A Response Surface-Based Cost Model for Wind Farm Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Jie; Chowdhury, Souma; Messac, Achille; Castillo, Luciano

2012-01-01

A Response Surface-Based Wind Farm Cost (RS-WFC) model is developed for the engineering planning of wind farms. The RS-WFC model is developed using Extended Radial Basis Functions (E-RBF) for onshore wind farms in the U.S. This model is then used to explore the influences of different design and economic parameters, including number of turbines, rotor diameter and labor cost, on the cost of a wind farm. The RS-WFC model is composed of three components that estimate the effects of engineering and economic factors on (i) the installation cost, (ii) the annual Operation and Maintenance (O and M) cost, and (iii) the total annual cost of a wind farm. The accuracy of the cost model is favorably established through comparison with pertinent commercial data. The final RS-WFC model provided interesting insights into cost variation with respect to critical engineering and economic parameters. In addition, a newly developed analytical wind farm engineering model is used to determine the power generated by the farm, and the subsequent Cost of Energy (COE). This COE is optimized for a unidirectional uniform “incoming wind speed” scenario using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). We found that the COE could be appreciably minimized through layout optimization, thereby yielding significant cost savings. - Highlights: ► We present a Response Surface-Based Wind Farm Cost (RS-WFC) model for wind farm design. ► The model could estimate installation cost, Operation and Maintenance cost, and total annual cost of a wind farm. ► The Cost of Energy is optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization. ► Layout optimization could yield significant cost savings.

Cost of wind energy: comparing distant wind resources to local resources in the midwestern United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppock, David C; Patiño-Echeverri, Dalia

2010-11-15

The best wind sites in the United States are often located far from electricity demand centers and lack transmission access. Local sites that have lower quality wind resources but do not require as much power transmission capacity are an alternative to distant wind resources. In this paper, we explore the trade-offs between developing new wind generation at local sites and installing wind farms at remote sites. We first examine the general relationship between the high capital costs required for local wind development and the relatively lower capital costs required to install a wind farm capable of generating the same electrical output at a remote site,with the results representing the maximum amount an investor should be willing to pay for transmission access. We suggest that this analysis can be used as a first step in comparing potential wind resources to meet a state renewable portfolio standard (RPS). To illustrate, we compare the cost of local wind (∼50 km from the load) to the cost of distant wind requiring new transmission (∼550-750 km from the load) to meet the Illinois RPS. We find that local, lower capacity factor wind sites are the lowest cost option for meeting the Illinois RPS if new long distance transmission is required to access distant, higher capacity factor wind resources. If higher capacity wind sites can be connected to the existing grid at minimal cost, in many cases they will have lower costs.

2011 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, S.; Lantz, E.; Hand, M.; Maples, B.; Smith, A.; Schwabe, P.

2013-03-01

This report describes the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for a typical land-based wind turbine installed in the United States in 2011, as well as the modeled LCOE for a fixed-bottom offshore wind turbine installed in the United States in 2011. Each of the four major components of the LCOE equation are explained in detail, such as installed capital cost, annual energy production, annual operating expenses, and financing, and including sensitivity ranges that show how each component can affect LCOE. These LCOE calculations are used for planning and other purposes by the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program.

Life cycle cost analysis of wind power considering stochastic uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Chiao-Ting; Peng, Huei; Sun, Jing

2014-01-01

This paper presents a long-term cost analysis of wind power and compares its competitiveness to non-renewable generating technologies. The analysis considers several important attributes related to wind intermittency that are sometimes ignored in traditional generation planning or LCOE (levelized cost of energy) studies, including the need for more nameplate capacity due to intermittency, hourly fluctuations in wind outputs and cost for reserves. The competitiveness of wind power is assessed by evaluating four scenarios: 1) adding natural gas generating capacity to the power grid; 2) adding coal generating capacity to the power grid; 3) adding wind capacity to the power grid; and, 4) adding wind capacity and energy storage to the power grid where an energy storage device is used to cover wind intermittency. A case study in the state of Michigan is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed methodology, in which a time horizon from 2010 to 2040 is considered. The results show that wind energy will still be more expensive than natural gas power plants in the next three decades, but will be cheaper than coal capacities if wind intermittency is mitigated. Furthermore, if the costs of carbon emissions and environmental externalities are considered, wind generation will be a competitive option for grid capacity expansion. - Highlights: • The competitiveness of wind power is analyzed via life cycle cost analysis. • Wind intermittency and reserve costs are explicitly considered in the analysis. • Results show that wind is still more expensive than natural gas power plants. • Wind can be cheaper than coal capacities if wind intermittency is mitigated. • Wind will be competitive if costs of carbon emissions are considered

Wind farm balance of plant costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craig, L.; Liebmann, C.

1992-01-01

The study consisted of a detailed investigation of the infrastructure required for the construction and operation of a windfarm in the UK. Costing of the equipment and installation was carried out for three UK sites, with different physical characteristics. A literature survey was carried out to determine current practice in the siting of turbines within windfarms in Europe and the USA. Wind turbines were then laid out on the sites selected for study. Requirements and costs for roads, foundations and site buildings, site electrical system and grid connection, the supervisory control and data acquisition system were discussed and evaluated. A comparison between the balance of plant costs for the 33-metre MS-3 400 kW wind turbine and the 50-metre LS-2 1 MW wind turbine was made for each area of study. Overall balance of plant costs was reviewed, with an investigation of the cost components which are most sensitive to variations. The balance of plant costs averaged over the three sites were 13.0 p/kWh/annum for the MS3 windfarms and 10.6 p/kWh/annum for the LS-2 windfarms. Maps of the sites under investigation, design drawings and tables of costs are included to give supporting information to the text. (author)

Wind power costs expected to decrease due to technological progress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, Eric; Hittinger, Eric; Carvalho, Rexon; Williams, Ryan

2017-01-01

The potential for future cost reductions in wind power affects adoption and support policies. Prior analyses of cost reductions give inconsistent results. The learning rate, or fractional cost reduction per doubling of production, ranges from −3% to +33% depending on the study. This lack of consensus has, we believe, contributed to high variability in forecasts of future costs of wind power. We find that learning rate can be very sensitive to the starting and ending years of datasets and the geographical scope of the study. Based on a single factor experience curve that accounts for capacity factor gains, wind quality decline, and exogenous shifts in capital costs, we develop an improved model with reduced temporal variability. Using a global adoption model, the wind-learning rate is between 7.7% and 11%, with a preferred estimate of 9.8%. Using global scenarios for future wind deployment, this learning rate range implies that the cost of wind power will decline from 5.5 cents/kWh in 2015 to 4.1–4.5 cents/kWh in 2030, lower than a number of other forecasts. If attained, wind power may be the cheapest form of new electricity generation by 2030, suggesting that support and investment in wind should be maintained or expanded. - Highlights: • Expectations for cost reductions in wind power is important for policy. • Wind learning rates are sensitive to data time period and regional choice. • We develop improved wind cost model with much reduced variability. • New model gives global wind learning rates between 7.7%-11%.

Experimental study of separator effect and shift angle on crossflow wind turbine performance

Science.gov (United States)

Fahrudin, Tjahjana, Dominicus Danardono Dwi Prija; Santoso, Budi

2018-02-01

This paper present experimental test results of separator and shift angle influence on Crossflow vertical axis wind turbine. Modification by using a separator and shift angle is expected to improve the thrust on the blade so as to improve the efficiency. The design of the wind turbine is tested at different wind speeds. There are 2 variations of crossflow turbine design which will be analyzed using an experimental test scheme that is, 3 stage crossflow and 2 stage crossflow with the shift angle. Maximum power coefficient obtained as Cpmax = 0.13 at wind speed 4.05 m/s for 1 separator and Cpmax = 0.12 for 12° shear angle of wind speed 4.05 m/s. In this study, power characteristics of the crossflow rotor with separator and shift angle have been tested. The experimental data was collected by variation of 2 separator and shift angle 0°, 6°, 12° and wind speed 3.01 - 4.85 m/s.

2015 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moné, Christopher [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hand, Maureen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bolinger, Mark [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Rand, Joseph [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Heimiller, Donna [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ho, Jonathan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-06-27

This report uses representative utility-scale projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for land-based and offshore wind plants in the United States. Data and results detailed here are derived from 2015 commissioned plants. More specifically, analysis detailed here relies on recent market data and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind energy cost trends and drivers. It is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs as well as a basis for understanding variability in LCOE across the industry. This publication reflects the fifth installment of this annual report.

Costs of the grid connection of wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siden, G [Halmstad Univ. (Sweden)

1996-12-31

The costs of the grid connection of wind turbines in Sweden have until now been about 5 % of the total investments, provided that the distance of the connection cable is limited. Now the grid will soon be filled locally and it will be necessary to strengthen it. The costs for this can also be about 5 %, and the total cost about 10 %. Improvements in the electrical systems of the wind turbines and the connection technique can give less disturbance in the grid and diminish the costs. It is important to agree on how to share the costs for strengthening the grid. Otherwise, it can become an obstacle when building new wind turbines. (author)

Costs of the grid connection of wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siden, G.

1995-01-01

The costs of the grid connection of wind turbines in Sweden have until now been about 5 % of the total investments, provided that the distance of the connection cable is limited. Now the grid will soon be filled locally and it will be necessary to strengthen it. The costs for this can also be about 5 %, and the total cost about 10 %. Improvements in the electrical systems of the wind turbines and the connection technique can give less disturbance in the grid and diminish the costs. It is important to agree on how to share the costs for strengthening the grid. Otherwise, it can become an obstacle when building new wind turbines. (author)

Costs of the grid connection of wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siden, G. [Halmstad Univ. (Sweden)

1995-12-31

The costs of the grid connection of wind turbines in Sweden have until now been about 5 % of the total investments, provided that the distance of the connection cable is limited. Now the grid will soon be filled locally and it will be necessary to strengthen it. The costs for this can also be about 5 %, and the total cost about 10 %. Improvements in the electrical systems of the wind turbines and the connection technique can give less disturbance in the grid and diminish the costs. It is important to agree on how to share the costs for strengthening the grid. Otherwise, it can become an obstacle when building new wind turbines. (author)

IEA Wind Task 26 - Multi-national Case Study of the Financial Cost of Wind Energy; Work Package 1 Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schwabe, P.; Lensink, S.; Hand, M.

2011-03-01

The lifetime cost of wind energy is comprised of a number of components including the investment cost, operation and maintenance costs, financing costs, and annual energy production. Accurate representation of these cost streams is critical in estimating a wind plant's cost of energy. Some of these cost streams will vary over the life of a given project. From the outset of project development, investors in wind energy have relatively certain knowledge of the plant's lifetime cost of wind energy. This is because a wind energy project's installed costs and mean wind speed are known early on, and wind generation generally has low variable operation and maintenance costs, zero fuel cost, and no carbon emissions cost. Despite these inherent characteristics, there are wide variations in the cost of wind energy internationally, which is the focus of this report. Using a multinational case-study approach, this work seeks to understand the sources of wind energy cost differences among seven countries under International Energy Agency (IEA) Wind Task 26 - Cost of Wind Energy. The participating countries in this study include Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Due to data availability, onshore wind energy is the primary focus of this study, though a small sample of reported offshore cost data is also included.

2016 Cost of Wind Energy Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stehly, Tyler J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heimiller, Donna M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Scott, George N. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-12-29

This report uses representative utility-scale projects to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for land-based and offshore wind power plants in the United States. Data and results detailed here are derived from 2016 commissioned plants. More specifically, analysis detailed here relies on recent market data and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to maintain an up-to-date understanding of wind energy cost trends and drivers. This report is intended to provide insight into current component-level costs as well as a basis for understanding variability in LCOE across the country. This publication represents the sixth installment of this annual report.

The costs of wind power. Socio-economic costs of expansion of wind power; Vindkraftens pris. Samfundsoekonomiske omkostninger ved udbygning af vindkraft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Busk, R.; Larsen, Anderse; Skovsgaard Nielsen, L.; Nielsen, Uffe; Pade, L.L.; Mulvad Jeppesen, L. [Inst. for Miljoevurdering (Denmark); Munksgaard, J. [Amternes of Kommunernes Forskningsinst. (Denmark)

2007-08-28

This report was prepared in order to inform the basis for making energy policy decisions, particularly in with respect to Denmark's goals for renewable energy and wind power. The report estimates the socio-economic costs of expanding Danish wind power to a share of 30, 40 and 50%, respectively, of the electricity consumption by 2025. The report also analyses barriers to and instruments for the expansion of Danish wind power. The main analysis is a socio-economic cost analysis which includes, among other factors, costs of investments, infrastructure and tax distortion losses. (au)

A preliminary benefit-cost study of a Sandia wind farm.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ehlen, Mark Andrew; Griffin, Taylor; Loose, Verne W.

2011-03-01

In response to federal mandates and incentives for renewable energy, Sandia National Laboratories conducted a feasibility study of installing an on-site wind farm on Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base property. This report describes this preliminary analysis of the costs and benefits of installing and operating a 15-turbine, 30-MW-capacity wind farm that delivers an estimated 16 percent of 2010 onsite demand. The report first describes market and non-market economic costs and benefits associated with operating a wind farm, and then uses a standard life-cycle costing and benefit-cost framework to estimate the costs and benefits of a wind farm. Based on these 'best-estimates' of costs and benefits and on factor, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, the analysis results suggest that the benefits of a Sandia wind farm are greater than its costs. The analysis techniques used herein are applicable to the economic assessment of most if not all forms of renewable energy.

Wind resource assessment and wind energy system cost analysis: Fort Huachuca, Arizona

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olsen, T.L. [Tim Olsen Consulting, Denver, CO (United States); McKenna, E. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

1997-12-01

The objective of this joint DOE and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) project is to determine whether wind turbines can reduce costs by providing power to US military facilities in high wind areas. In support of this objective, one year of data on the wind resources at several Fort Huachuca sites was collected. The wind resource data were analyzed and used as input to an economic study for a wind energy installation at Fort Huachuca. The results of this wind energy feasibility study are presented in the report.

Estimation of cost and value of energy from wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tande, J.O.; Fransden, S.

1995-01-01

The International Energy Agency expert group on recommended practices for wind turbine testing and evaluation is finalizing a second edition of the E stimation of cost of energy from wind energy conversion systems . This paper summarizes those recommendations. Further, the value of wind energy in terms of the associated savings is discussed, and a case study is undertaken to illustrate wind energy cost/benefit analyses. The paper concludes that while the recommended practices on cost estimation may be useful in connection with wind energy feasibility studies there is still a need for further international agreement upon guidelines on how to assess wind energy benefits. (author)

Offshore wind investments – Realism about cost developments is necessary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schwanitz, Valeria Jana; Wierling, August

2016-01-01

Data available from the recent boom in European offshore wind investments contradict widely held expectations about a decline in costs per kW. Our review shows that scenario projections for investment costs are systematically flawed by over-optimistic assumptions. Contrasting offshore wind technology with onshore wind and nuclear power, we argue that offshore wind could be a candidate for negative learning since a trend towards more complex OWP (offshore wind parks) exists and uncertainty remains high. We estimate technical uncertainty and input cost uncertainty to calculate whether investments in offshore wind technology are profitable today. Applying a real option model to two reference plants using empirically derived parameter values, we allow for sunk cost and the possibility to abandon the investment. We find that for a large parameter range, investments are not profitable, even with substantial support such as feed-in tariffs under the German Energy Act. Therefore, policy incentives for building larger and more complex offshore wind parks bear a high risk to fail in their aim of bringing down investment costs. Policies that instead incentivize the optimization of offshore wind technology – in particular by increasing the load factor and material efficiency and bringing down decommissioning costs – are more sustainable. - Highlights: • We review offshore wind power investments. • Contrary to expectations costs increase. • It is unlikely to see a turn in the near future as complexity is growing. • We deploy an empirically based real option model. • Investments are not profitable across a large parameter range.

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markandya, A [Harvard Inst. for International Development, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1996-12-31

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markandya, A. [Harvard Inst. for International Development, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1995-12-31

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

The avoided external costs of using wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markandya, A.

1995-01-01

This article discusses the external costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil fuel sources, such as coal and nuclear power. It compares the costs of electricity generated with coal with that generated with wind. A measure of the benefits of wind energy is the difference between these two external costs. The methodology used for the estimation of the external costs, as well as the estimates of these costs, are taken from the EC ExternE study, financed by DGXII of the European Commission. The present author was a lead economist for that study. (author)

Wind energy - The facts. Vol. 2: Costs and prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morthorst, P.E.

2004-01-01

From a European, as well as a global perspective, wind power is undergoing rapid development. Within the past 10 years the global installed capacity of wind power has increased from approximately 2.5 GW in 1992 to a little below 40 GW at the end of 2003, with an annual growth rate of around 30%. However, only at few sites with high wind speeds can wind power compete economically with conventional power production at present. This section focuses on the cost structures of a wind power plant, including the lifetime of the turbine and operation and maintenance costs. Finally, it analyses how the costs of wind power have developed in previous years and how they are expected to develop in the near future. Wind power is used in a number of different applications, including both grid connected and stand-alone electricity production, as well as water pumping. This section analyses the economics of wind energy primarily in relation to grid connected turbines which account for the vast bulk of the market value of installed turbines. (au)

Listen, wind energy costs nothing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poizat, F.

2008-09-01

The author discusses the affirmation of the ADEME and the Environmental and sustainable development Ministry: the french wind park will costs in 2008 0,5 euro year for each household. He criticizes strongly this calculi, bringing many data on energy real cost today and in the next 10 years. Many references are provided. (A.L.B.)

Total cost estimates for large-scale wind scenarios in UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dale, Lewis; Milborrow, David; Slark, Richard; Strbac, Goran

2004-01-01

The recent UK Energy White Paper suggested that the Government should aim to secure 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. A number of estimates of the extra cost of such a commitment have been made, but these have not necessarily included all the relevant cost components. This analysis sets out to identify these and to calculate the extra cost to the electricity consumer, assuming all the renewable electricity is sourced from wind energy. This enables one of the more controversial issues--the implications of wind intermittency--to be addressed. The basis of the assumptions associated with generating costs, extra balancing costs and distribution and transmission system reinforcement costs are all clearly identified and the total costs of a '20% wind' scenario are compared with a scenario where a similar amount of energy is generated by gas-fired plant. This enables the extra costs of the renewables scenario to be determined. The central estimate of the extra costs to electricity consumers is just over 0.3 p/kW h in current prices (around 5% extra on average domestic unit prices). Sensitivity analyses examine the implications of differing assumptions. The extra cost would rise if the capital costs of wind generation fall slower than anticipated, but would fall if gas prices rise more rapidly than has been assumed, or if wind plant are more productive. Even if it is assumed that wind has no capacity displacement value, the added cost to the electricity consumer rises by less than 0.1 p/kW h. It is concluded that there does not appear to be any technical reason why a substantial proportion of the country's electricity requirements could not be delivered by wind

Separated Flow over Wind Turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, David; Lewalle, Jacques

2015-11-01

The motion of the separation point on an airfoil under unsteady flow can affect its performance and longevity. Of interest is to understand and control the performance decrease in wind turbines subject to turbulent flow. We examine flow separation on an airfoil at a 19 degree angle of attack under unsteady flow conditions. We are using a DU-96-W180 airfoil of chord length 242 mm. The unsteadiness is generated by a cylinder with diameter 203 mm located 7 diameters upstream of the airfoil's leading edge. The data comes from twenty surface pressure sensors located on the top and bottom of the airfoil as well as on the upstream cylinder. Methods of analysis include Mexican hat transforms, Morlet wavelet transforms, power spectra, and various cross correlations. With this study I will explore how the differences of signals on the pressure and suction sides of an airfoil are related to the motion of the separation point.

Operational costs induced by fluctuating wind power production in Germany and Scandinavia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meibom, P. [Risoe National Lab., DTU, System Analysis Dept., Roskilde (Denmark); Weber, C. [Univ. Duisburg-Essen, Chai og Energy Management (Germany); Barth, R.; Brand, H. [Univ. of Stuttgart, Inst. of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy (Germany)

2007-05-15

Adding wind power generation in a power system changes the operational patterns of the existing units due to the variability and unpredictability of wind power production. For large amounts of wind power production the expectation is that the operational costs of the other power plants will increase due to more operation time in part-load and more start-ups. The change in operational costs induced by the wind power production can only be calculated by comparing the operational costs in two power system configurations: with wind power production and with alternative production having properties like conventional production, i.e. being predictable and less variable. The choice of the characteristics of the alternative production is not straight forward and will therefore influence the operational costs induced by wind power production. This paper presents a method for calculating the change in operational costs due to wind power production using a stochastic optimization model covering the power systems in Germany and the Nordic countries. Two cases of alternative production are used to calculate the change in operational costs namely perfectly predictable wind power production enabling calculation of the costs connected to unpredictability, and constant wind power production enabling calculation of the operational costs connected to variability of wind power production. A 2010 case with three different wind power production penetration levels is analysed in the paper. (au)

Distributed Wind Cost Reduction: Learning from Solar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, Suzanne

2016-02-23

The distributed wind energy industry can learn several lessons from the solar industry regarding reducing soft costs. Suzanne Tegen presented this overview at the 2016 Distributed Wind Energy Association Business Conference in Washington, D.C., on February 23, 2016.

