RELIABILITY OF WIND TURBINES

K A Abhinav OE12D001

Wind As An Energy Source

Wind has been used, since time immemorial, as an energy source for sailing, mechanical lifting of loads, drainage, irrigation etc. Skyrocketing fossil-fuel prices and concerns about the green house effect in the recent past, has resulted in an invigorated approach towards renewable energy studies However, none of the renewable energy schemes, except wind power, are able to compete with fossil fuel plants, in terms of installed capacities

The advantages of wind energy include availability and ecofriendliness

Wind turbine generators have reached a size of 4MW and wind farms of 300 MW capacity are in the anvil

Wind power: World Wide Installed Capacity

http://www.gwec.net

Types Of Wind Turbines

Depending on the axis of rotation:

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

http://vawtphysicshonorproject.blogspot.in/2011/

Components of an Offshore Wind Turbine

Malhotra, S, (2007)

Wind Velocities and Production

Sl No Wind Velocity (m/s) Nomenclature Production (kWh/day) Remarks

Light air

No production 228,480

Gentle breeze

3 4 5

12 20 30

Strong breeze Gale Violent storm

979,680 1,104,000 Shut down

Based on a wind farm with 20 turbines and a total installed capacity of 45-50 MW
http://www.statkraft.com/energy-sources/wind-power/wind-power-in-brief/

Offshore Turbine Loading Sources

Butterfield et.al, NREL

Foundation Concepts for Offshore Wind Turbines

(a) Gravity base

(b) Monopile

(c) Suction Caisson

(d) Tetra-pod pile

Byrne (2003)

Need For Reliability Studies

Capacity factor = (average output power)/(rated power)

In selecting a suitable WTG from capacity factor considerations, the use of average output power as a design standard is undesirable Most of the extracted power may correspond to times when there is no need for this power Reliability indices can be used to identify the suitability of turbine types System reliability is violated mostly during peak hours Better reliability indices, therefore indicates more wind energy during peak hours Thus Reliability-based selection of WTG type makes it possible to assess the actual benefit of wind power

Uncertainties In Wind Energy

Wind resource uncertainty

Wind speed measurement uncertainty Long-term resource estimation uncertainty

Wind resource variability uncertainty

Site assessment uncertainty

Wind turbine power production uncertainty

Wind Turbine Specimen Variation

Wind Turbine Power Curve Uncertainty Air Density Uncertainty

References
S. Butterfield et.al, (2005), Engineering Challenges for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines, Offshore Wind Conference, Copenhagen. C.A Walford, (2006), Wind Turbine Reliability: Understanding and Minimizing Wind Turbine Operation and Maintenance Costs, Sandia Labs, Report for the U.S Dept of Energy IEC61400-3 (2005) Wind turbines, Part 3: Design requirements for Offshore wind Turbines, International Electrotechnical Commission, published as Committee draft 2006

M.A Lackner, A.L Rogers and J.F Manwell, Uncertainty Analysis in Wind Resource Assessment and Wind Energy Production Estimation, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics