Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The probabilities here do not sum to 1. There is a probability of 0.0628 that the wind speed will
be between 20 and 26 m/s and 0.0250 that the wind will exceed 27 m/s (use 30 m/s as an
average value for wind speeds in this probability range above 27 m/s).
(a) How many hours of the year does the wind blow from the four compass points (directions)
south through west?
(b) What is the average wind speed (m/s) at this site?
(c) What is the wind speed for the average incident power at this site?
(d) Define the power coefficient, cP, for a wind turbine. How does this differ from capacity
factor?
2. Use the wind data from Cairngorm Scotland (see table from European Wind Atlas next page)
to answer the following questions:
(a) How many hours during the year does the wind blow from the West at this location?
(b) How many hours during the year does the wind blow from the West at 8 m/s?
(c) How many hours during the year does the wind blow at 8 m/s from all directions in total?
(d) What is the average wind velocity? (for the >17 value, assume 50 at 18 m/s, 40 at 19m/s, and
20 at 20 m/s). [Side note: does this distribution seem realistic?]
(e) The average power output occurs at what wind velocity?
(f) How much energy is available in the wind at this location per unit of cross-sectional area per
year? Assume an air density of 1.2 kg/m3.
James S. Wallace
Page 1 of 12
11
13
15
17 >17
3.2
63
55
10
1.91
5.4
30
2.4
42
53
13
1.49
5.3
60
2.8
103 34
66
70
47
11
90
3.8
63
29
69
91
88
88 105 82
50 107 110 49
25
20 1.46 6.5
45 1.62 8.3
120
6.6
36
12
40
70
65
64
91
87
64 151 126 80
49
150
10.3
26
24
48
48
62
83
87
73 159 143 94
69
180
10.3
28
30
60
56
48
60
74
210
10.3
31
14
35
53
51
45
59
62
240
14.6
23
16
34
54
47
44
59
57
270
20.2
16
14
34
57
56
52
67
73
300
10.6
31
21
54
92
83
86
79
76
68 144 85
330
4.9
61
22
Total 100
36
17
44
75
68
63
76
75
66 2.04 10.4
74 2.24 11.2
91 2.31 11.6
54 113 121 109 79 177 2.15 12.8
91
45
60
41
21
11
58 125 110 83
79 1.68 9.6
8 1.87
7
3. Toronto Hydro has proposed building a field of off-shore turbines in Lake Ontario in the general
vicinity of the Scarborough Bluffs. Your task is to evaluate the power potential production at a site
some distance off-shore from the Scarborough Bluffs, certainly out of visual sight. Annual wind
data at 80 m height for latitude 43.687 N and longitude 78.996 W is shown below.
The histogram data is also provided in Table 1 attached at the end for your convenience.
(a) What fraction of the time does the wind from any of the five compass points in the east (0 to
180 degrees, not including the two endpoints, 0 degrees and 180 degrees)?
James S. Wallace
Page 2 of 12
Consider the use of Vestas V82-1.65 MW wind turbines at this off-shore site. The table below
provides specifications of this particular wind turbine. The figure to the right shows how the power
output varies with wind speed.
V82-1.65 Wind Turbine Specifications
Rated Capacity
1,650 kW
3.5 m/s
13 m/s
20 m/s
Rotor diameter
82 m
80 m
V82-1.65 Power Output vs. Wind Speed
A tabulated version of the power output data is included on the last page as Table 2. With this
data and your knowledge of wind turbines,
(b) Estimate the annual energy output of the V82-1.65 MW wind turbine at this site
(c) What is the [annual] capacity factor?
(d) The figure right shows how the power
coefficient cP of the V82-1.65 MW wind
turbine varies with wind speed. Why
isnt the power coefficient maximum at
the rated wind speed? If the turbine
speed is 14.4 rpm at a wind speed of 13
m/s, what is the tip speed ratio at this
condition?
discussion.
James S. Wallace
Page 3 of 12
4. Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) may be more suitable for built-up urban
areas because they respond to wind from
any direction and are less sensitive to
turbulence in the wind than horizontal axis
wind turbines (HAWT). The Savonius wind
turbine is a type of VAWT that captures the
winds energy by decelerating and
redirecting the wind, but it doesnt have any
airfoil shape that generates lift. The drawing
below illustrates the operating principle of the
Savonius wind turbine [Wikipedia commons].