Site specific optimization of wind turbines energy cost: Iterative approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rezaei Mirghaed, Mohammad; Roshandel, Ramin

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Optimization model of wind turbine parameters plus rectangular farm layout is developed. • Results show that levelized cost for single turbine fluctuates between 46.6 and 54.5 $/MW h. • Modeling results for two specific farms reported optimal sizing and farm layout. • Results show that levelized cost of the wind farms fluctuates between 45.8 and 67.2 $/MW h. - Abstract: The present study was aimed at developing a model to optimize the sizing parameters and farm layout of wind turbines according to the wind resource and economic aspects. The proposed model, including aerodynamic, economic and optimization sub-models, is used to achieve minimum levelized cost of electricity. The blade element momentum theory is utilized for aerodynamic modeling of pitch-regulated horizontal axis wind turbines. Also, a comprehensive cost model including capital costs of all turbine components is considered. An iterative approach is used to develop the optimization model. The modeling results are presented for three potential regions in Iran: Khaf, Ahar and Manjil. The optimum configurations and sizing for a single turbine with minimum levelized cost of electricity are presented. The optimal cost of energy for one turbine is calculated about 46.7, 54.5 and 46.6 dollars per MW h in the studied sites, respectively. In addition, optimal size of turbines, annual electricity production, capital cost, and wind farm layout for two different rectangular and square shaped farms in the proposed areas have been recognized. According to the results, optimal system configuration corresponds to minimum levelized cost of electricity about 45.8 to 67.2 dollars per MW h in the studied wind farms

Operational costs induced by fluctuating wind power production in Germany and Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meibom, Peter; Weber, C.; Barth, R.

2009-01-01

Adding wind power generation in a power system changes the operational patterns of the existing units due to the variability and partial predictability of wind power production. For large amounts of wind power production, the expectation is that the specific operational costs (fuel costs, start......-up costs, variable operation and maintenance costs, costs of consuming CO2 emission permits) of the other power plants will increase due to more operation time in part-load and more start-ups. The change in operational costs induced by the wind power production can only be calculated by comparing...... the operational costs in two power system configurations: with wind power production and with alternative wind production having properties such as conventional production, that is, being predictable and less variable. The choice of the characteristics of the alternative production is not straightforward...

Wind power: cost effective generation for the 1990s

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pedersen, T [Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Denmark)

1989-01-01

Wind power plants have been installed all over the world, notably in California and Denmark. Commercially available wind turbines today are rated from 50 KW to 1 MW with emphasis on the 1 MW range. As the fuel is ''free'' generating costs are identical to the capital, operation and maintenance costs of the plant. An estimate of the unit price of wind power generated electricity in Denmark is comparable to that generated by a coal fired plant. The main environmental impacts of a wind farm are considered. These are visual impact, noise emission, use of (agricultural) space and the impact on wildlife, mainly birds. Finally the installation of a wind farm and its connection to the grid are described. (3 figures, 1 table). (UK)

Offshore wind energy storage concept for cost-of-rated-power savings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Chao; Saunders, Gordon; Loth, Eric

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Investigated CAES + HPT system concept for offshore wind energy; •Validated cost model for offshore wind farm including CAPEX and OPEX items; •Quantified cost-of-rated-power savings associated with CAES + HPT concept; •Estimated savings of 21.6% with CAES + HPT for a sample $2.92 billion project. -- Abstract: The size and number of off-shore wind turbines over the next decade is expected to rapidly increase due to the high wind energy potential and the ability of such farms to provide utility-scale energy. In this future, inexpensive and efficient on-site wind energy storage can be critical to address short-time (hourly) mismatches between wind supply and energy demand. This study investigates a compressed air energy storage (CAES) and hydraulic power transmission (HPT) system concept. To assess cost impact, the NREL Cost and Scaling Model was modified to improve accuracy and robustness for offshore wind farms with large turbines. Special attention was paid to the support structure, installation, electrical interface and connections, land leasing, and operations and maintenance cost items as well as specific increased/reduced costs reductions associated with CAES + HPT systems. This cost model was validated and applied to a sample $2.92 billion project Virginia Offshore case It was found that adaption of CAES + HPT can lead to a substantial savings of 21.6% of this 20-year lifetime cost by dramatically reducing capital and operating cost of the generator and power transmission components. However, there are several additional variables that can impact the off-shore energy policy and planning for this new CAES + HPT concept. Furthermore, these cost-savings are only first-order estimates based on linear mass-cost relationships, and thus detailed engineering and economic analysis are recommended.

Danish wind power export and cost

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lund, H.; Hvelplund, F.; Alberg OEstergaard, P. (and others)

2010-02-15

In a normal wind year, Danish wind turbines generate the equivalent of approx. 20 percent of the Danish electricity demand. This paper argues that only approx. 1 percent of the wind power production is exported. The rest is used to meet domestic Danish electricity demands. The cost of wind power is paid solely by the electricity consumers and the net influence on consumer prices was as low as 1-3 percent on average in the period 2004-2008. In 2008, the net influence even decreased the average consumer price, although only slightly. In Denmark, 20 percent wind power is integrated by using both local resources and international market mechanisms. This is done in a way which makes it possible for our neighbouring countries to follow a similar path. Moreover, Denmark has a strategy to raise this share to 50 percent and the necessary measures are in the process of being implemented. Recently, a study made by the Danish think tank CEPOS claimed the opposite, i.e. that most of the Danish wind power has been exported in recent years. However, this claim is based on an incorrect interpretation of statistics and a lack of understanding of how the international electricity markets operate. Consequently, the results of the CEPOS study are in general not correct. Moreover, the CEPOS study claims that using wind turbines in Denmark is a very expensive way of reducing CO{sub 2} emissions and that this is the reason for the high energy taxes for private consumers in Denmark. These claims are also misleading. The cost of CO{sub 2} reduction by use of wind power in the period 2004-2008 was only 20 EUR/ton. Furthermore, the Danish wind turbines are not paid for by energy taxes. Danish wind turbines are given a subsidy via the electricity price which is paid by the electricity consumers. In the recent years of 2004-2008, such subsidy has increased consumer prices by 0.54 EURO/kWh on average. On the other hand, however, the same electricity consumers also benefitted from the wind

The environmental costs of wind energy in Spain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linares Llamas, P [CIEMAT-IEE, Madrid (Spain)

1996-12-31

This article summarizes the assessment of the environmental costs of the wind fuel cycle in Spain. It has been carried out within the ExternE project of the European Commission, and so it has been done following a site-, technology-specific methodology. The main impacts identified have been noise, and the loss of visual amenity. As a result some values for the external costs of wind energy have been obtained, which have shown to be much lower than those of conventional fuel cycles. It is also important to note that careful planning would avoid most of these costs. (author)

The environmental costs of wind energy in Spain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Linares Llamas, P. [CIEMAT-IEE, Madrid (Spain)

1995-12-31

This article summarizes the assessment of the environmental costs of the wind fuel cycle in Spain. It has been carried out within the ExternE project of the European Commission, and so it has been done following a site-, technology-specific methodology. The main impacts identified have been noise, and the loss of visual amenity. As a result some values for the external costs of wind energy have been obtained, which have shown to be much lower than those of conventional fuel cycles. It is also important to note that careful planning would avoid most of these costs. (author)

UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej

2015-01-01

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists...... is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics...

Wind power planning: assessing long-term costs and benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, Scott

2005-01-01

In the following paper, a new and straightforward technique for estimating the social benefit of large-scale wind power production is presented. The social benefit is based upon wind power's energy and capacity services and the avoidance of environmental damages. The approach uses probabilistic load duration curves to account for the stochastic interaction between wind power availability, electricity demand, and conventional generator dispatch. The model is applied to potential offshore wind power development to the south of Long Island, NY. If natural gas combined cycle and integrated gasifier combined cycle (IGCC) are the alternative generation sources, wind power exhibits a negative social benefit due to its high capacity cost and the relatively low emissions of these advanced fossil-fuel technologies. Environmental benefits increase significantly if charges for CO 2 emissions are included. Results also reveal a diminishing social benefit as wind power penetration increases. The dependence of wind power benefits on CO 2 charges, and capital costs for wind turbines and IGCC plant is also discussed. The methodology is intended for use by energy planners in assessing the social benefit of future investments in wind power

Low-Cost Superconducting Wire for Wind Generators: High Performance, Low Cost Superconducting Wires and Coils for High Power Wind Generators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2012-01-01

REACT Project: The University of Houston will develop a low-cost, high-current superconducting wire that could be used in high-power wind generators. Superconducting wire currently transports 600 times more electric current than a similarly sized copper wire, but is significantly more expensive. The University of Houston’s innovation is based on engineering nanoscale defects in the superconducting film. This could quadruple the current relative to today’s superconducting wires, supporting the same amount of current using 25% of the material. This would make wind generators lighter, more powerful and more efficient. The design could result in a several-fold reduction in wire costs and enable their commercial viability of high-power wind generators for use in offshore applications.

Evaluation of global onshore wind energy potential and generation costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yuyu; Luckow, Patrick; Smith, Steven J; Clarke, Leon

2012-07-17

In this study, we develop an updated global estimate of onshore wind energy potential using reanalysis wind speed data, along with updated wind turbine technology performance, land suitability factors, cost assumptions, and explicit consideration of transmission distance in the calculation of transmission costs. We find that wind has the potential to supply a significant portion of the world energy needs, although this potential varies substantially by region and with assumptions such as on what types of land can be used to site wind farms. Total global economic wind potential under central assumptions, that is, intermediate between optimistic and pessimistic, is estimated to be approximately 119.5 petawatt hours per year (13.6 TW) at less than 9 cents/kWh. A sensitivity analysis of eight key parameters is presented. Wind potential is sensitive to a number of input parameters, particularly wind speed (varying by -70% to +450% at less than 9 cents/kWh), land suitability (by -55% to +25%), turbine density (by -60% to +80%), and cost and financing options (by -20% to +200%), many of which have important policy implications. As a result of sensitivities studied here we suggest that further research intended to inform wind supply curve development focus not purely on physical science, such as better resolved wind maps, but also on these less well-defined factors, such as land-suitability, that will also have an impact on the long-term role of wind power.

Low cost digital wind speed meter with wind direction using PIC16F877A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sujod, M.Z.; Ismail, M.M. [Malaysia Pahang Univ., Pahang (Malaysia). Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

2008-07-01

Weather measurement tools are necessary to determine the actual weather and forecasting. Wind is one of the weather elements that can be measured using an anemometer which is a device for measuring the velocity or the pressure of the wind. It is one of the instruments used in weather stations. This paper described a circuit design for speed and direction of the meter and created a suitable programming to measure and display the wind speed meter and direction. A microcontroller (PIC16F877A) was employed as the central processing unit for digital wind speed and direction meter. The paper presented and discussed the hardware and software implementation as well as the calibration and results. The paper also discussed cost estimation and future recommendations. It was concluded that the hardware and software implementation were carefully selected after considering the development cost where the cost was much lower than the market prices. 4 refs., 8 figs.

Transmission cost minimization strategies for wind-electric generating facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonzalez, R. [Northern States Power Company, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

1997-12-31

Integrating wind-electric generation facilities into existing power systems presents opportunities not encountered in conventional energy projects. Minimizing outlet cost requires probabilistic value-based analyses appropriately reflecting the wind facility`s operational characteristics. The wind resource`s intermittent nature permits relaxation of deterministic criteria addressing outlet configuration and capacity required relative to facility rating. Equivalent capacity ratings of wind generation facilities being a fraction of installed nameplate rating, outlet design studies contingency analyses can concentrate on this fractional value. Further, given its non-dispatchable, low capacity factor nature, a lower level of redundancy in outlet facilities is appropriate considering the trifling contribution to output unreliability. Further cost reduction opportunities arise from {open_quotes}wind speed/generator power output{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}wind speed/overhead conductor rating{close_quotes} functions` correlation. Proper analysis permits the correlation`s exploitation to safely increase line ratings. Lastly, poor correlation between output and utility load may permit use of smaller conductors, whose higher (mostly off-peak) losses are economically justifiable.

Alternative methods of modeling wind generation using production costing models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milligan, M.R.; Pang, C.K.

1996-08-01

This paper examines the methods of incorporating wind generation in two production costing models: one is a load duration curve (LDC) based model and the other is a chronological-based model. These two models were used to evaluate the impacts of wind generation on two utility systems using actual collected wind data at two locations with high potential for wind generation. The results are sensitive to the selected wind data and the level of benefits of wind generation is sensitive to the load forecast. The total production cost over a year obtained by the chronological approach does not differ significantly from that of the LDC approach, though the chronological commitment of units is more realistic and more accurate. Chronological models provide the capability of answering important questions about wind resources which are difficult or impossible to address with LDC models

Past and Future Cost of Wind Energy: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lantz, E.; Hand, M.; Wiser, R.

2012-08-01

The future of wind power will depend on the ability of the industry to continue to achieve cost reductions. To better understand the potential for cost reductions, this report provides a review of historical costs, evaluates near-term market trends, and summarizes the range of projected costs. It also notes potential sources of future cost reductions.

Imbalance costs in the Swedish system with large amounts of wind power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, Fredrik; Neimane, Viktoria [Vattenfall Research and Development AB, Stockholm (Sweden)

2009-07-01

The well-known concerns about wind power are related to its intermittent nature and difficulty to make exact forecasts. The expected increase in balancing and reserve requirements due to wind power has been investigated in several studies. This paper takes the next step in studying integration of large amounts of wind power in Sweden. Several wind power producers' and corresponding balance providers' perspective is taken and their imbalance costs modeled. Larger producers having wind power spread over larger geographical areas will have lower relative costs than producers having their units concentrated within limited geographical area. Possibilities of the wind power producers to reduce the imbalance costs by acting on after sales market are exposed and compared. (orig.)

Co-generation of hydrogen from nuclear and wind: the effect on costs of realistic variations in wind capacity and power prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, A.I.; Duffey, R.

2005-01-01

Can electricity from high-capacity nuclear reactors be blended with the variable output of wind turbines to produce electrolytic hydrogen competitively? Future energy hopes and emissions reduction scenarios place significant reliance on renewables, actually meaning largely new wind power both onshore and offshore. The opportunity exists for a synergy between high capacity factor nuclear plants and wind power using hydrogen by both as a 'currency' for use in transportation and industrial processing. But this use of hydrogen needs to be introduced soon. To be competitive with alternative sources, hydrogen produced by conventional electrolysis requires low-cost electricity (likely <2.5 Cent US/kW.h). One approach is to operate interruptibly allowing an installation to sell electricity when the grid price is high and to make hydrogen when it is low. Our previous studies have shown that this could be a cost-competitive approach with a nuclear power generator producing electricity around 3 Cent US/kW.h. Although similar unit costs are projected for wind-generated electricity, idleness of the hydrogen production (electrolysis) facility due to the variability of wind generated electricity imposes a serious cost penalty. This paper reports our latest results on the potential economics of blending electricity from nuclear and wind sources by using wind-generated power, when available, to augment the current through electrolysis equipment that is primarily nuclear-powered. A voltage penalty accompanies the higher current. A 10% increase in capital cost for electrolysis equipment enables it to accommodate the higher rate of hydrogen generation, while still being substantially cheaper than the capital cost of wind-dedicated electrolysis. Real-time data for electricity costs have been combined with real-time wind variability in our NuWind model. The variability in wind fields between sites was accommodated by assuming an average wind speed that produced an average electricity

Estimating generation costs for wind power production in France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benazet, J.F.; Probert, E.J.

1997-01-01

Wind power is being exploited in several European countries as one of a possible number of sources of renewable energy. However, in France there is a heavy reliance on nuclear and hydro-electric power and the potential of wind power as part of the energy mix has been virtually ignored. One of the reasons advanced for the under utilisation of this technology is that it is financially unattractive. In this paper the contribution which wind power could potentially make to overall power production levels in France is examined. A cost estimate model is developed which derives electricity generation costs and determines realistic levels of production for the future. The model automatically determines the associated number of wind turbines required and the geographical areas in which they should be located. (author)

The Cost of Transmission for Wind Energy: A Review of Transmission Planning Studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mills, Andrew D.; Wiser, Ryan; Porter, Kevin

2009-02-02

The rapid development of wind power that the United States has experienced over the last several years has been coupled with a growing concern that wind development will require substantial additions to the nation's transmission infrastructure. Transmission is particularly important for wind power due to the locational dependence of wind resources, the relatively low capacity factor of wind plants, and the mismatch between the short lead time to build a new wind project and the longer lead time often needed to plan, permit, and construct transmission. It is clear that institutional issues related to transmission planning, siting, and cost allocation will pose major obstacles to accelerated wind power deployment, but also of concern is the potential cost of this infrastructure build out. Simply put, how much extra cost will society bear to deliver wind power to load centers? Without an answer to this question, there can be no consensus on whether or not the cost of developing transmission for wind will be a major barrier to further wind deployment, or whether the institutional barriers to transmission expansion are likely to be of more immediate concern. In this report, we review a sample of 40 detailed transmission studies that have included wind power. These studies cover a broad geographic area, and were completed from 2001-2008. Our primary goal in reviewing these studies is to develop a better understanding of the transmission costs needed to access growing quantities of wind generation. A secondary goal is to gain a better appreciation of the differences in transmission planning approaches in order to identify those methodologies that seem most able to estimate the incremental transmission costs associated with wind development. Finally, we hope that the resulting dataset and discussion might be used to inform the assumptions, methods, and results of higher-level assessment models that are sometimes used to estimate the cost of wind deployment (e.g. NEMS

Cost and Benefit Analysis of VSC-HVDC Schemes for Offshore Wind Power Transmission

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Sheng WANG; Chunmei FENG; An WEN; Jun LIANG

2013-01-01

Due to low load factors of wind power generation,it is possible to reduce transmission capacity to minimize the cost of transmission system construction.Two VSC-HVDC schemes for offshore wind farm,called the point to point (PTP) and DC mesh connections are compared in terms of the utilization of transmission system and its cost.A Weibull distribution is used for estimating offshore wind power generation,besides,the cross correlation between wind farms is considered.The wind energy curtailment is analyzed using the capacity output possibility table (COPT).The system power losses,costs of transmission investment and wind energy curtailment are also computed.A statistic model for the wind generation and transmission is built and simulated in MATLAB to validate the study.It is concluded that a DC mesh transmission can reduce the energy curtailment and power losses.Further benefit is achievable as the wind cross correlation between wind farms decreases.

Co-generation of hydrogen from nuclear and wind: the effect on costs of realistic variations in wind generation. Paper no. IGEC-1-094

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, A.I.; Duffey, R.B.

2005-01-01

Can electricity from high-capacity nuclear reactors be blended with the variable output of wind turbines to produce electrolytic hydrogen competitively? To be competitive with alternative sources, hydrogen produced by conventional electrolysis requires low-cost electricity (likely <2.5 cents US/kW.h). One approach is to operate interruptibly, allowing an installation to sell electricity when the grid price is high and to make hydrogen when it is low. Our previous studies show that this could be cost-competitive using nuclear power generator producing electricity around 3 cents US/kW.h. Although similar unit costs are projected for wind-generated electricity, idleness of the electrolysis facility due to the variability of wind-generated electricity imposes a significant cost penalty. This paper reports on ongoing work on the economics of blending electricity from nuclear and wind sources by using wind-generated power, when available, to augment the current through electrolysis equipment that is primarily nuclear-powered - a concept we call NuWind. A voltage penalty accompanies the higher current. A 10% increase in capital cost for electrolysis equipment to enable it to accommodate the higher rate of hydrogen generation is still substantially cheaper than the capital cost of wind-dedicated electrolysis. Real-time data for electricity costs have been combined with real-time wind variability. The variability in wind fields between sites was accommodated by assigning average wind speeds that produced an average electricity generation from wind of between 32 and 42% of peak capacity, which is typical of the expectations for superior wind-generation sites. (author)

Costs of solar and wind power variability for reducing CO2 emissions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lueken, Colleen; Cohen, Gilbert E; Apt, Jay

2012-09-04

We compare the power output from a year of electricity generation data from one solar thermal plant, two solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, and twenty Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) wind farms. The analysis shows that solar PV electricity generation is approximately one hundred times more variable at frequencies on the order of 10(-3) Hz than solar thermal electricity generation, and the variability of wind generation lies between that of solar PV and solar thermal. We calculate the cost of variability of the different solar power sources and wind by using the costs of ancillary services and the energy required to compensate for its variability and intermittency, and the cost of variability per unit of displaced CO(2) emissions. We show the costs of variability are highly dependent on both technology type and capacity factor. California emissions data were used to calculate the cost of variability per unit of displaced CO(2) emissions. Variability cost is greatest for solar PV generation at $8-11 per MWh. The cost of variability for solar thermal generation is $5 per MWh, while that of wind generation in ERCOT was found to be on average $4 per MWh. Variability adds ~$15/tonne CO(2) to the cost of abatement for solar thermal power, $25 for wind, and $33-$40 for PV.

