp values in the range of 25%-45%.

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 The performance coefficient of a rotor is the fraction of wind energy passing through the rotor disc,
which is converted into shaft power. This is a measure of the efficiency of the rotor and it varies
with the tip-speed ratio.

AERODYNAMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN WIND MILL DESIGN

The VAWT and HAWT use either lift or drag forces to harness the wind. Out of these types, the
horizontal- axis lift device is the most commonly used. In fact, other than a few experimental machines,
virtually all windmills come under this category.
There are two primary physical principles by which energy can be extracted from the wind. These are
through the creation of either lift or drag force (or through a combination of the two), as shown in the
below figure

Fig 4.4: Principles of wind turbine aerodynamics

Air flow over a stationary airfoil produces two forces, a lift force perpendicular to the air flow and a drag
force in the direction of air flow, as shown in the above figure.
The existence of the lift force depends upon laminar flow over the airfoil, which means that the air flows
smoothly over both sides of the airfoil. If turbulent flow exists rather than laminar flow, there will be little
or no lift force.
The air flowing over the top of the airfoil has to speed up because of a greater distance to travel and this
increase in speed causes a slight decrease in pressure. This pressure difference across the airfoil yields the
lift force, which is perpendicular to the direction of air flow. The air moving over the airfoil also produces a
drag force in the direction of the air flow. This is a loss term and is minimized as much as possible in high-
performance wind turbines
 Lift Force: The lift force (FL) arises in a direction that is perpendicular to the airstream caused by
Bernoulli‘s effect that lowers the pressure on the top of the airfoil when compared with the pressure
on its bottom. The curvature on the top leads to a higher stream velocity than at the bottom and
hence a lower pressure.
Let (FL) is the lift force in Newton, (SL) is the cross-sectional area of airfoil in m2, ρ is the air
density in kg/m2, and V is the wind speed in m/s2. Then, lift coefficient (CL) is

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Defined as follows

CL = [FL/SL} / [(1/2) ρV2]

 Drag force (FD): It is described as follows, Where CD = drag
coefficient and SD = Effective area of airfoil in the direction of drag
force.
CD = [FD/SD] / [(1/2) ρV2]
 The lift and drag force vary with the angle that rotor blade makes with the
direction of wind stream. This angle is called as angle of attack. The
resultant of drag and lift forces constitute the thrust force that effectively
rotate the blade.

NUMERICAL
A three-bladed wind rotor with blade length of 52 m is operating in a wind
stream having wind velocity of 12 m/s. Air density is 1.23 kg/m3 and power
coefficient may be taken as 0.4. Calculate the extractable power from the wind.
Solution:
Given data are as follows:
Blade length, L = 52 m; wind speed, v = 12 m/s; air density, ρ = 1.23
kg/m3; power coefficient, Cp= 0.4.
Thus, A = swept area = Πr2 = Π (52)2 = 8495 m2
P Available = Cp (1/2ρAv3) = 0.4 × ½ × 1.23 × 8495 × (12)3 = 3.6 MW

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