James S. Wallace
Page 4 of 12
[http://www.helixwind.com/en/]
In the legend, k is the Weibull distribution shape factor. Constant (the lowest curve on the
graph) refers to the case where the wind speed remains constant throughout the year (no
fluctuations at all; f(V) = 1). Data from the two marked curves is reproduced in the table below
for your convenience.
Annual Production Data From Graph Above (for 2 curves Constant and k=2)
Wind
speed
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Constan
t
103.
3
330.
6
805.
8
1,34
3
2,25
2
3,25
4
4,77
3
5,61
0
6,25
0
6,84
9
7,41
7
8,00
6
k=2
309
9
702.
5
805.
8
2,01
4
2,76
9
3,59
5
4,33
9
5,19
6
5,60
9
6,64
3
7,40
7
8,23
3
8,67
8
(a) Calculate Cp, the coefficient of performance of this wind turbine at 11 m/s wind speed.
(b) What is this wind turbines capacity factor for an average annual wind speed of 8 m/s and
k=2?
(c) For shape factor k=2, what is the Weibull scale factor A for 8 m/s average annual wind speed?
(d) For a Weibull shape factor k=2 and the value of A computed in (d), what is the probability that
the wind speed will be 15 m/s?
(e) Why do the kconstant curves show output below the cut-in wind speed (the circled area at
bottom left)? Explain (Use the cumulative Weibull distribution).
(f) The S322 has a list price of $US 10,500 and has a five-year limited warranty. Assume that
the City of Toronto has a mean wind speed of 5 m/s with a Weibull shape factor k=2. Could
you produce power at a cost less than the $0.11/kWh feed-in-tariff offered by the Ontario
Power Authority for wind power?
5. The Toronto for-profit Cooperative WindShare was an early adapter of wind energy, investing
in the wind turbine now on the Toronto waterfront in December 2002. The Lagerwey LW52 wind
James S. Wallace
Page 5 of 12
turbine installed on the site is unusual in that it is direct drive (see picture); there is no gearbox,
so the generator runs at the same speed as the rotor.
Lagerwey LW52 specifications
Rated power
750 kW
12 m/s
2.5 m/s
25 m/s
Rotor diameter
51.5 m
65.5 m
27 rpm
During 2009 and 2010, the wind turbine had 94% availability and produced 1 million kWh
of electricity each of those years. The total cost of the project including project development and
installation was $1.8 million. The interest rate of 7.2% for a five year mortgage in 2002 can be
taken as representative of the project financing costs. Inflation as measured by the consumer
price index (CPI) was 2.2% for 2002. Assume that the annual cost of maintenance is 2.5% of
capital cost.
(a) What is the capacity factor experienced in both 2009/2010?
(b) Calculate the cost of energy ($/kWh) produced assuming a 15 year lifetime.
In 2011, the rotor bearings failed in mid-March and had to be replaced, a major repair that
involved removing the rotor with a crane. The repair cost $200,000 and was completed on May
1, 2011. In 2012, the unit was off-line from August 17th until December 12th due to a failed
[electrical] inverter and the difficulty of finding replacement parts for a 10 year old product whose
manufacturer (Lagerwey) no longer exists (bankrupt). The cost of this repair is unknown at this
time, but assumed to be $50,000 for the purpose of this calculation. Taking the downtime into
account, estimates of energy produced are 901,400 kWh in 2011 and 679,500 kWh in 2012.
(c) Allocating an equal share of the $250,000 repair cost to each year of the 15 year lifetime as
an additional maintenance cost, calculate the cost of energy ($/kWh) produced in 2011 and
2012.
(d) Compare the cost of this installation ($/kW of installed power) with other wind turbine
installations. Discuss the economic viability of this installation and the factors that have the
greatest influence.
6. La Coruna is a town on the northwest coast of Spain, exposed to wind from the Atlantic
Ocean (A in the figure below from Google Maps). You are to evaluate
the potential of installing a 1.5 MW Acciona
AW 82/1500 wind turbine at this location.
James S. Wallace
1,500 kW
Page 6 of 12
3 m/s
13 m/s
25 m/s
Rotor diameter
Rotor hub height
Nominal rotation speed
82 m
80 m
16.7 rpm
A table on the last page provides tabulated probability values as well as power output data for the
AW 82/1500 wind turbine as a function of wind speed.