Influence of wind farm capacity, turbine size and wind speed on production cost: analysis of the actual market trend

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laali, A.-R.; Meyer, J.-L.

1996-01-01

Several studies are undertaken in R and D Division of EDF in collaboration with ERASME association in order to have a good knowledge of the wind energy production costs. These studies are performed in the framework of a wind energy monitoring project and concern the influence of a few parameters like wind farm capacity, turbine size and wind speed on production costs, through an analysis of the actual market trend. Some 50 manufacturers and 140 different kind of wind turbines are considered for this study. The minimum production cost is situated at 800/900 kW wind turbine rated power. This point will probably move to more important powers in the future. This study is valid only for average conditions and some special parameters like particular climate conditions or lack of infrastructure for a special site that could modify the results shown on the curves. The variety of wind turbines (rated power as a function of rotor diameter, height and specific rated power) in the actual market is analysed. A brief analysis of the market trend is also performed. (author)

Low Cost Small Wind Turbine Generators for Developing Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ani, S.O.

2013-01-01

Wind energy accounts for an increasing percentage of the energy supplied to the electricity network. Electricity generation from wind is now cheaper than other renewables and almost cost competitive with other conventional sources of electricity generation. However, this impressive growth is largely

Evaluating the Impacts of Real-Time Pricing on the Cost and Value of Wind Generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siohansi, Ramteen

2010-01-01

One of the costs associated with integrating wind generation into a power system is the cost of redispatching the system in real-time due to day-ahead wind resource forecast errors. One possible way of reducing these redispatch costs is to introduce demand response in the form of real-time pricing (RTP), which could allow electricity demand to respond to actual real-time wind resource availability using price signals. A day-ahead unit commitment model with day-ahead wind forecasts and a real-time dispatch model with actual wind resource availability is used to estimate system operations in a high wind penetration scenario. System operations are compared to a perfect foresight benchmark, in which actual wind resource availability is known day-ahead. The results show that wind integration costs with fixed demands can be high, both due to real-time redispatch costs and lost load. It is demonstrated that introducing RTP can reduce redispatch costs and eliminate loss of load events. Finally, social surplus with wind generation and RTP is compared to a system with neither and the results demonstrate that introducing wind and RTP into a market can result in superadditive surplus gains.

WREF 2012: THE PAST AND FUTURE COST OF WIND ENERGY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NREL,; Wiser, Ryan; Lantz, Eric; Hand, Maureen

2012-03-26

The future of wind power will depend on the ability of the industry to continue to achieve cost reductions. To better understand the potential for cost reductions, this report provides a review of historical costs, evaluates near-term market trends, and summarizes the range of projected costs. It also notes potential sources of future cost reductions. Our findings indicate that steady cost reductions were interrupted between 2004 and 2010, but falling turbine prices and improved turbine performance are expected to drive a historically low LCOE for current installations. In addition, the majority of studies indicate continued cost reductions on the order of 20%-30% through 2030. Moreover, useful cost projections are likely to benefit from stronger consideration of the interactions between capital cost and performance as well as trends in the quality of the wind resource where projects are located, transmission, grid integration, and other cost variables.

WindPACT Turbine Design Scaling Studies: Technical Area 4 - Balance-of-Station Cost; ANNUAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shafer, D. A.; Strawmyer, K. R.; Conley, R. M.; Guidinger J. H.; Wilkie, D. C.; Zellman, T. F.

2001-01-01

DOE's Wind Partnerships for Advanced Component Technologies (WindPACT) program explores the most advanced wind-generating technologies for improving reliability and decreasing energy costs. The first step in the WindPact program is a scaling study to bound the optimum sizes for wind turbines, to define size limits for certain technologies, and to scale new technologies. The program is divided into four projects: Composite Blades for 80-120-meter Rotors; Turbine, Rotor, and Blade Logistics; Self-Erecting Tower and Nacelle Feasibility; and Balance-of-Station Cost. This report discusses balance-of-station costs, which includes the electrical power collector system, wind turbine foundations, communications and controls, meteorological equipment, access roadways, crane pads, and the maintenance building. The report is based on a conceptual 50-megawatt (MW) wind farm site near Mission, South Dakota. Cost comparisons are provided for four sizes of wind turbines: 750 kilowatt (kW), 2.5 MW, 5.0 MW, and 10.0 MW

Conceptual design and costs of large wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hau, E.; Harrison, R.; Cockerill, T.T.; Snel, H.

1996-01-01

The development of large wind turbines, with capacities in excess of 1 MW is reviewed. Despite statistical evidence to the contrary, there are some reasons to be optimistic that further development will render large machines economic for commercial uses. The direction in which such development should proceed is unclear, however. A cost model, founded on the principles of conceptual design, with the objective of evaluating large wind turbine design options is described. Use of the model allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the potential for development of certain large wind turbine configurations. (author)

Solar power. [comparison of costs to wind, nuclear, coal, oil and gas

Science.gov (United States)

Walton, A. L.; Hall, Darwin C.

1990-01-01

This paper describes categories of solar technologies and identifies those that are economic. It compares the private costs of power from solar, wind, nuclear, coal, oil, and gas generators. In the southern United States, the private costs of building and generating electricity from new solar and wind power plants are less than the private cost of electricity from a new nuclear power plant. Solar power is more valuable than nuclear power since all solar power is available during peak and midpeak periods. Half of the power from nuclear generators is off-peak power and therefore is less valuable. Reliability is important in determining the value of wind and nuclear power. Damage from air pollution, when factored into the cost of power from fossil fuels, alters the cost comparison in favor of solar and wind power. Some policies are more effective at encouraging alternative energy technologies that pollute less and improve national security.

Cost-benefit analysis of remote hybrid wind-diesel power stations: Case study Aegean Sea islands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaldellis, J.K.; Kavadias, K.A.

2007-01-01

More than one third of world population has no direct access to interconnected electrical networks. Hence, the electrification solution usually considered is based on expensive, though often unreliable, stand-alone systems, mainly small diesel-electric generators. Hybrid wind-diesel power systems are among the most interesting and environmental friendly technological alternatives for the electrification of remote consumers, presenting also increased reliability. More precisely, a hybrid wind-diesel installation, based on an appropriate combination of a small diesel-electric generator and a micro-wind converter, offsets the significant capital cost of the wind turbine and the high operational cost of the diesel-electric generator. In this context, the present study concentrates on a detailed energy production cost analysis in order to estimate the optimum configuration of a wind-diesel-battery stand-alone system used to guarantee the energy autonomy of a typical remote consumer. Accordingly, the influence of the governing parameters-such as wind potential, capital cost, oil price, battery price and first installation cost-on the corresponding electricity production cost is investigated using the developed model. Taking into account the results obtained, hybrid wind-diesel systems may be the most cost-effective electrification solution for numerous isolated consumers located in suitable (average wind speed higher than 6.0 m/s) wind potential regions

Gearbox Fault Diagnosis in a Wind Turbine Using Single Sensor Based Blind Source Separation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuning Qian

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a single sensor based blind source separation approach, namely, the wavelet-assisted stationary subspace analysis (WSSA, for gearbox fault diagnosis in a wind turbine. Continuous wavelet transform (CWT is used as a preprocessing tool to decompose a single sensor measurement data into a set of wavelet coefficients to meet the multidimensional requirement of the stationary subspace analysis (SSA. The SSA is a blind source separation technique that can separate the multidimensional signals into stationary and nonstationary source components without the need for independency and prior information of the source signals. After that, the separated nonstationary source component with the maximum kurtosis value is analyzed by the enveloping spectral analysis to identify potential fault-related characteristic frequencies. Case studies performed on a wind turbine gearbox test system verify the effectiveness of the WSSA approach and indicate that it outperforms independent component analysis (ICA and empirical mode decomposition (EMD, as well as the spectral-kurtosis-based enveloping, for wind turbine gearbox fault diagnosis.

Cost-efficient foundation structures for large offshore wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birch, C.; Gormsen, C.; Lyngesen, S.; Rasmussen, J. L.; Juhl, H.

1997-01-01

This paper presents the results of the development of a cost-efficient foundation for large (1.5 MW) offshore wind farms at water depth of 5 to 11 m. Previously, medium sized wind turbines (500 kW) in Denmark have been installed offshore at water depths of approximately 5 m on concrete gravity foundations. The installation of larger turbines at greater depth does, however, hold great promise in terms of wind environment and environmental considerations. The costs of a traditional gravity foundation at these increased water depths is expected to be prohibitive, and the aim of the project has been to reduce the foundations costs in general. This paper describes the theoretical basis for the geotechnical and structural design of three alternative concepts and presents an optimised layout of each based on a research and development project. The basis has been a wind farm consisting of 100 turbines. The R and D project has been undertaken by the consulting engineers Nellemann, Nielsen and Rauschenberger A/S (Gravity foundation), LICengineering A/S (Mono pile) and Ramboell (Tripod) in co-operation with the Danish utility engineering companies Elkraft and Elsamprojekt A/S. The project was partly financed by the participants and by the Danish Energy Agency through their 1996 Energy Research Programme (EFP-96). (au) 18 refs

On the relationship between hurricane cost and the integrated wind profile

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, S.; Toumi, R.

2016-11-01

It is challenging to identify metrics that best capture hurricane destructive potential and costs. Although it has been found that the sea surface temperature and vertical wind shear can both make considerable changes to the hurricane destructive potential metrics, it is still unknown which plays a more important role. Here we present a new method to reconstruct the historical wind structure of hurricanes that allows us, for the first time, to calculate the correlation of damage with integrated power dissipation and integrated kinetic energy of all hurricanes at landfall since 1988. We find that those metrics, which include the horizontal wind structure, rather than just maximum intensity, are much better correlated with the hurricane cost. The vertical wind shear over the main development region of hurricanes plays a more dominant role than the sea surface temperature in controlling these metrics and therefore also ultimately the cost of hurricanes.

Wind Power: How Much, How Soon, and At What Cost?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiser, Ryan H; Hand, Maureen

2010-01-01

The global wind power market has been growing at a phenomenal pace, driven by favorable policies towards renewable energy and the improving economics of wind projects. On a going forward basis, utility-scale wind power offers the potential for significant reductions in the carbon footprint of the electricity sector. Specifically, the global wind resource is vast and, though accessing this potential is not costless or lacking in barriers, wind power can be developed at scale in the near to medium term at what promises to be an acceptable cost.

Electricity cost effects of expanding wind power and integrating energy sectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rodriguez, Victor Adrian Maxwell; Sperling, Karl; Hvelplund, Frede Kloster

2015-01-01

Recently, questions have arisen in Denmark as to how and why public funding should be allocated to wind power producers. This is, among other reasons, due to pressure from industrial electricity consumers who want their overall energy costs lowered. Utilising existing wind power subsidies across...... conditions which could allow wind power producers to reduce their reliance on subsidies. It is found that the strategy may be effective in lowering the overall energy costs of electricity consumers. Further, it is found possible to scale up this strategy and realise benefits on a national scale....

An extended NSGA-III for solution multi-objective hydro-thermal-wind scheduling considering wind power cost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan, Xiaohui; Tian, Hao; Yuan, Yanbin; Huang, Yuehua; Ikram, Rana M.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Multi-objective hydro-thermal-wind scheduling model (MO-HTWS) is establish. • The extra cost in MO-HTWS problem caused by wind uncertainty is considered. • An extended NSGA-III is proposed to solve MO-HTWS problem. • Constraint handling strategies are presented to modify infeasible solutions. • The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by example. - Abstract: Due to the characteristics of clean and renewable, wind power is significant to economic and environmental operation of electric power system so that it attracts more and more attention from researchers. This paper integrates wind power with hydrothermal scheduling to establish multi-objective economic emission hydro-thermal-wind scheduling problem (MO-HTWS) model with considering wind uncertain cost. To solve MO-HTWS problem with various complicated constraints, this paper extends NSGA-III by introducing the dominance relationship criterion based on constraint violation to select new generation. Moreover, the constraint handling strategy which repairs the infeasible solutions by modifying the decision variables in feasible zone according to the violation amount is proposed. Finally, a daily scheduling example of hydro-thermal-wind system is used to test the ability of NSGA-III for solving MO-HTWS problem. It is concluded from the superior quality and good distribution of the Pareto optimal solutions that, NSGA-III can offer an efficient alternative for optimizing MO-HTWS problem

IEA Wind Task 26. Wind Technology, Cost, and Performance Trends in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, the European Union, and the United States: 2007–2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vitina, Aisma [Ea Energy Analyses, Copenhagen (Denmark); Lüers, Silke [Deutsche WindGuard, Varel (Germany); Wallasch, Anna-Kathrin [Deutsche WindGuard, Varel (Germany); Berkhout, Volker [Fraunhofer IWES, Kassel (Germany); Duffy, Aidan [Dublin Inst. of Technology and Dublin Energy Lab. (Ireland); Cleary, Brendan [Dublin Inst. of Technology and Dublin Energy Lab. (Ireland); Husabø, Lief I. [Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo (Norway); Weir, David E. [Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo (Norway); Lacal-Arántegui, Roberto [European Commission, Ispra (Italy). Joint Research Centre; Hand, Maureen [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lantz, Eric [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Belyeu, Kathy [Belyeu Consulting, Takoma Park, MD (United States); Wiser, Ryan H [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Bolinger, Mark [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Hoen, Ben [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2015-06-01

The International Energy Agency Implementing Agreement for cooperation in Research, Development, and Deployment of Wind Energy Systems (IEA Wind) Task 26—The Cost of Wind Energy represents an international collaboration dedicated to exploring past, present and future cost of wind energy. This report provides an overview of recent trends in wind plant technology, cost, and performance in those countries that are currently represented by participating organizations in IEA Wind Task 26: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the United States as well as the European Union.

Virginia Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Through Innovation Study (VOWCRIS) (Poster)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maples, B.; Campbell, J.; Arora, D.

2014-10-01

The VOWCRIS project is an integrated systems approach to the feasibility-level design, performance, and cost-of-energy estimate for a notional 600-megawatt offshore wind project using site characteristics that apply to the Wind Energy Areas of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.

Evaluation of wind energy investment interest and electricity generation cost analysis for Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akdag, Seyit Ahmet; Gueler, Oender

2010-01-01

Turkey has remarkable wind energy potential, but its utilisation rate is very low. However, in 2007, energy investors applied to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) with 751 wind projects to obtain a 78180.2 MW wind power plant license. This paper first presents an overview of wind energy development in the world and then reviews related situations in Turkey. Second, to motivate the interest in wind energy investment, new wind power plant license applications in Turkey are analysed. Finally, wind electricity generation cost analyses were performed at 14 locations in Turkey. Capacity factors of investigated locations were calculated between 19.7% and 56.8%, and the production cost of electrical energy was between 1.73 and 4.99 cent/kW h for two different wind shear coefficients. (author)

Global long-term cost dynamics of offshore wind electricity generation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gernaat, David E H J; Van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Van Vliet, Jasper; Sullivan, Patrick; Arent, Douglas J.

2014-01-01

Using the IMAGE/TIMER (The Targets IMage Energy Regional) long-term integrated assessment model, this paper explores the regional and global potential of offshore wind to contribute to global electricity production. We develop long-term cost supply curve for offshore wind, a representation of the

How Expensive Is Expensive Enough? Opportunities for Cost Reductions in Offshore Wind Energy Logistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Thomas; Hasager, Charlotte Bay

2016-01-01

This paper reveals that logistics may conservatively amount to 18% of the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind farms. This is the key finding from an extensive case study carried out within the organization of the world’s leading offshore wind farm developer and operator. The case study aimed...... to, and produced, a number of possible opportunities for offshore wind cost reductions through logistics innovation; however, within the case study company, no company-wide logistics organization existed to focus horizontally on reducing logistics costs in general. Logistics was not well defined...... within the case study company, and a logistics strategy did not exist. With full life-cycle costs of offshore wind farms still high enough to present a political challenge within the European Union in terms of legislation to ensure offshore wind diffusion beyond 2020, our research presents logistics...

Reliability-cost models for the power switching devices of wind power converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Ke; Blaabjerg, Frede

2012-01-01

In order to satisfy the growing reliability requirements for the wind power converters with more cost-effective solution, the target of this paper is to establish a new reliability-cost model which can connect the relationship between reliability performances and corresponding semiconductor cost...... temperature mean value Tm and fluctuation amplitude ΔTj of power devices, are presented. With the proposed reliability-cost model, it is possible to enable future reliability-oriented design of the power switching devices for wind power converters, and also an evaluation benchmark for different wind power...... for power switching devices. First the conduction loss, switching loss as well as thermal impedance models of power switching devices (IGBT module) are related to the semiconductor chip number information respectively. Afterwards simplified analytical solutions, which can directly extract the junction...

Examination of forced unsteady separated flow fields on a rotating wind turbine blade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huyer, S [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (US)

1993-04-01

The wind turbine industry faces many problems regarding the construction of efficient and predictable wind turbine machines. Steady state, two-dimensional wind tunnel data are generally used to predict aerodynamic loads on wind turbine blades. Preliminary experimental evidence indicates that some of the underlying fluid dynamic phenomena could be attributed to dynamic stall, or more specifically to generation of forced unsteady separated flow fields. A collaborative research effort between the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory was conducted to systematically categorize the local and global effects of three- dimensional forced unsteady flow fields.

Offshore Wind Resource, Cost, and Economic Potential in the State of Maine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Musial, Walter D. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-02-12

This report provides information for decision-makers about floating offshore wind technologies in the state of Maine. It summarizes research efforts performed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory between 2015 and 2017 to analyze the resource potential, cost of offshore wind, and economic potential of offshore wind from four primary reports: Musial et al. (2016); Beiter et al. (2016, 2017); and Mone et al. (unpublished). From Musial et al. (2016), Maine's technical offshore wind resource potential ranked seventh in the nation overall with more than 411 terawatt-hours/year of offshore resource generating potential. Although 90% of this wind resource is greater than 9.0-meters-per-second average velocity, most of the resource is over deep water, where floating wind technology is needed. Levelized cost of energy and levelized avoided cost of energy were computed to estimate the unsubsidized 'economic potential' for Maine in the year 2027 (Beiter et al. 2016, 2017). The studies found that Maine may have 65 gigawatts of economic potential by 2027, the highest of any U.S. state. Bottom-line costs for the Aqua Ventus project, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Demonstration project, were released from a proprietary report written by NREL in 2016 for the University of Maine (Mone et al. unpublished). The report findings were that economies of scale and new technology advancements lowered the cost from $300/megawatt-hour (MWh) for the two-turbine 12-megawatt (MW) Aqua Ventus 1 project, to $126/MWh for the commercial-scale, 498-MW Aqua Ventus-2 project. Further cost reductions to $77/MWh were found when new technology advancements were applied for the 1,000-MW Aqua Ventus-3 project in 2030. No new analysis was conducted for this report.

Dynamic evaluation of the levelized cost of wind power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Díaz, Guzmán; Gómez-Aleixandre, Javier; Coto, José

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Conventional levelized cost of energy is static and does not consider flexibility. • This paper defines a dynamic version by means of stochastic programming. • A penalty for early exercising is proposed to differentiate static and dynamic. • Results show the effects of feed-in tariff support in low wind sites. • Policy implications are derived on the basis of the static and dynamic measures. - Abstract: This paper discusses an alternative computation method of the levelized cost of energy of distributed wind power generators. Unlike in the conventional procedures, it includes time of commencement as an optimization variable. For that purpose, a methodology from Longstaff and Schwartz’s dynamic program for pricing financial American options is derived, which provides the ability to find the optimum time and value while coping with uncertainty revenues from energy sales and variable capital costs. The results obtained from the analysis of wind records of 50 sites entail that the conventional levelized cost of energy can be broken down into an optimum, minimum (time-dependent) value and a penalty for early exercising, which can be employed to define investment strategies and support policies

Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis of a Wind Power Generation System at Búrfell in Iceland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birgir Freyr Ragnarsson

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Wind energy harnessing is a new energy production alternative in Iceland. Current installed wind power in Iceland sums to 1.8 MW, which in contrast is 0.1% of the country’s total electricity production. This article is dedicated to the exploration of the potential cost of wind energy production at Búrfell in the south of Iceland. A levelized cost of energy (LCOE approach was applied to the estimation of the potential cost. Weibull simulation is used to simulate wind data for calculations. A confirmation of the power law is done by comparing real data to calculated values. A modified Weibull simulation is verified by comparing results with actual on-site test wind turbines. A wind farm of 99MWis suggested for the site. Key results were the capacity factor (CF at Búrfell being 38.15% on average and that the LCOE for wind energy was estimated as 0.087–0.088 USD/kWh (assuming 10% weighted average cost of capital (WACC, which classifies Búrfell among the lowest LCOE sites for wind energy in Europe.

Combined Optimization for Offshore Wind Turbine Micro Siting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hou, Peng; Hu, Weihao; N. Soltani, Mohsen

2017-01-01

In order to minimize the wake loss, wind turbines (WT) should be separated with large intervening spaces. However, this will incur an increase in the capital expenditure on electrical systems and even in the operation and maintenance costs. In order to realize a cost-effective wind farm......) algorithm is adopted to minimize the levelized production cost (LPC) of the wind farm. Simulation results are given for validating the proposed approach and comparison is made with results obtained using other methods. It is found that the proposed method can reduce the levelized production cost (LPC) by 5.......00% and increase the energy yields by 3.82% compared with the Norwegian centre for offshore wind energy (NORCOWE) reference wind farm layout. This is better than the traditional method which only achieves a 1.45% LPC reduction although it increases the energy yields by 3.95%....

Cost reductions for offshore wind power. Exploring the balance between scaling, learning and R and D

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van der Zwaan, B.; Rivera-Tinoco, R.; Lensink, S.; Van den Oosterkamp, P.

2012-01-01

Offshore wind electricity generation is prospected to increase substantially in the near future at a number of locations, like in the Baltic, Irish and North Sea, and emerge at several others. The global growth of offshore wind technology is likely to be accompanied by reductions in wind park construction costs, both as a result of scaling and learning effects. Since 2005, however, significant cost increases have been observed. A recent surge in commodity prices proves to constitute one of the main drivers of these cost increases. This observation begs the question whether wind turbine manufacturers should return to the laboratory for undertaking R and D that explores the use of alternative materials and bring offshore wind energy closer to competitiveness. It is demonstrated that if one abstracts from material price fluctuations, in particular for metals such as copper and steel, turbine production plus installation cost data publicly available for a series of offshore wind park projects (realized in several European countries since the 1990's) show a cost reduction trend. Hence various other sources of cost increases, such as due to the progressively larger distances from the shore (and correspondingly greater depths at sea) at which wind parks have been (and will be) built, are outshadowed by cost reduction effects. When one expresses the overall cost development for offshore wind energy capacity as an experience curve, a learning rate is found of 3%, which reflects a mixture of economies-of-scale and learning-by-doing mechanisms. Also the impact is quantified on offshore wind power construction costs from the recent tightness in the market for turbine manufacturing and installation services: without the demand-supply response inertia at the origin of this tightness it is estimated that the learning rate would be 5%. Since these learning rates are relatively low - in comparison to those observed for other technologies, and in view of the high current capacity

Monitoring and evaluation of Blyth Offshore Wind Farm. Projected operation and maintenance costs of UK offshore wind farms based on the experience at Blyth

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Greig, E.

2004-07-01

This is the fifth of seven reports in this series on specific aspects of the monitoring and evaluation of the Blyth offshore wind farm project. The report assesses the operation and maintenance (O and M) costs for the wind farm in its first full year of operation, and extrapolates these costs to give indicative costs for larger projects. It identifies both planned regular costs and unplanned site maintenance costs; some costs can be attributed to 'troubleshooting' during installation and would not be expected in future years. The Blyth wind farm, the first in the UK, consists of two 2 MW wind turbines installed approximately 1 km from the coast in water about 6 m deep at low tide. The site is exposed to the full impact of the North Sea weather, breaking waves and a significant tidal range (about 5 m). Location, boat availability, weather and insurance are identified as the key factors affecting O and M costs for future offshore wind farms in the UK.

How Expensive Is Expensive Enough? Opportunities for Cost Reductions in Offshore Wind Energy Logistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Poulsen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reveals that logistics may conservatively amount to 18% of the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind farms. This is the key finding from an extensive case study carried out within the organization of the world’s leading offshore wind farm developer and operator. The case study aimed to, and produced, a number of possible opportunities for offshore wind cost reductions through logistics innovation; however, within the case study company, no company-wide logistics organization existed to focus horizontally on reducing logistics costs in general. Logistics was not well defined within the case study company, and a logistics strategy did not exist. With full life-cycle costs of offshore wind farms still high enough to present a political challenge within the European Union in terms of legislation to ensure offshore wind diffusion beyond 2020, our research presents logistics as a next frontier for offshore wind constituencies. This important area of the supply chain is ripe to academically and professionally cultivate and harvest in terms of offshore wind energy cost reductions. Our paper suggests that a focused organizational approach for logistics both horizontally and vertically within the company organizations could be the way forward, coupled with a long-term legislative environment to enable the necessary investments in logistics assets and transport equipment.

The socio-economic costs of the planned development of wind power energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bentzen, J.

1992-01-01

The socio-economic consequences of the Danish government's planned further development of wind power energy are discussed in detail. It is claimed that, currently, electricity produced by wind turbines is more expensive than that produced by power stations, if the relative environmental effects are not taken into consideration. It is expected that technological development will contribute to cost reduction by the year 2010 so that electricity produced by wind turbines will be competitive, but until then costs of wind power energy will be high and it is reckoned that losses will be in the range of 5-6 billion Danish crowns, minus 2.5 billion saved by lack of CO 2 emission. The socio-economic factors regarding windmills of various sizes (150 kW and 225 kW) are calculated and the planned development of wind power until 2010 is explained. The socio-economic costs of the development programme under various conditions, including the calculation of the saved emissions of carbon dioxide, are discussed. The author states that, in the light of these arguments, he is not in agreement with the governmental plan for the development of wind-turbine produced electricity. It is suggested that this plan could be postponed until such time as wind-power produced electricity should be more competitive in price, and that it should not be pursued during a period of economic recession. (AB)

Unravelling historical cost developments of offshore wind energy in Europe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voormolen, J. A.; Junginger, H. M.; van Sark, W. G J H M

2016-01-01

This paper aims to provide insights in the cost developments of offshore wind energy in Europe. This is done by analysing 46 operational offshore wind farms commissioned after 2000. An increase of the Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) is found that is linked to the distance to shore and depth of more

Cost-effective Design and Operation of Variable Speed Wind Turbines. Closing the Gap between the Control Engineering and the Wind Engineering Community

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Molenaar, D.P.

2003-02-18

Wind has the potential to play a more important role in the future world electricity supply, provided that the cost per kilowatt hour is further reduced. The cost of wind-generated electricity can be effectively reduced by improvements in both wind turbine design and operation. In this thesis a design tool has been developed that offers the possibility to generate accurate and reliable dynamic models of the complete wind turbine. The models can be either used to evaluate the impact that design choices have on the economic viability, or to assess the dynamic behavior of the selected wind turbine configuration under various conditions.

A Spatial-Economic Cost-Reduction Pathway Analysis for U.S. Offshore Wind Energy Development from 2015-2030

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beiter, Philipp; Stehly, Tyler

2016-10-05

The potential for cost reduction and economic viability for offshore wind varies considerably within the United States. This analysis models the cost impact of a range of offshore wind locational cost variables across more than 7,000 potential coastal sites in the United States' offshore wind resource area. It also assesses the impact of over 50 technology innovations on potential future costs between 2015 and 2027 (Commercial Operation Date) for both fixed-bottom and floating wind systems. Comparing these costs to an initial assessment of local avoided generating costs, this analysis provides a framework for estimating the economic potential for offshore wind. Analyzing economic potential within this framework can help establish a refined understanding across industries of the technology and site-specific risks and opportunities associated with future offshore wind development. The findings from the original report indicate that under the modeled scenario, offshore wind can be expected to achieve significant cost reductions and may approach economic viability in some parts of the United States within the next 15 years.

Exploiting synergies in European wind and hydrogen sectors: A cost-benefit assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaw, Suzanne; Peteves, Estathios

2008-01-01

This article outlines an assessment of the perspectives for exploiting synergies between European wind and hydrogen energy sectors, where wind energy conversion to hydrogen is used as a common strategy for reducing network management costs in high wind energy penetration situations, and for production of renewable hydrogen. The attractiveness of this approach, referred to here as a 'wind-hydrogen strategy', is analysed using a cost-benefit approach to evaluate the final impact at the level of the end-consumer when this strategy is implemented. The analysis is conducted for four scenarios, based on different levels of: wind energy penetration in the electricity network area, hydrogen energy price, and environmental taxation on fuels. The effect of technological learning on the outcome is also analysed for the period up to 2050. The results of the analysis indicate that the relative value of the wind energy in the electricity market compared to the hydrogen market is a deciding factor in the attractiveness of the strategy; here the wind energy penetration in the network is a key consideration. Finally, in order to exploit learning effects from linking European wind and hydrogen sectors, action would need to be taken in the short term. (author)

Wind farm production cost: Optimum turbine size and farm capacity in the actual market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laali, A.R.; Meyer, J.L.; Bellot, C. [Electricite de France, Chatou (France); Louche, A. [Espace de Recherche, Ajaccio (France)

1996-12-31

Several studies are undertaken in R&D Division of EDF in collaboration with ERASME association in order to have a good knowledge of the wind energy production costs. These studies are performed in the framework of a wind energy monitoring project and concern the influence of a few parameters like wind farm capacity, turbine size and wind speed on production costs, through an analysis of the actual market trend. Some 50 manufacturers and 140 different kind of wind turbines are considered for this study. The minimum production cost is situated at 800/900 kW wind turbine rated power. This point will probably move to more important powers in the future. This study is valid only for average conditions and some special parameters like particular climate conditions or lack of infrastructure for a special site the could modify the results shown on the curves. The variety of wind turbines (rated power as a function of rotor diameter, height and specific rated power) in the actual market is analyzed. A brief analysis of the market trend is also performed. 7 refs., 7 figs.

Simulative technology for auxiliary fuel tank separation in a wind tunnel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ma Xin

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a simulative experimental system in wind tunnel conditions for the separation of auxiliary fuel tanks from an aircraft. The experimental system consists of a simulative release mechanism, a scaled model and a pose measuring system. A new release mechanism was designed to ensure stability of the separation. Scaled models of the auxiliary fuel tank were designed and their moment of inertia was adjusted by installing counterweights inside the model. Pose parameters of the scaled model were measured and calculated by a binocular vision system. Additionally, in order to achieve high brightness and high signal-to-noise ratio of the images in the dark enclosed wind tunnel, a new high-speed image acquisition method based on miniature self-emitting units was presented. Accuracy of the pose measurement system and repeatability of the separation mechanism were verified in the laboratory. Results show that the position precision of the pose measurement system can reach 0.1 mm, the precision of the pitch and yaw angles is less than 0.1° and that of the roll angle can be up to 0.3°. Besides, repeatability errors of models’ velocity and angular velocity controlled by the release mechanism remain small, satisfying the measurement requirements. Finally, experiments for the separation of auxiliary fuel tanks were conducted in the laboratory.

To end with the untruth on the wind energy cost

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Biez, V.

2008-01-01

In a study published by the Montaigne institute, in July 2008, Vincent Le Biez aimed to criticize the development of the wind energy and more especially its cost. Experts of the SER (Syndicat of the Renewable Energies) and the FEE (France Wind Energy ) answer, in this report, to the criticisms of V. Le Biez. Their analysis shows that the wind energy already constitutes a protection against the increase of the electrical market prices and will offer a real benefit for the collectivity in 2020. The increase of the wind energy in the world shows the trumps of this electricity production form. (A.L.B.)

Wind Energy Study and Energy Cost of Wind Electricity Generation in Nigeria: Past and Recent Results and a Case Study for South West Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oluseyi O. Ajayi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The study assessed the wind energy potential of ten selected sites in the south western region of Nigeria and carried out a cost benefit analysis of wind power generation at those sites. Twenty four years’ (1987 to 2010 wind speed data at 10 m height obtained from the Nigerian meteorological agency were employed to classify the sites wind profiles for electricity generation. The energy cost analysis of generating wind electricity from the sites was also carried out. The outcome showed that sites in Lagos and Oyo States were adequately suited for large scale generation with average wind speeds ranged between 2.9 and 5.8 m/s. Those from other sites may be suitable for small scale generation or as wind farms, with several small turbines connected together, to generate large enough wind power. The turbine matching results shows that turbines cut-in and rated wind speeds of between 2.0 and 3.0 m/s, and between 10 and 12.0 m/s respectively will be very suited to all the sites, particularly those in locations outside Lagos and Oyo States. The energy cost analysis shows that generation cost can be as low as 0.02 €/kWh and as high as 5.03/kWh, depending on the turbine model employed.

Consideration concerning the costs of the 300 kW wind units developed in Romania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gyulai, F.; Bej, A.

1995-01-01

A demonstrative wind farm with four research units, 300 kW each, is in developing stage in Romania. The article shows economic analysis of these experimental wind units and their cost structure focusing in component costs, performance, manufacturing technology and installing work. (author)

Consideration concerning the costs of the 300 kW wind units developed in Romania

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gyulai, F; Bej, A [Technical Univ. of Timisoara (Romania). Wind Energy Research Center

1996-12-31

A demonstrative wind farm with four research units, 300 kW each, is in developing stage in Romania. The article shows economic analysis of these experimental wind units and their cost structure focusing in component costs, performance, manufacturing technology and installing work. (author)

Consideration concerning the costs of the 300 kW wind units developed in Romania

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gyulai, F.; Bej, A. [Technical Univ. of Timisoara (Romania). Wind Energy Research Center

1995-12-31

A demonstrative wind farm with four research units, 300 kW each, is in developing stage in Romania. The article shows economic analysis of these experimental wind units and their cost structure focusing in component costs, performance, manufacturing technology and installing work. (author)

Conference on raw materials and jobs cost variation - Impact on wind turbine manufacturers and operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chabot, Bernard; Falk, Thorsten; Braeuninger, Michael; Rehfeldt, Knud; Brand, Ruth; Buhr, Ingo de; Jenne, Markus

2007-01-01

In the framework of the 2007 Husum Wind exhibition, the French-German office for Renewable energies (OFAEnR) organised a side event on In the framework of this French-German exchange of experience, participants exchanged views on raw materials and jobs cost variations in the wind power industry in both countries. Its aim was to compare and analyse the French and German respective support systems to renewable energy sources. This document brings together the available presentations (slides) made during this event: 1 - Protecting wind energy tariffs against inflation effects: analysis and suggestions from the French experience (Bernard Chabot); 2 - Wind energy in Germany - Tariff structure in the EEG renewable energy law (Thorsten Falk); 3 - Wind energy competitiveness (Michael Braeuninge, Knud Rehfeldt); 4 - Influence of raw materials price rise on the production costs of ENERCON wind turbines maker (Ruth Brand); 5 - Presentation of the overall costs of an offshore wind energy project (Ingo de Buhr); 6 - Comparison between French and German tariffs profitability using a model wind farm: presentation of the pros and cons of both systems (Markus Jenne)

Determining the impact of wind on system costs via the temporal patterns of load and wind generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, Clay D.; Gotham, Douglas J.; Preckel, Paul V.; Liu, Andrew L.

2013-01-01

Ambitious targets have been set for expanding electricity generation from renewable sources, including wind. Expanding wind power impacts needs for other electricity generating resources. As states plan for increasing levels of wind generation in their portfolio of generation resources it is important to consider how this intermittent resource impacts the need for other generation resources. A case study for Indiana estimates the value of wind capacity and demonstrates how to optimize its level and the levels of other generation resources. Changes are driven by temporal patterns of wind power output and load. System wide impacts are calculated for energy, capacity, and costs under multiple wind expansion scenarios which highlight the geographic characteristics of a systems portfolio of wind generation. The impacts of carbon prices, as proposed in the Bingaman Bill, are considered. Finally, calculations showing the effect increasing levels of wind generation will have on end use Indiana retail rates are included. - Highlights: • We estimate the value of wind capacity. • We determine wind generation's impact on the optimal mix of non-wind generation. • Optimal levels of wind and non-wind generation are determined. • We consider the impact of a carbon price on the optimal mix of resources. • The impact of additional wind capacity on Indiana residential rates is calculated

A Spatial-Economic Cost-Reduction Pathway Analysis for U.S. Offshore Wind Energy Development from 2015–2030

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beiter, Philipp [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Musial, Walter [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Smith, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kilcher, Levi [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Damiani, Rick [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Maness, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sirnivas, Senu [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Stehly, Tyler [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gevorgian, Vahan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Mooney, Meghan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Scott, George [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-09-01

This report describes a comprehensive effort undertaken by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to understand the cost of offshore wind energy for markets in the United States. The study models the cost impacts of a range of offshore wind locational cost variables for more than 7,000 potential coastal sites in U.S. offshore wind resource areas. It also assesses the impact of more than 50 technology innovations on potential future costs for both fixed-bottom and floating wind systems. Comparing these costs to an initial site-specific assessment of local avoided generating costs, the analysis provides a framework for estimating the economic potential for offshore wind. The analysis is intended to inform a broad set of stakeholders and enable an assessment of offshore wind as part of energy development and energy portfolio planning. It provides information that federal and state agencies and planning commissions could use to inform initial strategic decisions about offshore wind developments in the United States.

Exploiting Synergies in European Wind and Hydrogen Sectors: A Cost-benefit Assessment

OpenAIRE

SHAW SUZANNE; PETEVES ESTATHIOS

2007-01-01

This article outlines an assessment of the perspectives for exploiting synergies between European wind and hydrogen energy sectors, where wind energy conversion to hydrogen is used as a common strategy for reducing network management costs in high wind energy penetration situations, and for production of renewable hydrogen. The attractiveness of this approach, referred to here as a ¿¿wind-hydrogen strategy¿¿, is analysed using a costbenefit approach to evaluate the final impact...

Minimizing Wind Power Producer's Balancing Costs Using Electrochemical Energy Storage: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miettinen, J.; Tikka, V.; Lassila, J.; Partanen, J.; Hodge, B. M.

2014-08-01

This paper examines how electrochemical energy storage can be used to decrease the balancing costs of a wind power producer in the Nordic market. Because electrochemical energy storage is developing in both technological and financial terms, a sensitivity analysis was carried out for the most important variables in the wind-storage hybrid system. The system was studied from a wind power producer's point of view. The main result is that there are no technical limitations to using storage for reducing the balancing costs. However, in terms of economic feasibility, installing hybrid wind-storage systems such as the one studied in this paper faces challenges in both the short and long terms.

Wind pumps for agriculture: Cost and environmental benefits (comparisons with electric and combustion engine driven pumps)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piccoli, F.