(a) Estimate the annual energy output of the AW 82/1500 wind turbine at this site for air density
of 1.2 kg/m3 (use wind speeds only up to 20m/s).
(b) What is the [annual] capacity factor (use wind speeds only up to 20m/s)?
(c) At the most probable wind speed of 5 m/s, calculate the power coefficient and tip speed ratio
for the AW 82/1500 wind turbine.
(d) At the rated wind speed of 13 m/s, calculate the coefficient of performance and tip speed ratio
for the AW 82/1500 wind turbine.
(e) Why is the coefficient of performance higher for the lower wind speed?
(f) The figure below shows the fraction of time the wind at La Coruna blows from different
directions (0 degrees = due North). Numerical values for each direction are contained in a
table on the last page of the exam.
James S. Wallace
Page 7 of 12
(g) Referring to the map and using the wind direction data, what fraction of the time is the wind
at La Coruna blowing onto land from water?
James S. Wallace
Page 8 of 12
Direction Probability
0.050964
30
0.026825
60
0.033386
90
0.052155
120
0.043427
150
0.042877
180
0.059937
210
0.098816
240
0.1828
270
0.154236
300
0.148315
330
0.101959
(e) The wind speed histogram below left provides annual wind speed information for a boring
small town in the middle of nowhere at 50 m height. The same histogram values are
provided in the table right below for your convenience. How many hours per year is the
wind speed at this location is within the range 8-9 m/s?
Histogram data
James S. Wallace
Probability
1.19904e-12
0.0270691
0.105896
0.153564
0.158508
0.158173
0.116028
0.0862427
0.0589294
0.0531921
0.0329895
0.0231628
0.0123901
0.00668335
0.00231934
0.00161743
0.000244141
0
0
0
0
Page 9 of 12
(f) An 850 kW wind turbine is being considered for installation at the site of part (e). Specifications are
provided in the table below left and power output for the mid-point wind speed of each wind
speed bin is shown in the table below right. Calculate the sites annual energy production (MWh).
Wind Turbine Specifications
Wind turbine data
Rated capacity
850 kW
2.5 m/s
13 m/s
25 m/s
Rotor diameter
Air density
Wind speed
(m/s)
0
0.5
1.5
2.5
3.5
4.5
5.5
6.5
7.5
8.5
9.5
10.5
11.5
12.5
13.5
14.5
15.5
16.5
17.5
18.5
19.5
52 m
1.2 kg/m3
Power
(kW)
0
0
0
70
130
200
286
357
457
571
686
757
806
829
850
850
850
850
850
850
850
(g) A single 850 kW wind turbine located at a rural site produces 2,217 MWh during a year of
operation. An additional 8 wind turbines of the same type are to be installed to create a wind
farm. If the nine wind durbines are arranged in 3 rows with spacing of 5 rotor diameters
between rows and 3 rotor diameters between wind turbines in the same row, calculate the
annual energy output for the wind farm.
James S. Wallace
Page 10 of 12
26
0
Table 2
Probability
0
0.0151978
0.0377502
0.066803
0.0822144
0.0985107
0.10141
0.0877991
0.0897827
0.0975647
0.0786438
0.0536804
0.045166
0.0437317
0.0279541
0.0188293
0.0160522
0.0109558
0.00982666
0.00524902
0.00332642
0.00238037
0.00143433
0.000457764
3.05176e-05
0
Wind speed
(m/s)
3.5
4.5
5.5
6.5
7.5
8.5
9.5
10.5
11.5
12.5
13.5
14.5
15.5
16.5
17.5
18.5
19.5
20.5
21.5
22.5
23.5
24.5
James S. Wallace
Power output
(kW)
0
129
276
483
785
1086
1328
1483
1561
1621
1650
1650
1650
1650
1650
1650
1650
0
0
0
0
0
Page 11 of 12
Probability
0
0.040166
0.069797
0.091019
0.103635
0.108097
0.105558
0.097647
0.086187
0.072929
0.059358
0.046584
0.035317
0.025902
0.0184
0.012672
0.008467
0.005493
0.003462
0.002121
0.001263
Wind direction data
Page 12 of 12