1991-01-01

After describing initial and running costs of a group of wind-pumps, the author calculates and compares, as far as agricultural and zootechnical purposes are concerned, the costs for each cubic meter of water extracted through wind-powered, electric and internal-combustion engines. The comparisons clearly show, under adequate wind conditions, that wind-pumps are economically more suitable than electric and motor pumps with similar delivery heads

Natural wind variability triggered drop in German redispatch volume and costs from 2015 to 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Reyers, Mark; Märker, Carolin; Witthaut, Dirk

2018-01-01

Avoiding dangerous climate change necessitates the decarbonization of electricity systems within the next few decades. In Germany, this decarbonization is based on an increased exploitation of variable renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar power. While system security has remained constantly high, the integration of renewables causes additional costs. In 2015, the costs of grid management saw an all time high of about € 1 billion. Despite the addition of renewable capacity, these costs dropped substantially in 2016. We thus investigate the effect of natural climate variability on grid management costs in this study. We show that the decline is triggered by natural wind variability focusing on redispatch as a main cost driver. In particular, we find that 2016 was a weak year in terms of wind generation averages and the occurrence of westerly circulation weather types. Moreover, we show that a simple model based on the wind generation time series is skillful in detecting redispatch events on timescales of weeks and beyond. As a consequence, alterations in annual redispatch costs in the order of hundreds of millions of euros need to be understood and communicated as a normal feature of the current system due to natural wind variability. PMID:29329349

Natural wind variability triggered drop in German redispatch volume and costs from 2015 to 2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Wohland, Jan; Reyers, Mark; Märker, Carolin; Witthaut, Dirk

2018-01-01

Avoiding dangerous climate change necessitates the decarbonization of electricity systems within the next few decades. In Germany, this decarbonization is based on an increased exploitation of variable renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar power. While system security has remained constantly high, the integration of renewables causes additional costs. In 2015, the costs of grid management saw an all time high of about € 1 billion. Despite the addition of renewable capacity, these costs dropped substantially in 2016. We thus investigate the effect of natural climate variability on grid management costs in this study. We show that the decline is triggered by natural wind variability focusing on redispatch as a main cost driver. In particular, we find that 2016 was a weak year in terms of wind generation averages and the occurrence of westerly circulation weather types. Moreover, we show that a simple model based on the wind generation time series is skillful in detecting redispatch events on timescales of weeks and beyond. As a consequence, alterations in annual redispatch costs in the order of hundreds of millions of euros need to be understood and communicated as a normal feature of the current system due to natural wind variability.

Natural wind variability triggered drop in German redispatch volume and costs from 2015 to 2016.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Wohland

Full Text Available Avoiding dangerous climate change necessitates the decarbonization of electricity systems within the next few decades. In Germany, this decarbonization is based on an increased exploitation of variable renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar power. While system security has remained constantly high, the integration of renewables causes additional costs. In 2015, the costs of grid management saw an all time high of about € 1 billion. Despite the addition of renewable capacity, these costs dropped substantially in 2016. We thus investigate the effect of natural climate variability on grid management costs in this study. We show that the decline is triggered by natural wind variability focusing on redispatch as a main cost driver. In particular, we find that 2016 was a weak year in terms of wind generation averages and the occurrence of westerly circulation weather types. Moreover, we show that a simple model based on the wind generation time series is skillful in detecting redispatch events on timescales of weeks and beyond. As a consequence, alterations in annual redispatch costs in the order of hundreds of millions of euros need to be understood and communicated as a normal feature of the current system due to natural wind variability.

Application of an advanced cost model in the different design phases of an offshore wind turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hendriks, H.B.; Lindenburg, C.; Kooijman, H.J.T.; Bulder, B.H. [ECN Wind, Petten (Netherlands); Bozelie, J.; Madsen, J.B. [NEG Micon Holland, Rhenen (Netherlands); Halfschepel, R. [Van Oord ACZ, Gorinchem (Netherlands); Molenaar, W. [Ballast Nedam, Amstelveen (Netherlands); Van den Berg, R. [LM Glasfiber Holland, Heerhugowaard (Netherlands); Zaaijer, M. [TU-Delft, Delft (Netherlands)

2001-09-01

The goal of the Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter (DOWEC) consortium is to develop concepts and technology in order to make large scale offshore wind energy economically feasible. The overall DOWEC development comprises of the design, the construction, and the prototype testing. Onshore testing of a 3 MW research and development prototype is scheduled for the end of 2002. The DOWEC Concept Study aims at the choice of the optimal wind turbine concept. The wind turbine will not be treated as an isolated system. Designs of different wind turbine concepts will be evaluated as an integral part of the complete large-scale offshore wind farm. All significant properties like the structural loads, the power performance, the system reliability, the costs of the electric infrastructure, maintenance costs and installation costs is determined for the optimised designs. A quantitative ranking is then based on the cost of energy generated. Furthermore qualitative criteria like development risk and market potential will be taken into consideration when finalising the choice of concept. An advanced cost model is being developed to facilitate the above evaluation on basis of estimated energy generating costs for each concept. The same methodology will also be used in the system and detail design phase. This paper describes the DOWEC project in general, focusing at the cost modelling aspects including some preliminary results. 4 refs.

A Virtual Tool for Minimum Cost Design of a Wind Turbine Tower with Ring Stiffeners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatih Karpat

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Currently, renewable energy resources are becoming more important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. Researchers have focused on all components of wind turbines to increase reliability and minimize cost. In this paper, a procedure including a cost analysis method and a particle swarm optimization algorithm has been presented to efficiently design low cost steel wind turbine towers. A virtual tool is developed in MATLAB for the cost optimization of wind turbine steel towers with ring stiffeners using a particle swarm optimization algorithm. A wind turbine tower optimization problem in the literature is solved using the developed computer program. In the optimization procedure the optimization results match very well with the optimization results obtained previously. The wall thickness of the shell segments and the dimensions of the ring stiffeners are selected as the design variables, and the limits of the local buckling for the flat ring stiffeners, the local shell buckling limit, the panel ring buckling limit and the limitation of the frequency are considered the design constraints. Numerical examples are presented to understand the impacts of the design variables on the total cost of the wind turbine tower.

Optimal Control Method for Wind Farm to Support Temporary Primary Frequency Control with Minimized Wind Energy Cost

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Haijiao; Chen, Zhe; Jiang, Quanyuan

2015-01-01

This study proposes an optimal control method for variable speed wind turbines (VSWTs) based wind farm (WF) to support temporary primary frequency control. This control method consists of two layers: temporary frequency support control (TFSC) of the VSWT, and temporary support power optimal...... dispatch (TSPOD) of the WF. With TFSC, the VSWT could temporarily provide extra power to support system frequency under varying and wide-range wind speed. In the WF control centre, TSPOD optimally dispatches the frequency support power orders to the VSWTs that operate under different wind speeds, minimises...... the wind energy cost of frequency support, and satisfies the support capabilities of the VSWTs. The effectiveness of the whole control method is verified in the IEEE-RTS built in MATLABSimulink, and compared with a published de-loading method....

Improved, low cost inorganic-organic separators for rechargeable silver-zinc batteries

Science.gov (United States)

Sheibley, D. W.

1979-01-01

Several flexible, low-cost inorganic-organic separators with performance characteristics and cycle life equal to, or better than, the Lewis Research Center Astropower separator were developed. These new separators can be made on continuous-production equipment at about one-fourth the cost of the Astropower separator produced the same way. In test cells, these new separators demonstrate cycle life improvement, acceptable operating characteristics, and uniform current density. The various separator formulas, test cell construction, and data analysis are described.

Canadian Wind Energy Association small wind conference proceedings : small wind policy developments (turbines of 300 kW or less)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

The small wind session at the Canadian Wind Energy Association's (CanWEA) annual conference addressed policies affecting small wind, such as net metering, advanced renewable tariffs and interconnections. It also addressed CanWEA's efforts in promoting small wind turbines, particularly in remote northern communities, small businesses and within the residential sector. Small wind systems are typically installed in remote communities to offset utility supplied electricity at the retail price level. In certain circumstances, small wind and hybrid systems can produce electricity at less than half the cost of traditional electricity sources, which in remote communities is typically diesel generators. Small wind turbines require different materials and technologies than large wind turbines. They also involve different local installation requirements, different by-laws, tax treatment and environmental assessments. Small wind turbines are typically installed for a range of factors, including energy independence, energy price stability and to lower environmental impacts of traditional power generation. The small wind session at the conference featured 14 presentations, of which 4 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs

Assessment of electricity generation and energy cost of wind energy conversion systems in north-central Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adaramola, M.S.; Paul, S.S.; Oyedepo, S.O.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → The wind energy potential and economic analysis in selected six locations in north central part of Nigeria are investigated. → Economical evaluation of the wind energy in the selected sites was made by using the levelised cost method. → Locations that are suitable electricity generation and small scale applications are identified. - Abstract: In this study, the wind energy potential and economic analysis in selected six locations in north central part of Nigeria were investigated using wind speed data that span between 19 and 37 years measured at 10 m height. The performance of small to medium size commercial wind turbine models were examined and economic evaluation of the wind energy in the selected sites was made by using the levelised cost method. The results showed that the cost of energy production per kWh for the selected sites vary between cents 4.02 and cents 166.79. It was shown that Minna is most viable site while Bida is found to be least among the sites considered. Using three selected wind turbine models (in Minna) as case study, an increase in the escalation rate of operating and maintenance cost from 0% to 10%, lead to an increase in the unit energy cost by about 7%. It was further shown that by increasing the escalation rate of inflation from 0% to 5%, the cost of energy decreases by about 29% while the discount rate (return on investment) decreases from 11.54% to 6.23%.

Two wind power prognosis criteria and regulating power costs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Claus S.; Ravn, Hans F.; Schaumburg-Müller, Camilla

2003-01-01

. Basically, the choice is between focusing on predicting the energy content of the wind and focusing on the cost of buying regulating power to compensate for the prognosis errors. It will be shown that it can be expected that the two power curves thus estimated will differ, and that therefore also the hourly......The objective of the present work is to investigate the consequences of the choice of criterion in short-term wind power prognosis. This is done by investigating the consequences of choice of objective function in relation to the estimation of the power curve that is applied in the prognoses...... wind power production predicted will differ. In turn this will influence the operation and economics of the system. The consequences of this are illustrated by application to the integration of wind power in the Danish parts of the Nordpool area, using recent data. Using a regression analysis...

The Economics of Storage, Transmission and Drought: Integrating Variable Wind Power into Spatially Separated Electricity Grids

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scora, H.; Sopinka, A.; Kooten, van G.C.

2012-01-01

To mitigate the high variability of wind and make it a more viable renewable energy source, observers recommend greater integration of spatially-separated electrical grids, with high transmission lines linking load centers, scattered wind farms and hydro storage sites. In this study, we examine the

UWB Wind Turbine Blade Deflection Sensing for Wind Energy Cost Reduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shuai; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm; Franek, Ondrej; Eggers, Patrick C F; Olesen, Kim; Byskov, Claus; Pedersen, Gert Frølund

2015-08-12

A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1-5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.

Simultaneous measurements of the thermospheric wind profile at three separate positions in the dusk auroral oval

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikkelsen, I.S.; Friis-Christensen, E.; Larsen, M.F.; Kelley, M.C.; Vickrey, J.; Meriwether, J.; Shih, P.

1987-01-01

On March 20, 1985, two rockets were launched from Soendre Stroemfjord, Greenland, into the dusk auroral oval. Three trimethyl aluminium trails were released to measure the neutral wind profiles between 95 and 190 km of altitude at two points separated by 190 km normal to the invariant latitude circles and at a third point separated from the first two by 300 km along the invariant latitude circles. Two barium/strontium clouds were released at 250 km of altitude, extending two of the neutral wind profiles to this altitude. In the E region the tip of the wind vector traced an ellipse as a function of increasing altitude with maximum wind speeds of 100-150 m/s in the southeastward and northwestward directions. The F region winds were southward with speeds of 100-200 m/s. The zonal wind component between 115 and 140 km of altitude had a horizontal gradient in the southeastward direction, whereas the meridional wind component at the same heights was constant over the spatial extent covered by the measurements. The authors interpret the observed E region wind field as being part of a gravity wave with a period of 3 hours as estimated from the ellipticity of the wind hodograms. The wind vectors rotated 540 degree clockwise with increasing height, indicating that the wave energy is propagating upward. The Fabry-Perot interferometer at Soendre Stroemfjord was first able to detect the F region winds 45 min after the releases and measured winds of 100-400 m/s mainly in the southeastward or antisunward direction. The geomagnetic conditions were quiet, with Kp not exceeding 2 for the 24 hours preceding the experiment. The incoherent scatter radar at Soendre Stroemfjord observed a contracted plasma convection pattern associated with positive B y and B z components of the interplanetary magnetic field

Design and Study of a Low-Cost Laboratory Model Digital Wind Power Meter

Science.gov (United States)

Radhakrishnan, Rugmini; Karthika, S.

2010-01-01

A vane-type low-cost laboratory model anemometer cum power meter is designed and constructed for measuring low wind energy created from accelerating fluids. The constructed anemometer is a device which records the electrical power obtained by the conversion of wind power using a wind sensor coupled to a DC motor. It is designed for its…

Reattachment Zone Characterisation Under Offshore Winds With Flow Separation On The Lee Side Of Coastal Dunes

Science.gov (United States)

Delgado-Fernandez, I.; Jackson, D.; Cooper, J. A.; Baas, A. C.; Lynch, K.; Beyers, M.

2010-12-01

Airflow separation, lee-side eddies and secondary flows play an essential role on the formation and maintenance of sand dunes. Downstream from dune crests the flow surface layer detaches from the ground and generates an area characterised by turbulent eddies in the dune lee slope (the wake). At some distance downstream from the dune crest, flow separates into a reversed component directed toward the dune toe and an offshore “re-attached” component. This reattachment zone (RZ) has been documented in fluvial and desert environments, wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations, but not yet characterised in coastal dunes. This study examines the extent and temporal evolution of the RZ and its implications for beach-dune interaction at Magilligan, Northern Ireland. Wind parameters were measured over a profile extending from an 11 m height dune crest towards the beach, covering a total distance of 65 m cross-shore. Data was collected using an array of nine ultrasonic anemometers (UAs) deployed in April-May 2010, as part of a larger experiment to capture airflow data under a range of incident wind velocities and offshore directions. UAs were located along the profile (5 m tower spacing) over the beach, which allowed a detailed examination of the RZ with empirical data. Numerical modelling using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was also conducted with input data from anemometer field measurements, running over a surface mesh generated from LiDAR and DGPS surveys. Results demonstrate that there is a wind threshold of approximately 5-6 ms-1 under which no flow separation exists with offshore winds. As wind speed increases over the threshold, a flow reversal area is quickly formed, with the maximum extent of the RZ at approximately 3.5 dune heights (h). The maximum extent of the RZ increases up to 4.5h with stronger wind speeds of 8-10 ms-1 and remains relatively constant as wind speed further increases. This suggests that the spatial extent of the RZ is

Agora Energiewende (2017). Future cost of onshore wind. Recent auction results, long-term outlook and implications for upcoming German auctions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomassen, Georg; Deutsch, Matthias

2017-04-15

The costs for electricity from renewable generation have been falling significantly in recent years, and record low bids at auctions around the world have grasped the attention of the public. Solar photovoltaics and offshore wind auctions, in particular, have attracted a lot of interest. The results for onshore wind, however, are just as impressive. The future cost development of onshore wind is of great relevance, since it is a key pillar of the energy system transformation in many parts of the world. However, the estimated long-term cost reductions vary significantly, as different studies value the cost drivers of wind differently. In Germany, the opaque and complex cost structure of onshore wind is the root of much controversy. International auction results with winning bids of less than half of the typical German pay rate left people questioning the costs of domestic wind power. However this discussion often fails to account adequately for differences in the quality of wind resources. In light of the upcoming, and first, German onshore wind auctions, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion by providing the necessary context for international auction results, a general outlook on the future cost of onshore wind, and by illustrating the existing potential and hindrances for cost reductions in the German market.

Agora Energiewende (2017). Future cost of onshore wind. Recent auction results, long-term outlook and implications for upcoming German auctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomassen, Georg; Deutsch, Matthias

2017-01-01

The costs for electricity from renewable generation have been falling significantly in recent years, and record low bids at auctions around the world have grasped the attention of the public. Solar photovoltaics and offshore wind auctions, in particular, have attracted a lot of interest. The results for onshore wind, however, are just as impressive. The future cost development of onshore wind is of great relevance, since it is a key pillar of the energy system transformation in many parts of the world. However, the estimated long-term cost reductions vary significantly, as different studies value the cost drivers of wind differently. In Germany, the opaque and complex cost structure of onshore wind is the root of much controversy. International auction results with winning bids of less than half of the typical German pay rate left people questioning the costs of domestic wind power. However this discussion often fails to account adequately for differences in the quality of wind resources. In light of the upcoming, and first, German onshore wind auctions, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion by providing the necessary context for international auction results, a general outlook on the future cost of onshore wind, and by illustrating the existing potential and hindrances for cost reductions in the German market.

IEA Wind Task 26. Wind Technology, Cost and Performance Trends in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, the European Union, and the United States. 2007 - 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vitina, Aisma [Ea Energy Analyses, Copenhagen (Denmark); Luers, Silke [Deutsche WindGuard, Varel (Germany); Wallasch, Anna-Kathrin [Deutsche WindGuard, Varel (Germany); Berkhout, Volker [Fraunhofer IWES (Germany); Duffy, Aidan [Dublin Inst. of Technology and Dublin Energy Lab (Ireland); Cleary, Brendan [Dublin Inst. of Technology and Dublin Energy Lab (Ireland); Husabo, Leif I. [Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo (Norway); Weir, David E. [Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo (Norway); Lacal-Arantegui, Roberto [European Commission, Ispra (Italy). Joint Research Centre; Hand, M. Maureen [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lantz, Eric [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Belyeu, Kathy [Belyeu Consulting, Tacoma Park, MD (United States); Wiser, Ryan [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Bolinger, Mark [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Hoen, Ben [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2015-06-12

This report builds from a similar previous analysis (Schwabe et al., 2011) exploring the differences in cost of wind energy in 2008 among countries participating in IEA Wind Task 26 at that time. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is a widely recognized metric for understanding how technology, capital investment, operations, and financing impact the life-cycle cost of building and operating a wind plant. Schwabe et al. (2011) apply a spreadsheet-based cash flow model developed by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) to estimate LCOE. This model is a detailed, discounted cash flow model used to represent the various cost structures in each of the participating countries from the perspective of a financial investor in a domestic wind energy project. This model is used for the present analysis as well, and comparisons are made for those countries who contributed to both reports, Denmark, Germany, and the United States.

Cost analysis of lasers for a laser isotope separation system. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mail, R.A.; Markovich, F.J.; Carr, R.H.

1977-01-01

To be of practical significance, laser isotope separation (LIS) for separation of 235 U from 238 U must exhibit attributes which make it preferable to expansion of the present facilities. Clearly the most attractive such attribute is the prospect of significant cost reductions, which preliminary studies at LLL suggest will amount to a factor of three and perhaps as much as ten. From these preliminary studies, it appears that the lasers themselves account for a very substantial portion of the capital cost of a LIS system, and a significant portion of the equipment replacement costs. Since the laser costs are so pivotal to the system cost, and the system cost is so pivotal to the choice of separation techniques, it is clear that a more detailed investigation of laser costs is required. Results are presented of a study performed by General Research Corporation (GRC) to assess the cost of lasers in a production laser isotope separation (LIS) plant

Wind farm project economics : value of wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bills-Everett, T. [Mainstream Renewable Power, Toronto, ON (Canada)

2010-07-01

This PowerPoint presentation discussed methods of increasing the value of wind power projects. Appropriate turbine selection and layout is needed to ensure that wind resources are fully developed. Construction costs have a significant impact on project costs. The world turbine price index has not significantly fluctuated since 2006. Operating costs, and the value of wind power projects, are linked with OPEX fluctuations. Wind power projects can significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. An increase in wind power capacity will reduce the overall cost of energy produced from wind power. Countries can use wind power as part of a renewable energy portfolio designed to reduce risks related to diminishing petroleum supplies. Wind power will help to ensure a global transition to renewable energy use. tabs., figs.

Benefit Evaluation of Wind Turbine Generators in Wind Farms Using Capacity-Factor Analysis and Economic-Cost Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Zhe; Wang, L.; Yeh, T-H.

2009-01-01

Due to the recent price spike of the international oil and the concern of global warming, the development and deployment of renewable energy become one of the most important energy policies around the globe. Currently, there are different capacities and hub heights for commercial wind turbine gen...... height for WTGs that have been installed in Taiwan. Important outcomes affecting wind cost of energy in comparison with economic results using the proposed economic-analysis methods for different WFs are also presented.......Due to the recent price spike of the international oil and the concern of global warming, the development and deployment of renewable energy become one of the most important energy policies around the globe. Currently, there are different capacities and hub heights for commercial wind turbine...... generators (WTGs). To fully capture wind energy, different wind farms (WFs) should select adequate capacity of WTGs to effectively harvest wind energy and maximize their economic benefit. To establish selection criterion, this paper first derives the equations for capacity factor (CF) and pairing performance...

Reliability/Cost Evaluation on Power System connected with Wind Power for the Reserve Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Go-Eun; Cha, Seung-Tae; Shin, Je-Seok

2012-01-01

Wind power is ideally a renewable energy with no fuel cost, but has a risk to reduce reliability of the whole system because of uncertainty of the output. If the reserve of the system is increased, the reliability of the system may be improved. However, the cost would be increased. Therefore...... the reserve needs to be estimated considering the trade-off between reliability and economic aspects. This paper suggests a methodology to estimate the appropriate reserve, when wind power is connected to the power system. As a case study, when wind power is connected to power system of Korea, the effects...

A system-level cost-of-energy wind farm layout optimization with landowner modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Le; MacDonald, Erin

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We model the role of landowners in determining the success of wind projects. • A cost-of-energy (COE) model with realistic landowner remittances is developed. • These models are included in a system-level wind farm layout optimization. • Basic verification indicates the optimal COE is in-line with real-world data. • Land plots crucial to a project’s success can be identified with the approach. - Abstract: This work applies an enhanced levelized wind farm cost model, including landowner remittance fees, to determine optimal turbine placements under three landowner participation scenarios and two land-plot shapes. Instead of assuming a continuous piece of land is available for the wind farm construction, as in most layout optimizations, the problem formulation represents landowner participation scenarios as a binary string variable, along with the number of turbines. The cost parameters and model are a combination of models from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Windustry. The system-level cost-of-energy (COE) optimization model is also tested under two land-plot shapes: equally-sized square land plots and unequal rectangle land plots. The optimal COEs results are compared to actual COE data and found to be realistic. The results show that landowner remittances account for approximately 10% of farm operating costs across all cases. Irregular land-plot shapes are easily handled by the model. We find that larger land plots do not necessarily receive higher remittance fees. The model can help site developers identify the most crucial land plots for project success and the optimal positions of turbines, with realistic estimates of costs and profitability

Installation, Operation, and Maintenance Strategies to Reduce the Cost of Offshore Wind Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maples, B. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Saur, G. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hand, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); van de Pietermen, R. [Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (Netherlands); Obdam, T. [Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (Netherlands)

2013-07-01

Currently, installation, operation, and maintenance (IO&M) costs contribute approximately 30% to the LCOE of offshore wind plants. To reduce LCOE while ensuring safety, this paper identifies principal cost drivers associated with IO&M and quantifies their impacts on LCOE. The paper identifies technology improvement opportunities and provides a basis for evaluating innovative engineering and scientific concepts developed subsequently to the study. Through the completion of a case study, an optimum IO&M strategy for a hypothetical offshore wind project is identified.

Alternative wind power modeling methods using chronological and load duration curve production cost models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milligan, M R

1996-04-01

As an intermittent resource, capturing the temporal variation in windpower is an important issue in the context of utility production cost modeling. Many of the production cost models use a method that creates a cumulative probability distribution that is outside the time domain. The purpose of this report is to examine two production cost models that represent the two major model types: chronological and load duration cure models. This report is part of the ongoing research undertaken by the Wind Technology Division of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in utility modeling and wind system integration.

The Role of Logistics in Practical Levelized Cost of Energy Reduction Implementation and Government Sponsored Cost Reduction Studies: Day and Night in Offshore Wind Operations and Maintenance Logistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Thomas; Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Jensen, Christian Munk

2017-01-01

This paper reveals that logistics make up at least 17% of annual operational expenditure costs for offshore wind farms. Annual operational expenditure is found to vary by a factor of 9.5, making its share of levelized cost of energy for offshore wind range from 13% to 57%. These are key findings...... contrast to the shore-based office personnel who develop studies directing cost reduction efforts. This paper details the company motivation to join industry-wide cost reduction initiatives. A business case for offshore wind operations and maintenance logistics yielding 1% savings in levelized cost...... of a 20-month research project targeting cost reduction initiatives for offshore wind systems. The findings reveal that cost-out measures are difficult to implement due to cultural differences. Implementation efforts are rendered by personnel located offshore in a harsh sea environment which is in stark...

Analysis operating and maintenance cost of Danish wind turbines in 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Godtfredsen, F.

1994-10-01

A study of operation and maintenance (O and M) cost of Danish wind turbines has been carried out. The study is based on a questionnaire survey by the wind turbine owners association. The study shows a significant decline in the O and M cost from 55 kW machines installed in 1980-87 to modern machines. In 1993, the average total O and M cost for 55 kW and 150 kW turbines was approximately 0.22 DKK/kWh and 0.07 DKK/kWh, respectively. For 150 kW turbines, insurance and administration costs amounted to 0.04 DKK/kWh while repair and maintenance costs came to 0.03 DKK/kWh. In 1993, repair and maintenance cost were significantly higher for older vintages of 55 kW and 150 kW turbines, but it is not possible based on this study to conclude whether increasing O and M costs generally comes with increasing age. The statistical basis of this study is not large enough to conclude whether there are positive scale effects for ST's from 105 kW. Similarly, because of relatively few large WT are older than 10 years, it is not possible based on this study to predict the size of major future repair costs/reinvestments. To estimate the O and M costs more exactly, a larger empirical basis is needed. (au) (8 tabs., 17 ills., 11 refs.)

Final Technical Report Power through Policy: "Best Practices" for Cost-Effective Distributed Wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rhoads-Weaver, Heather; Gagne, Matthew; Sahl, Kurt; Orrell, Alice; Banks, Jennifer

2012-02-28

Power through Policy: 'Best Practices' for Cost-Effective Distributed Wind is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project to identify distributed wind technology policy best practices and to help policymakers, utilities, advocates, and consumers examine their effectiveness using a pro forma model. Incorporating a customized feed from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE), the Web-based Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool (Policy Tool) is designed to assist state, local, and utility officials in understanding the financial impacts of different policy options to help reduce the cost of distributed wind technologies. The project's final products include the Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool, found at www.windpolicytool.org, and its accompanying documentation: Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool Guidebook: User Instructions, Assumptions, and Case Studies. With only two initial user inputs required, the Policy Tool allows users to adjust and test a wide range of policy-related variables through a user-friendly dashboard interface with slider bars. The Policy Tool is populated with a variety of financial variables, including turbine costs, electricity rates, policies, and financial incentives; economic variables including discount and escalation rates; as well as technical variables that impact electricity production, such as turbine power curves and wind speed. The Policy Tool allows users to change many of the variables, including the policies, to gauge the expected impacts that various policy combinations could have on the cost of energy (COE), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and the simple payback of distributed wind projects ranging in size from 2.4 kilowatts (kW) to 100 kW. The project conducted case studies to demonstrate how the Policy Tool can provide insights into 'what if' scenarios and also allow the current status of incentives to be examined or defended when

Potential Offshore Wind Energy Areas in California: An Assessment of Locations, Technology, and Costs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Musial, Walter [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Beiter, Philipp [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Tegen, Suzanne [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Smith, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-12-01

This report summarizes a study of possible offshore wind energy locations, technologies, and levelized cost of energy in the state of California between 2015 and 2030. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal agency responsible for regulating renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf. It is based on reference wind energy areas where representative technology and performance characteristics were evaluated. These reference areas were identified as sites that were suitable to represent offshore wind cost and technology based on physical site conditions, wind resource quality, known existing site use, and proximity to necessary infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to assist energy policy decision-making by state utilities, independent system operators, state government officials and policymakers, BOEM, and its key stakeholders. The report is not intended to serve as a prescreening exercise for possible future offshore wind development.

An parametric investigation into the effect of low induction rotor (LIR) wind turbines on the levelised cost of electricity of a 1 GW offshore wind farm in a North Sea wind climate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R. Quinn; B. Bulder; Gerard Schepers

In this report, the details of an investigation into the eect of the low induction wind turbines on the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCoE) in a 1GW oshore wind farm is outlined. The 10 MW INNWIND.EU conventional wind turbine and its low induction variant, the 10 MW AVATAR wind turbine, are

Conference 'onshore and offshore wind energy cost reduction: challenges and opportunities for the industry in France and in Germany'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abadie, Pierre-Marie; Hinsch, Thomas; Wallasch, Anna-Kathrin; Giese, Norbert; Guyet, Quentin; Lenhardt, Edouard; Beinke, Thies; Bodenstab, Marc; Wolff, Nicolas; Burkhardt, Claus; Lessmeister, Andreas L.

2012-01-01

The French-German office for Renewable energies (OFAEnR) organised a conference on cost reduction in onshore and offshore wind energy. In the framework of this French-German exchange of experience, about 140 participants exchanged views on the cost allocation in onshore wind energy projects, on their financing, and on the transport and logistics profitability challenges. Concrete examples of operating and maintenance cost reductions in offshore wind energy projects were presented as well. This document brings together the available presentations (slides) made during this event: 1 - Overview of France's onshore and offshore wind support policies (Pierre-Marie Abadie); 2 - Keynote: Framework conditions for cost reductions in the German wind energy sector (Thomas Hinsch); 3 - Cost of onshore wind energy projects in Germany - Status and experience feedback (Anna-Kathrin Wallasch); 4 - Crown estate's Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Pathways Study: how to transpose the conclusions to the German case (Norbert Giese); 5 - Combined Forces for Reliable Supply Chain - French-German Convergence of expertise: strategic partnerships for offshore projects implementation (Quentin Guyet, Edouard Lenhardt); 6 - Reducing costs of onshore and offshore wind energy. Mon2Sea research project - Real-time monitoring of transport and cargo handling of components for the offshore installation of wind turbines (Thies Beinke, Marc Bodenstab); 7 - expertise, Innovation and reduction of cost of energy: Vestas experience (Nicolas Wolff); 8 - Far-Offshore-Wind projects. Results of the First German Offshore Windpark alpha ventus (Claus Burkhardt); 9 - Maintenance for Offshore-Wind parks: examples and good practices for the future (Andreas L. Lessmeister)

Economics for wind turbines in Denmark. Investments, operation and maintenance costs for selected vintages of turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hjuler Jensen, P.; Morthorst, P.E.; Skriver, S.; Rasmussen, M.; Larsen, H.; Hansen, L.H.; Nielsen, P.; Lemming, J.

2002-10-01

During the last two decades of operational experience with wind turbines in Denmark, a number of investigations on wind energy economics have been carried out on behalf of the Danish Energy Agency. The aim of this study has been to analyse the development of investments cost, O and M-cost, insurance costs etc. including the economic and technical lifetime of wind turbines. Based on a questionnaire and an existing database, time series for O and M-cost components are established going back to the early 80's. These time series are used to analyse the development of O and M-costs during the lifetime of different turbine sizes and vintages. A major issue of the project is to use the results achieved for older turbines (55kW to 150 kW) to establish an expected development of O and M-costs for newer larger turbines, typically of the 500kW to 750kW sizes. (au)

Large-scale offshore wind energy. Cost analysis and integration in the Dutch electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Noord, M.

1999-02-01

The results of analysis of the construction and integration costs of large-scale offshore wind energy (OWE) farms in 2010 are presented. The integration of these farms (1 and 5 GW) in the Dutch electricity distribution system have been regarded against the background of a liberalised electricity market. A first step is taken for the determination of costs involved in solving integration problems. Three different types of foundations are examined: the mono-pile, the jacket and a new type of foundation: the concrete caisson pile: all single-turbine-single-support structures. For real offshore applications (>10 km offshore, at sea-depths >20 m), the concrete caisson pile is regarded as the most suitable. The price/power ratios of wind turbines are analysed. It is assumed that in 2010 turbines in the power range of 3-5 MW are available. The main calculations have been conducted for a 3 MW turbine. The main choice in electrical infrastructure is for AC or DC. Calculations show that at distances of 30 km offshore and more, the use of HVDC will result in higher initial costs but lower operating costs. The share of operating and maintenance (O ampersand M) costs in the kWh cost price is approximately 3.3%. To be able to compare the two farms, a base case is derived with a construction time of 10 years for both. The energy yield is calculated for a wind regime offshore of 9.0 m/s annual mean wind speed. Per 3 MW turbine this results in an annual energy production of approximately 12 GWh. The total farm efficiency amounts to 82%, resulting in a total farm capacity factor of 38%. With a required internal rate of return of 15%, the kWh cost price amounts to 0.24 DFl and 0.21 DFl for the 1 GW and 5 GW farms respectively in the base case. The required internal rate of return has a large effect on the kWh cost price, followed by costs of subsystems. O ampersand M costs have little effect on the cost price. Parameter studies show that a small cost reduction of 5% is possible when

The Role of Logistics in Practical Levelized Cost of Energy Reduction Implementation and Government Sponsored Cost Reduction Studies: Day and Night in Offshore Wind Operations and Maintenance Logistics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Poulsen

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper reveals that logistics make up at least 17% of annual operational expenditure costs for offshore wind farms. Annual operational expenditure is found to vary by a factor of 9.5, making its share of levelized cost of energy for offshore wind range from 13% to 57%. These are key findings of a 20-month research project targeting cost reduction initiatives for offshore wind systems. The findings reveal that cost-out measures are difficult to implement due to cultural differences. Implementation efforts are rendered by personnel located offshore in a harsh sea environment which is in stark contrast to the shore-based office personnel who develop studies directing cost reduction efforts. This paper details the company motivation to join industry-wide cost reduction initiatives. A business case for offshore wind operations and maintenance logistics yielding 1% savings in levelized cost of energy is included on how to expand working hours from daytime to also work at night.

Improved cost of energy comparison of permanent magnet generators for large offshore wind turbines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hart, K.; McDonald, A.; Polinder, H.; Corr, E.; Carroll, J.

2014-01-01

This paper investigates geared and direct-drive permanent magnet generators for a typical offshore wind turbine, providing a detailed comparison of various wind turbine drivetrain configurations in order to minimise the Cost of Energy. The permanent magnet generator topologies considered include a

Analysis of cost estimation and wind energy evaluation using wind energy conversion systems (WECS) for electricity generation in six selected high altitude locations in Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohunakin, S. Olayinka; Ojolo, S. Joshua; Ogunsina, S. Babatunde; Dinrifo, R. Rufus

2012-01-01

Two commercial wind turbines namely AN Bonus 300 kW/33 and AN Bonus 1 MW/54 were technically assessed for electricity generation in six selected high altitude sites spreading across the North-West and North-East geopolitical regions of Nigeria by computing their capacity factors, annual power and energy outputs. The economic evaluation of using the two wind energy conversion systems (medium and large) for electric power generation in the selected locations were also estimated using the present value cost method. The results showed that capacity factors of the two turbines in the selected sites ranged between 4.6 and 43%. Average minimum cost per kW h was obtained in Kano as $0.0222/kW h with AN Bonus 1 MW while the highest average cost is $0.2074/kW h with AN Bonus 300 kW in Kaduna. The highest cost in each of the location was obtained with the medium WECs (AN Bonus 300 kW). In addition, Kano and Katsina were also found to be very economical for any of the adopted wind turbine models. Gusau and Kaduna, at cost of unit energy of about $0.30/kW h were found to be more profitable for non-connected electrical and mechanical applications (water pumping, battery charging) than diesel generator. - Highlights: ► All the locations considered have mean wind speeds above 4.8 m/s. ► Economical wind applications are possible in Kano and Katsina. ► Highest capacity factor and energy output are obtained using AN Bonus 1 MW in Kano. ► Specific cost of unit energy per kW h is cheaper using AN Bonus 1 MW.

Upscaling wind turbines: theoretical and practical aspects and their impact on the cost of energy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sieros, G.; Chaviaropoulos, P.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2012-01-01

Wind turbines with a rated power of 5 to 6 MW are now being designed and installed, mostly for offshore operation. Within the EU supported UpWind research project, the barriers for a further increase of size, up to 20 MW, are considered. These wind turbines are expected to have a rotor diameter up......‐efficient way. Finally, a theoretical framework for optimal design of large wind turbines is developed. This is based on a life cycle cost approach, with the introduction of generic models for the costs, as functions of the design parameters and using basic upscaling laws adjusted for technology improvement...... to 250 m and a hub height of more than 150 m. Initially, the theoretical implications of upscaling to such sizes on the weight and loads of the wind turbines are examined, where it is shown that unfavourable increases in weight and load will have to be addressed. Following that, empirical models...

From Non-market Support to Cost-Competitive Incentives. Wind Energy Commercialization in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wenqiang, Liu; Xiliang, Zhang; Shuhua, Gu; Gan, Lin

1999-07-01

This paper presents an overview of the development of wind energy in China. By examining the economics of windfarm development, it compares the economics of wind technology with other conventional energy technologies and analyzes the role of alternative policy instruments. Meanwhile, it identifies the major constraints of wind technology development and the defects of current non-market support from the government. It shows that the development of wind power will be directly subject to rational policy change, incentive mechanisms and institutional framework building. Particular importance is paid to market incentives to reach the objectives of commercialization and industrialization of wind power. The paper recommends some cost-competitive incentive measure and policies to drive the wind power market. It concludes that promising market incentives to speed up the development of wind energy include: (i) establish market competition mechanisms through standard power purchase agreement; (ii) adjust tax policies and government subsidies; (iii) stimulate investment incentive policies and regulations; and (iv) change governmental institutions and management modes. (author)

Wind energy research activities of the Dutch Electricity Generating Board

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halberg, N.

1990-01-01

The varying degrees of penetration of wind energy conversion systems (WECs) into the Dutch electricity generating system has been examined. A simulation has been carried out using wind data recorded at 6 sites spread across the area of interest in the Netherlands. The recorded wind data has been used in conjunction with a production costing model normally used by Sep (the Dutch Electricity Generating Board) for planning purposes. This model was modified to give a correct assessment of the quantity and value of fuel savings made by WECs. System studies were carried out for the year 2000 for zero wind penetration and for three distinctive penetration degrees of WECs, namely 5%, 10% and 15%. After incorporation of the WECS capacity, adjustments were made to the basic plant mix to allow the capacity credit WECs. Separate production cost simulations were executed for each distinct WECS capacity factor. Economic assessments were carried out using standard procedures. Except for the unpredictable development of fuel prices, the capital costs of the WECs proved to be the determinant for the economic viability of wind power. Significant improvements in costs and performance, as may be achieved through additional technological advances, are needed to made wind power competitive in widespread utility applications. (Author)

Using a Hybrid Cost-FMEA Analysis for Wind Turbine Reliability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nacef Tazi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA has been proven to be an effective methodology to improve system design reliability. However, the standard approach reveals some weaknesses when applied to wind turbine systems. The conventional criticality assessment method has been criticized as having many limitations such as the weighting of severity and detection factors. In this paper, we aim to overcome these drawbacks and develop a hybrid cost-FMEA by integrating cost factors to assess the criticality, these costs vary from replacement costs to expected failure costs. Then, a quantitative comparative study is carried out to point out average failure rate, main cause of failure, expected failure costs and failure detection techniques. A special reliability analysis of gearbox and rotor-blades are presented.

Design and fabrication of a low-cost Darrieus vertical-axis wind-turbine system, volume 2

Science.gov (United States)

1983-03-01

The fabrication, installation, and checkout of 100-kW 17 meter vertical axis wind turbines is described. Turbines are Darrieus-type VAWIs with rotors 17 meters and 25.15 meters in height. They can produce 100 kW of electric power at a cost of energy as low as 3 cents per kWh, in an 18-mph wind regime using 12% annualized costs. Four turbines were produced; three are installed and are operable. Contract results are documented.

Flow separation on wind turbines blades

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corten, G.P.

2001-01-01

In the year 2000, 15GW of wind power was installed throughout the world, producing 100PJ of energy annually. This contributes to the total electricity demand by only 0.2%. Both the installed power and the generated energy are increasing by 30% per year world-wide. If the airflow over wind turbine

Cost reduction potentials of offshore wind power in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hobohm, Jens; Krampe, Leonard; Peter, Frank

2014-01-01

Offshore wind power is a major hope for the German energy turnaround. However, it will only be possible to tap its cost reduction potentials if industry, the political leadership and the administrative authorities join forces to create the necessary preconditions. An important requirement for this capital-intensive technology are stable legal and political framework conditions. A recent study on the future shows what needs to be done.

Short-term strategies for Dutch wind power producers to reduce imbalance costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chaves-Ávila, José Pablo; Hakvoort, Rudi A.; Ramos, Andrés

2013-01-01

The paper assesses bidding strategies for a wind power producer in the Netherlands. To this end, a three-stage stochastic optimization framework is used, maximizing wind power producer's profit using the day-ahead and cross-border intraday market, taking into account available interconnection capacity. Results show that the wind power producer can increase its profits by trading on the intraday market and – under certain imbalance prices – by intentionally creating imbalances. It has been considered uncertainties about prices, power forecast and interconnection capacity at the day-ahead and intraday timeframes. - Highlights: ► A cross-border bidding strategy model for wind power producers has been developed. ► The model was applied to a real case study of a Dutch offshore wind power producer. ► Under certain imbalance prices, it is not profitable to deliver all possible power. ► Intraday markets give the possibility to reduce imbalance costs. ► Integration of intraday markets will increase liquidity.

Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

OpenAIRE

Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

2002-01-01

This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three-bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-event...

Renewable energy finance and project ownership. The impact of alternative development structures on the cost of wind power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiser, R.H.

1997-01-01

This paper uses traditional financial cash flow techniques to examine the impact of different ownership and financing structures on the cost of renewable energy, specifically wind power. Most large, non-hydroelectric, renewable energy projects are developed, owned and financed by private non-utility generators. Recently, however, US utilities have begun to consider owning and financing their own wind power facilities rather than purchasing power from independent renewable energy suppliers. Utilities in other countries have also expressed interest in direct renewable energy investments. A primary justification for utility ownership of wind turbine power plants is that utility self-financing and ownership is cheaper than purchasing wind energy from non-utility renewable energy suppliers. The results presented in this paper support that justification, although some of the estimated cost savings associated with utility ownership are a result of suboptimal utility analysis procedures and implicit risk shifting. Financing terms and variables are shown to significantly impact wind power costs. (author)

Fundamentals for remote structural health monitoring of wind turbine blades - a preproject. Annex A. Cost-benefit for embedded sensors in large wind turbine blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, L.G.; Lading, Lars

2002-01-01

-bladed 2MW turbine placed offshore either without sensors or with sensors are compared. The price of a structural health monitoring system of a price of 100 000 DKK (per tur-bine) results in a break-eventime of about 3 years. For a price of 300 000 DKK the break-even time is about 8 years. However......This report contains the results of a cost-benefit analysis for the use of embed-ded sensors for damage detection in large wind turbine blades - structural health monitoring - (in connection with remote surveillance) of large wind turbine placedoff-shore. The total operating costs of a three......, the cost/benefit analysis has large uncertainties....

European Wind Farm Project Costs History and Projections 2008 Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2008-10-15

At the request of Enova (the 'Client'), Garrad Hassan and Partners Limited ('GH') has provided technical advice on capital cost expectations for wind farm developments. In summary, the work provides a survey of the present and future 5-year prognosis for costs and conditions facing developers and suppliers in the European wind power market. The report will be used as a benchmark to support tendering for future Norwegian projects. As such, it will also provide discussion of how project characteristics can influence project cost. Data Used in the Analysis GH has obtained data on the investment costs for 35 projects developed or in development in Europe. The projects represent to the extent possible the characteristics representative of potential Norwegian projects. The data used in this analysis are from actual projects in: France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Wales. The turbine capacities represented in the data are typically 2 MW or above, except in one case where a mix of turbines sizes was used at the project. GH highlights that because of high demand for turbines, the main manufacturers have recently been offering to meet delivery schedules for new orders from late 2010. For new tenders it is likely that delivery time frames offered will now be for 2011 deliveries. As a result of the current 'Seller's Market', production capacity typically relates directly to the number of turbines sold in the year; therefore for 2007 the annual production capacity was approximately 22 GW. GH is aware that turbine suppliers across the market are working to increase their production capacity in order to ease the pressure on the market, however, there are bottlenecks through the supply chain at the sub component level. As a result, increases in production capacity will likely remain at a relatively steady state in the short term. Energy Assessment The energy assessment of a project is the area

Quantifying system-wide financial costs and benefits of renewables (Wind and PV) in South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Bischof-Niemz, T

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this study, the direct financial costs and benefits in South Africa from the wind and PV plants that came online in 2014 and all additional wind projects coming online in 2015 are quantified. In 2014, renewables created financial benefits of R5...

Cost-Effective Shaft Torque Observer for Condition Monitoring of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perisic, Nevena; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Pedersen, Bo Juul

2015-01-01

Improvement of condition monitoring (CM) systems for wind turbines (WTs) and reduction of the cost of wind energy are possible if knowledge about the condition of different WT components is available. CM based on the WT drive train shaft torque signal can give a better understanding of the gearbox...... of the augmented Kalman filter with fading memory (AKFF) is compared with the augmented Kalman filter (AKF) using simulated data of theWT for different load conditions, measurement noise levels andWT fault scenarios. A multiple-model algorithm, based on a set of different Kalman filters, is designed for practical...

Topology Comparison of Superconducting Generators for 10-MW Direct-Drive Wind Turbines: Cost of Energy Based

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Dong; Polinder, Henk; Abrahamsen, Asger Bech

2017-01-01

This paper aims at finding feasible electromagnetic designs of superconducting synchronous generators (SCSGs) for a 10-MW direct-drive wind turbine. Since a lower levelized cost of energy (LCoE) increases the feasibility of SCSGs in this application, 12 generator topologies are compared regarding...... their LCoE in a simplified form of levelized equipment cost of energy (LCoE$_{\\text{eq}}$). MgB$_2$ wires are employed in the field winding. Based on the current unit cost and critical current density capability of the MgB $_2$ wire at 20 K, the topologies with more iron have a much lower LCo...

A Transmission-Cost-Based Model to Estimate the Amount of Market-Integrable Wind Resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morales González, Juan Miguel; Pinson, Pierre; Madsen, Henrik

2012-01-01

are made to share the expenses in transmission derived from their integration, they may see the doors of electricity markets closed for not being competitive enough. This paper presents a model to decide the amount of wind resources that are economically exploitable at a given location from a transmission......In the pursuit of the large-scale integration of wind power production, it is imperative to evaluate plausible frictions among the stochastic nature of wind generation, electricity markets, and the investments in transmission required to accommodate larger amounts of wind. If wind producers......-cost perspective. This model accounts for the uncertain character of wind by using a modeling framework based on stochastic optimization, simulates market barriers by means of a bi-level structure, and considers the financial risk of investments in transmission through the conditional value-at-risk. The major...

The economics of wind and solar variability. How the variability of wind and solar power affects their marginal value, optimal deployment, and integration costs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hirth, Lion

2014-11-14

Variable renewable energy sources (VRE) for electricity generation, such as wind and solar power, are subject to inherent output fluctuations. This variability has significant impacts on power system and electricity markets if VRE are deployed at large scale. While on global average, wind and solar power currently supply only a minor share of electricity, they are expected to play a much larger role in the future - such that variability will become a major issue (which it already is in some regions). This thesis contributes to the literature that assesses these impacts the ''system and market integration'' literature. This thesis aims at answering the question: What is the impact of wind and solar power variability on the economics of these technologies? It will be laid out that the impact can be expressed in (at least) three ways: as reduction of value, as increase of cost, or as decrease of optimal deployment. Translating between these perspectives is not trivial, as evidenced by the confusion around the concept of ''integration costs''. Hence, more specifically: How does variability impact the marginal economic value of these power sources, their optimal deployment, and their integration costs? This is the question that this thesis addresses. This study comprises six papers, of which two develop a valuation framework that accounts for the specific characteristics of the good electricity, and the specific properties of wind and solar power versus ''dispatchable'' power plants. Three articles then assess quantitative questions and estimate marginal value, optimal deployment, and integration costs. These estimates stem from a newly developed numerical power market model, EMMA, market data, and quantitative literature reviews. The final paper addresses market design. In short, the principal findings of this thesis are as follows. Electricity is a peculiar economic good, being at the same time perfectly

The economics of wind and solar variability. How the variability of wind and solar power affects their marginal value, optimal deployment, and integration costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirth, Lion

2014-01-01

Variable renewable energy sources (VRE) for electricity generation, such as wind and solar power, are subject to inherent output fluctuations. This variability has significant impacts on power system and electricity markets if VRE are deployed at large scale. While on global average, wind and solar power currently supply only a minor share of electricity, they are expected to play a much larger role in the future - such that variability will become a major issue (which it already is in some regions). This thesis contributes to the literature that assesses these impacts the ''system and market integration'' literature. This thesis aims at answering the question: What is the impact of wind and solar power variability on the economics of these technologies? It will be laid out that the impact can be expressed in (at least) three ways: as reduction of value, as increase of cost, or as decrease of optimal deployment. Translating between these perspectives is not trivial, as evidenced by the confusion around the concept of ''integration costs''. Hence, more specifically: How does variability impact the marginal economic value of these power sources, their optimal deployment, and their integration costs? This is the question that this thesis addresses. This study comprises six papers, of which two develop a valuation framework that accounts for the specific characteristics of the good electricity, and the specific properties of wind and solar power versus ''dispatchable'' power plants. Three articles then assess quantitative questions and estimate marginal value, optimal deployment, and integration costs. These estimates stem from a newly developed numerical power market model, EMMA, market data, and quantitative literature reviews. The final paper addresses market design. In short, the principal findings of this thesis are as follows. Electricity is a peculiar economic good, being at the same time perfectly

Listen, wind energy costs nothing; Oyez tous, L'eolien ne coute rien

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poizat, F

2008-09-15

The author discusses the affirmation of the ADEME and the Environmental and sustainable development Ministry: the french wind park will costs in 2008 0,5 euro year for each household. He criticizes strongly this calculi, bringing many data on energy real cost today and in the next 10 years. Many references are provided. (A.L.B.)

Wind turbines in your environment? Wind turbines and economic aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-02-01

The wind energy industry has demonstrated its maturity and technical reliability. Because it will play an increasing role on the power generation market, the question of the cost and profitability of the wind energy has become of prime importance. Two main traps must be avoided: the first should be to deny the present and future economical interest of wind energy because of its supplementary cost with respect to conventional power generation techniques. The second trap should be to underestimate the economical progresses that wind energy must carry on to ensure its large scale development. Therefore, some advantageous pricing and regulatory conditions are necessary to allow the development of this emerging energy source. This document presents: the cost of a wind power project (initial investment, financial incentives); the profitability of a project (cost of a kWh of wind power origin, retail price, warranty of power supply capacity, indirect environmental costs, value of decentralized production); economical interest of wind power (energy efficiency, employment, financial advantages for the local economy); and who are the investors. (J.S.)

Effect of Different Workscope Strategies on Wind Turbine Gearbox Life Cycle Repair Costs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Crowley

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The wind turbine industry is beginning to establish orthodoxies governing the repair of gearboxes, including policies governing the replacement of bearings during gearbox heavy maintenance events. Some maintainers recommend replacing all of the bearings, every time, regardless of condition or age. At the same time, others prefer to only replace the failed bearing. The former rationale achieves availability by spending more money than absolutely necessary; the latter sacrifices reliability in exchange for a lower shop visit cost. Even though neither approach results in the lowest Life Cycle Cost, no standard practice has yet been implemented to methodically determine what would be the best approach. Furthermore, as gearboxes approach the end of their planned service lives, a different strategy may be called-for. This paper presents an example of using a reliability-based statistical analysis to determine which strategy will yield the lowest Life Cycle Cost for wind turbine gearboxes.

Reduction of wind powered generator cost by use of a one bladed rotor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pruyn, R R; Wiesner, W; Ljungstroem, O [ed.

1976-01-01

Cost analysis supported by preliminary design studies of one and two bladed wind powered generator units shows that a 30% reduction in acquisition cost can be achieved with a one bladed design. Designs studied were sized for an output power of 1000 kilowatts. The one bladed design has the potential for reducing acquisition cost to $680 per available kilowatt if the unit is located in a region with mean surface winds of 15 mph. Vibratory loads of the one bladed design are significant and will require considerable design attention. The one per rev Coriolis torque caused by blade flapping is the most significant problem. The major source of blade flapping will be the velocity gradient of the ground boundary layer. A torsional vibration isolating coupling may be required in the generator drive to reduce the loads due to this vibratory torque. An inclined flapping hinge also is desirable to cause pitch-flap coupling that will suppress blade flap motions.

Results, advantages, cost effectivity and installation potential of cooperation wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langenbach, J.; De Vries, J.

1990-01-01

September 1987 a cooperation of small electricity consumers installed the first cooperative wind turbine in Delft, Netherlands. At present there are 25 such cooperatives with more than 4000 members. In February 1990 14 cooperative wind turbines were in operation with a total capacity of 1,030 kWh. An extension to 23 wind turbines with a total capacity of circa 1.8 MW and a total investment of 3.8 million Dutch guilders is expected for 1990. In 1989 1.1 million kWh has been generated, and in 1990 a production of more than 2 million kWh is expected. The most important advantages of cooperative exploitation of wind turbines are the positive public opinion, extensive possibilities to install the wind turbines, the free choice of location, and cost effectivity. At the present level of investment subsidies and kWh compensations the installed capacity can increase to a maximum of 10 MW in 1995. If a national regulation for cooperative exploitation will be implemented, the kWh compensations increase to DFl 0.17-0.20 and the investment subsidies gradually decrease to zero, the total capacity can mount to 40 MW in 1995 and 125 MW in the year 2000. 1 fig., 3 tabs., 3 refs

Economics of a small wind pump system based on estimated petrol and diesel cost savings from use in Northern Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. J. Ejieji

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Eleven years of daily wind records were analyzed for the estimation of available wind energy for water pumping at three selected locations in Northern Nigeria, namely Jos, Kano and Sokoto. This formed the basis for investigating the economics of the use of an imported small wind pump under a deregulated energy market environment. The estimated available energy for water pumping at the installation height of 9m was 190 kwh/m2/yr for Jos, 225 kwh/m2/yr for Kano and 348 kwh/m2/yr for Sokoto. The monetary value of the available wind energy was considered as saved energy cost. The saved cost was obtained in terms of the unsubsidized cost of the petrol and diesel that an internal combustion engine (ICE would consume to produce energy equivalent to the available wind energy. At the prevailing interest and inflation rates of 21.96 % and 12.1% respectively, and unsubsidized prices of N 131.32/l and N 140.23/l for petrol and diesel respectively, investment in the wind pump was not found to be economically competitive relative to using a pump with ICE prime mover at the three locations unless the cost of the pump was subsidized. For Sokoto, the estimated subsidy for initial cost of the wind pump required for the investment to be competitive relative to the use of a pump driven by a petrol ICE was 16%. Relative to a pump driven by a diesel ICE, the required subsidy was 24%. The corresponding subsidy estimates for Kano were 48 % and 51 % respectively. For Jos, it was 56% relative to the use of a pump driven by a petrol ICE and 60 % relative to that driven by a diesel ICE. Considering the potential environmental and social and environmental benefits however, subsidy support by government for local manufacturing of the pumps was recommended since shipping cost and custom tariff constituted over 36% of the initial cost of the wind pump.

An assessment of the potential for business use of wind turbines on farms in Scotland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, A.G.M.; Graham, R.; Morgan, O.W.

1998-01-01

High wind speeds on farms in Scotland, coupled with on-site demands for electricity, suggest there is potential for installing single wind turbines on these farms to generate electricity. The benefit of avoided costs for on-site supplies will help to lower the effective generating costs of surplus electricity for sale. Using a sensitivity analysis to examine a range of parameter settings for financial costs, wind speeds, and farm grants, it is shown that a turbine can be viable on a farm. The key to viability is to have correct and accurate matching between turbine and farm business, there being a place for both large turbines and small turbines under separate circumstances. There are scenarios where a wind turbine is viable on half the farms in Scotland. (Author)

Construction of low-cost, Mod-OA wood composite wind turbine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Lark, R. F.

1983-01-01

Two sixty-foot, low-cost, wood composite blades for service on 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbines were constructed. The blades were constructed of epoxy resin-bonded Douglas fir veneers for the leading edge sections, and paper honeycombcored, birch plywood faced panels for the afterbody sections. The blades were joined to the wind turbine hub by epoxy resin-bonded steel load take-off studs embedded into the root end of the blades. The blades were installed on the 200 kW Mod-OA wind turbine facility at Kahuku, Hawaii, The blades completed nearly 8,000 hours of operation over an 18 month period at an average power of 150 kW prior to replacement with another set of wood composite blades. The blades were replaced because of a corrosion failure of the steel shank on one stud. Inspections showed that the wood composite structure remained in excellent condition.

Cost of electricity generated and fuel saving of an optimized wind-diesel electricity supply for village in Tangier-area (Morocco)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nfaoui, H.; Buret, J.

1996-01-01

In several of the remote areas of Morocco, diesel generators are used to provide electrical power. Such systems are often characterized by poor efficiency and high maintenance costs. The integration of wind turbine with a diesel/battery hybrid system is becoming cost-effective in wind locations. In previous works (Nfaoul et al, 1990, 1994a, 1994b), the wind characteristics in Tangier-area were studied on the basis of 12 years (1978-1989) of hourly average wind speed data. A wind/diesel energy system with battery storage has been modelled using the Tangiers wind regime over a one year period (1989), and synthesized consumer load data based on the characteristics of typical usage of domestic appliances, along with the estimated working patterns of a local isolated community. In this work, we use a more realistic hourly consumer load, which is the result of an experiment realized in a Maroccan village using a diesel engine to provide electricity for lighting and audio-visual. The 1989 wind data were reworked for a large series of measurements (12 years). The optimum wind turbine size and the benefits of a storage system on fuel saving are also reviewed. This work is concerned with diesel fuel consumption: an optimum design of the considered system is to be found which minimises the cost energy generation over the equipments' lifetime. Given the economic assumption made (the most important being a fuel price of 4.5 Dh/litre and an interest rate of 5% net of inflation), the wind/diesel energy system has been shown to be competitive with diesel-only generation in the wind regime of the Tangier location for the cost per unit wind turbine swept area less than 3000 Dh/m 2 (8Dh=1$). (author)

SimWIND: A geospatial infrastructure model for optimizing wind power generation and transmission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillips, Benjamin R.; Middleton, Richard S.

2012-01-01

Wind is a clean, enduring energy resource with the capacity to satisfy 20% or more of U.S. electricity demand. Presently, wind potential is limited by a paucity of electrical transmission lines and/or capacity between promising wind resources and primary load centers. We present the model SimWIND to address this shortfall. SimWIND is an integrated optimization model for the geospatial arrangement and cost minimization of wind-power generation–transmission–delivery infrastructure. Given a set of possible wind-farm sites, the model simultaneously determines (1) where and how much power to generate and (2) where to build new transmission infrastructure and with what capacity in order to minimize the cost for delivering a targeted amount of power to load. Costs and routing of transmission lines consider geographic and social constraints as well as electricity losses. We apply our model to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Interconnection, considering scenarios that deliver up to 20 GW of new wind power. We show that SimWIND could potentially reduce ERCOT's projected ∼$5B transmission network upgrade line length and associated costs by 50%. These results suggest that SimWIND's coupled generation–transmission–delivery modeling approach could play a critical role in enhancing planning efforts and reducing costs for wind energy integration. - Highlights: ► Wind power is limited by transmission capacity between resources and demands. ► SimWIND is a coupled generation-transmission-delivery model for wind infrastructure. ► The model minimizes costs considering realistic transmission routing and networking. ► We show that SimWIND could save 50% of $5B costs for expanding the Texas grid. ► Results suggest SimWIND may play a critical role in enhancings wind planning efforts.

Impact of Financing Instruments and Strategies on the Wind Power Production Costs: A Case of Lithuania

Science.gov (United States)

Bobinaite, V.; Konstantinaviciute, I.

2018-04-01

The paper aims at demonstrating the relevance of financing instruments, their terms and financing strategies in relation to the cost of wind power production and the ability of wind power plant (PP) to participate in the electricity market in Lithuania. The extended approach to the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is applied. The feature of the extended approach lies in considering the lifetime cost and revenue received from the support measures. The research results have substantiated the relevance of financing instruments, their terms and strategies in relation to their impact on the LCOE and competitiveness of wind PP. It has been found that financing of wind PP through the traditional financing instruments (simple shares and bank loans) makes use of venture capital and bonds coming even in the absence of any support. It has been estimated that strategies consisting of different proportions of hard and soft loans, bonds, own and venture capital result in the average LCOE of 5.1-5.7 EURct/kWh (2000 kW), when the expected electricity selling price is 5.4 EURct/kWh. The financing strategies with higher shares of equity could impact by around 6 % higher LCOE compared to the strategies encompassing higher shares of debt. However, seeking to motivate venture capitalists, bond holders or other new financiers entering the wind power sector, support measures (feed-in tariff or investment subsidy) are relevant in case of 250 kW wind PP. It has been estimated that under the unsupported financing strategies, the average LCOE of 250 kW wind PP will be 7.8-8.8 EURct/kWh, but it will reduce by around 50 % if feed-in tariff or 50 % investment subsidy is applied.

Wind farm economics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milborrow, D.J.

1995-01-01

The economics of wind energy are changing rapidly, with improvements in machine performance and increases in size both contributing to reduce costs. These trends are examined and future costs assessed. Although the United Kingdom has regions of high wind speed, these are often in difficult terrain and construction costs are often higher than elsewhere in Europe. Nevertheless, wind energy costs are converging with those of the conventional thermal sources. At present, bank loan periods for wind projects are shorter than for thermal plant, which means that energy prices are higher. Ways of overcoming this problem are explored. It is important, also, to examine the value of wind energy. It is argued that wind energy has a higher value than energy from centralized plant, since it is fed into the low-voltage distribution network. (Author)

Wind turbine noise reduction. An indicative cost estimation; Sanering windturbinegeluid. Een indicatieve raming van kosten

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verheijen, E.N.G.; Jabben, J.

2011-11-15

Since the 1st of January 2011 new rules apply for wind turbine noise. The rules include a different calculation method and different noise limits, intended for new wind turbines. In order to tackle noise annoyance from existing wind turbines the government is considering to set up a abatement operation, for which a cost estimate is given in this study. At an abatement limit of 47 decibel L{sub den} (Level day-evening-night) approximately 450 dwellings would be eligible for noise remediation. The costs of this operation are estimated at 4.9 million euro. However, in many of these cases the wind turbine is probably owned by the respective residents. It is possible that public funds for noise remediation will not be allocated to the owners of dwellings that directly profit from the turbines. If these cases are excluded, the abatement operation would cover 165 to 275 dwellings with estimated costs for remediation of 1.6 to 2.6 million euro. A tentative cost-benefit analysis suggests that noise remediation will be cost effective in most situations. This means that the benefits of reduced annoyance or sleep disturbance are in balance with the cost of remediation. Only for the small group of wind turbines that are in use for over fifteen years, remediation will not be cost effective. These wind turbines are nearing the end of their lifespan and are therefore ignored in the above estimates. [Dutch] Sinds 1 januari 2011 zijn nieuwe regels rond windturbinegeluid van kracht. Bij de nieuwe regelgeving hoort een andere berekeningsmethode en normstelling, bedoeld voor nieuw te plaatsen windturbines. Voor de aanpak van de geluidhinder door bestaande windturbines overweegt de overheid een saneringsoperatie op te zetten, waarvoor in dit onderzoek een kostenraming wordt gegeven. Bij een saneringsgrenswaarde van 47 decibel zouden ongeveer 450 woningen voor sanering in aanmerking komen. De kosten voor sanering daarvan worden geschat op 4,9 miljoen euro. Bij een groot deel van deze

Cost-competitive incentives for wind energy development in China: institutional dynamics and policy changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wenqiang Liu; Xiliang Zhang; Lin Gan

2002-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the development of wind power in China. The factors that affect the directions of wind power development are analyzed. It examines the economics of wind farm development and compares it with conventional energy sources. The major constraints in wind technology development, and defects of the current policies, are discussed. It points out that wind power development should be subject to rational policy change and institutional adjustment. It discusses the incentive mechanisms and institutional frameworks for future development. Particular importance is attributed to market incentives for wind power to reach the objectives of industrialization and commercialization. A number of cost-competitive incentive measures and policies are recommended: (i) introducing market based mechanisms through standard power purchase agreement; (ii) establishing effective investment policies and regulations to attract private investment; (iii) promoting localization of wind turbine production; (iv) adjusting tax and subsidy policies; and (v) reforming governmental institutions to make clear rules and responsibilities for policymaking, and enhancing communication/coordination between relevant government agencies in order to formulate uniform and effective policies. (Author)

Offshore wind power grid connection-The impact of shallow versus super-shallow charging on the cost-effectiveness of public support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weissensteiner, Lukas; Haas, Reinhard; Auer, Hans

2011-01-01

Public support for electricity generation from renewable energy sources is commonly funded by non-voluntary transfers from electricity consumers to producers. Apparently, the cost-effective disposition of funds in terms of induced capacity deployment has to be regarded a key criterion for the success of renewable energy policy. Grid connection costs are a major cost component in the utilization of offshore wind energy for electricity generation. In this paper, the effect of different attribution mechanisms of these costs on overall cost-effectiveness from consumers' perspective is analyzed. The major result of this investigation is that an attribution of grid connection costs to grid operators - as against to generators - leads to a smaller producer surplus and, hence, to lower transfer costs for electricity consumers. Applying this approach to the deployment of UK Rounds II and III offshore wind farms could lead to annual savings of social transfers of Pounds 1.2b and an equal reduction of producer surplus. This amount would be sufficient to finance the deployment of additional 10% of the capacity under consideration. - Highlights: → Grid connection costs of marginal wind farm add to submarginal producer surplus. → Overall producer surplus to be paid for by electricity consumers (transfer costs). → Allocating grid connection costs to grid operators leads to transfer cost savings. → Savings for UK Rounds II and III offshore wind farm projects may reach Pounds 1.2b per year. → These savings could finance additional 10% capacity (+3.3 GW).

Modelling the existing Irish energy-system to identify future energy costs and the maximum wind penetration feasible

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Connolly, D.; Lund, Henrik; Mathiesen, Brian Vad

2010-01-01

energy- system to future energy costs by considering future fuel prices, CO2 prices, and different interest rates. The final investigation identifies the maximum wind penetration feasible on the 2007 Irish energy- system from a technical and economic perspective, as wind is the most promising fluctuating...... for the existing Irish energy-system is approximately 30% from both a technical and economic perspective based on 2020 energy prices. Future studies will use the model developed in this study to show that higher wind penetrations can be achieved if the existing energy-system is modified correctly. Finally...... renewable resource available in Ireland. It is concluded that the reference model simulates the Irish energy-system accurately, the annual fuel costs for Ireland’s energy could increase by approximately 58% from 2007 to 2020 if a business-as-usual scenario is followed, and the optimum wind penetration...

Integration Costs Revisited – An economic framework for wind and solar variability

OpenAIRE

Hirth, Lion (Prof. Dr.); Ueckerdt, Falko (Dr.); Edenhofer, Ottmar (Prof. Dr.)

2015-01-01

The integration of wind and solar generators into power systems causes “integration costs” – for grids, balancing services, more flexible operation of thermal plants, and reduced utilization of the capital stock embodied in infrastructure, among other things. This paper proposes a framework to analyze and quantify these costs. We propose a definition of integration costs based on the marginal economic value of electricity, or market value – as such a definition can be more easily used in econ...

Wind energy, status and opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Wijk, A.

1994-01-01

Wind energy is diffuse but was widely used before the industrial revolution. The first oil crisis triggered renewed interest in wind energy technology in remote areas. Winds develop when solar radiation reaches the earth's highly varied surface unevenly, creating temperature density and pressure differences. The earth's atmosphere has to circulate to transport heat from the tropics towards the poles. On a global scale, these atmospheric currents work as an immense energy transfer medium. Three main applications can be distinguished: wind pumps, off-grid applications and grid-connected applications. The total generating costs for wind turbine systems are determined by total investments costs, the life time, the operating and maintenance costs, the wind regime (the wind energy potential is proportional to v 3 where v is the wind speed), the efficiency and availability of the wind turbine. The main gains are achieved as a result of improved reliability. The optimum size of a wind turbine depends on the wind speed, the wind turbine costs, the construction costs, the environmental impact and the social costs. The value of wind energy depends on the application that is made of the energy generated and on the costs of alternatives, it can be calculated by the avoided costs of damage to flora, fauna and mankind due to acid rain deposition, enhancement of the greenhouse effect. The environmental aspects are bird hindrance, noise, telecommunication interference and safety. 2 tabs., 1 fig

Estimation of cost development of offshore wind energy in the Netherlands and required governmental contribution to realize 6,000 MW in 2020

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Vries, H.J.; Van Sambeek, E.J.W.

2004-04-01

The development of the cost of the production of electricity from offshore wind sources is explored. These cost developments are used to estimate the cost of the Dutch Government to fulfil its self-set target of 6,000 MW offshore wind energy capacity in 2020 [nl

Flexible reserve markets for wind integration

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Alisha R.

reserve market, identifying the operational constraints that inhibit a multi-purpose dam facility to meet the desired flexible energy demand. The second study transitions from the hydroelectric facility as the decision maker providing flex reserve services to the wind plant as the decision maker purchasing these services. In this second study, methods for allocating the costs of flex reserve services under different wind policy scenarios are explored that aggregate farms into different groupings to identify the least-cost strategy for balancing the costs of hourly day-ahead forecast errors. The least-cost strategy may be different for an individual wind plant and for the system operator, noting that the least-cost strategy is highly sensitive to cost allocation and aggregation schemes. The latter may also cause cross-subsidies in the cost for balancing wind forecast errors among the different wind farms. The third study builds from the second, with the objective to quantify the amount of flex reserves needed for balancing future forecast errors using a probabilistic approach (quantile regression) to estimating future forecast errors. The results further examine the usefulness of separate flexible markets PJM could use for balancing oversupply and undersupply events, similar to the regulation up and down markets used in Europe. These three studies provide the following results and insights to large-scale wind integration using actual PJM wind farm data that describe the markets and generators within PJM. • Chapter 2 provides an in-depth analysis of the valuable, yet highly-constrained, energy services multi-purpose hydroelectric facilities can provide, though the opportunity cost for providing these services can result in large deviations from the reservoir policies with minimal revenue gain in comparison to dedicating the whole of dam capacity to providing day-ahead, baseload generation. • Chapter 3 quantifies the system-wide efficiency gains and the distributive

Design and evaluation of low-cost laminated wood composite blades for intermediate size wind turbines: Blade design, fabrication concept, and cost analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Lieblein, S.; Gaugeon, M.; Thomas, G.; Zueck, M.

1982-01-01

As part of a program to reduce wind turbine costs, an evaluation was conducted of a laminated wood composite blade for the Mod-OA 200 kW wind turbine. The effort included the design and fabrication concept for the blade, together with cost and load analyses. The blade structure is composed of laminated Douglas fir veneers for the primary spar and nose sections, and honeycomb cored plywood panels for the trailing edges sections. The attachment of the wood blade to the rotor hub was through load takeoff studs bonded into the blade root. Tests were conducted on specimens of the key structural components to verify the feasibility of the concept. It is concluded that the proposed wood composite blade design and fabrication concept is suitable for Mod-OA size turbines (125-ft diameter rotor) at a cost that is very competitive with other methods of manufacture.

Costs of slurry separation technologies and alternative use of the solid fraction for biogas production or burning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Brian H.

2011-01-01

separation, in order to establish the overall costs. Key parameters are livestock density, transport distance, price of additional land and cost of separation. The conclusion is that unless land prices or prices on slurry agreements are very high, traditional handling of animal manure has the lowest costs......The purpose of this paper is to analyse different separation concepts in order to evaluate the overall costs based on a systems approach from stable to field. When livestock are produced in livestock intensive areas the distribution of manure without creating a surplus of nutrients is often....... Decanter separation can be the cheapest if area is limited and cooperation with neighbours is possible as large volumes reduce separation costs per tonne. Flocculation is the best if much P has to be removed from the farm in the solid fraction. Separation will in the future in many cases be combined...

Wind Forced Variability in Eddy Formation, Eddy Shedding, and the Separation of the East Australian Current

Science.gov (United States)

Bull, Christopher Y. S.; Kiss, Andrew E.; Jourdain, Nicolas C.; England, Matthew H.; van Sebille, Erik

2017-12-01

The East Australian Current (EAC), like many other subtropical western boundary currents, is believed to be penetrating further poleward in recent decades. Previous observational and model studies have used steady state dynamics to relate changes in the westerly winds to changes in the separation behavior of the EAC. As yet, little work has been undertaken on the impact of forcing variability on the EAC and Tasman Sea circulation. Here using an eddy-permitting regional ocean model, we present a suite of simulations forced by the same time-mean fields, but with different atmospheric and remote ocean variability. These eddy-permitting results demonstrate the nonlinear response of the EAC to variable, nonstationary inhomogeneous forcing. These simulations show an EAC with high intrinsic variability and stochastic eddy shedding. We show that wind stress variability on time scales shorter than 56 days leads to increases in eddy shedding rates and southward eddy propagation, producing an increased transport and southward reach of the mean EAC extension. We adopt an energetics framework that shows the EAC extension changes to be coincident with an increase in offshore, upstream eddy variance (via increased barotropic instability) and increase in subsurface mean kinetic energy along the length of the EAC. The response of EAC separation to regional variable wind stress has important implications for both past and future climate change studies.

New software for improving performance in wind farm operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Collins, Mark [Ekho for Wind (Canada)

2011-07-01

The performance of wind farms depends on multiple field and business systems. This makes operational planning difficult because of so many data being in separate systems, duplication of data and the impossibility of gathering all relevant data together in one place. The aim of this paper is to present a new software, Ekho for Wind, which helps improve performance in wind farm operations by providing features such as high level views, performance analysis, downtime tracking, quality data management and forecast generation. This new software provides operational intelligence which offers incentives for continuous improvement. Ekho for Wind can bring such benefits as maximization of generation, increased lifetime of assets, minimization of costs and increased profitability. This presentation introduced a new software for improving the performance of wind farms and the lifetime of assets, resulting in significant payback.

Structural Health and Prognostics Management for Offshore Wind Turbines: Sensitivity Analysis of Rotor Fault and Blade Damage with O&M Cost Modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Myrent, Noah J. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Lab. for Systems Integrity and Reliability; Barrett, Natalie C. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Lab. for Systems Integrity and Reliability; Adams, Douglas E. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Lab. for Systems Integrity and Reliability; Griffith, Daniel Todd [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Wind Energy Technology Dept.

2014-07-01

Operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind plants are significantly higher than the current costs for land-based (onshore) wind plants. One way to reduce these costs would be to implement a structural health and prognostic management (SHPM) system as part of a condition based maintenance paradigm with smart load management and utilize a state-based cost model to assess the economics associated with use of the SHPM system. To facilitate the development of such a system a multi-scale modeling and simulation approach developed in prior work is used to identify how the underlying physics of the system are affected by the presence of damage and faults, and how these changes manifest themselves in the operational response of a full turbine. This methodology was used to investigate two case studies: (1) the effects of rotor imbalance due to pitch error (aerodynamic imbalance) and mass imbalance and (2) disbond of the shear web; both on a 5-MW offshore wind turbine in the present report. Sensitivity analyses were carried out for the detection strategies of rotor imbalance and shear web disbond developed in prior work by evaluating the robustness of key measurement parameters in the presence of varying wind speeds, horizontal shear, and turbulence. Detection strategies were refined for these fault mechanisms and probabilities of detection were calculated. For all three fault mechanisms, the probability of detection was 96% or higher for the optimized wind speed ranges of the laminar, 30% horizontal shear, and 60% horizontal shear wind profiles. The revised cost model provided insight into the estimated savings in operations and maintenance costs as they relate to the characteristics of the SHPM system. The integration of the health monitoring information and O&M cost versus damage/fault severity information provides the initial steps to identify processes to reduce operations and maintenance costs for an offshore wind farm while increasing turbine availability

Wind power production: from the characterisation of the wind resource to wind turbine technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beslin, Guy; Multon, Bernard

2016-01-01

Illustrated by graphs and tables, this article first describes the various factors and means related to the assessment of wind resource in the World, in Europe, and the factors which characterize a local wind resource. In this last respect, the authors indicate how local topography is taken into account to calculate wind speed, how time variations are taken into account (at the yearly, seasonal or daily level), the different methods used to model a local wind resource, how to assess the power recoverable by a wind turbine with horizontal axis (notion of Betz limit). In the second part, the authors present the different wind turbines, their benefits and drawbacks: vertical axis, horizontal axis (examples of a Danish-type wind turbine, of wind turbines designed for extreme conditions). Then, they address the technology of big wind turbines: evolution of technology and of commercial offer, aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine and benefit of a varying speed (technological solutions, importance of the electric generator). They describe how to choose a wind turbine, how product lines are organised, how the power curve and energy capacity are determined. The issue of integration of wind energy into the power system is then addressed. The next part addressed the economy of wind energy production (annualized production cost, order of magnitude of wind electric power production cost). Future trends are discussed and offshore wind energy production is briefly addressed

Wind energy economics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milborrow, D.J.

1995-01-01

The economics of wind energy have improved rapidly in the past few years, with improvements in machine performance and increases in size both contributing to reduce costs. These trends are examined and future costs assessed. As bank loan periods for wind projects are shorter than for thermal plant, the effect on the price of wind energy is discussed. It is argued that wind energy has a higher value than that of centralised plant, since it is fed into the low voltage distribution network and it follows that the price of wind energy is converging with its value. The paper also includes a brief review of the capacity credit of wind plant and an assessment of the cost penalties which are incurred due to the need to hold extra plant on part load. These penalties are shown to be small. (author)

3000 MW wind scenari in France in 2010: first evaluation of prices and extra costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chabot, B.

2000-01-01

The objective '3000 MW of wind power in 2010' quoted in the national plan to counter the greenhouse effect and taken up by the French ADEME, requires, if it is to be achieved, a change from the present system of tenders and offers to a system of programmed annual phases. This present system sets prices for each project chosen after a competition and han demonstrated its limitations. These phases could concern different classes of project (greater or less than 12 MW, agricultural wind power, specific regional phases, offshore wind power, etc). It would be set annually in MW, to be achieved within the three following years, by prices guaranteed for a given period and by the rhythm of annual reduction in these prices for new projects. This system would thus move closer to that in countries (Germany, Denmark, Spain) that have a domestic development of wind energy conforming with the objectives in the EU White Paper on renewable energy (40 GW operational in 2010). This First overall evaluation (not yet divided into project class) gives ranges of guaranteed prices, installations and annual and cumulative production, discounted annual and until extra costs, in line with the assumptions of the value factor and in line with external differential in favour of wind energy. This external differential enters in the accounts from 2006 (0, 5, 10 and 15 cF/kWh). This extra cost could be taken care of through the compensatory refunding of public service charges provided for in the law concerning modernization and liberalization in the electricity sector. This scenario aims at 3 GW operational by 2010, producing 8 F/subscriber). Discounted at 8%, this extra colt is 7 GF. This overall extra cost (discounted or not) is cancelled our with an external differential 17 cF/kWh. Brought back to the kWh produced, the overall discounted unit cost varies linearly, whatever the discount rate chosen, by around 17 cF/kWh with no external differential, to 0 cF/kWh for an external differential of

Wind/Hybrid Electricity Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McDaniel, Lori [Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Des Moines, IA (United States)

2001-03-01

Wind energy is widely recognized as the most efficient and cost effective form of new renewable energy available in the Midwest. New utility-scale wind farms (arrays of large turbines in high wind areas producing sufficient energy to serve thousands of homes) rival the cost of building new conventional forms of combustion energy plants, gas, diesel and coal power plants. Wind energy is not subject to the inflationary cost of fossil fuels. Wind energy can also be very attractive to residential and commercial electric customers in high wind areas who would like to be more self-sufficient for their energy needs. And wind energy is friendly to the environment at a time when there is increasing concern about pollution and climate change. However, wind energy is an intermittent source of power. Most wind turbines start producing small amounts of electricity at about 8-10 mph (4 meters per second) of wind speed. The turbine does not reach its rated output until the wind reaches about 26-28 mph (12 m/s). So what do you do for power when the output of the wind turbine is not sufficient to meet the demand for energy? This paper will discuss wind hybrid technology options that mix wind with other power sources and storage devices to help solve this problem. This will be done on a variety of scales on the impact of wind energy on the utility system as a whole, and on the commercial and small-scale residential applications. The average cost and cost-benefit of each application along with references to manufacturers will be given. Emerging technologies that promise to shape the future of renewable energy will be explored as well.

The effect of feed-in tariffs on the production cost and the landscape externalities of wind power generation in West Saxony, Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drechsler, Martin; Meyerhoff, Jürgen; Ohl, Cornelia

2012-01-01

Although wind power is currently the most efficient source of renewable energy, the cost of wind electricity still exceeds the market price. Subsidies in the form of feed-in tariffs (FIT) have been introduced in many countries to support the expansion of wind power. These tariffs are highly debated. Proponents say they are necessary to pave the way for decarbonising energy production. Opponents argue they prevent a welfare-optimal energy supply. Thus, in a case study we try to shed light on the welfare economic aspect of FIT by combining spatial modelling and economic valuation of landscape externalities of wind turbines. We show for the planning region West Saxony, Germany, that setting FIT in a welfare optimal manner is a challenging task. If set too high the production costs are overly increased, lowering social welfare. If set too low energy production targets may not be reached and/or external costs are overly increased, again lowering social welfare. Taking a closer look at the tariffs offered by the German Renewable Sources Energy Act we find for West Saxony that the tariffs quite well meet economic welfare considerations. One should note, however, that this finding might apply only to the present data set. - Highlights: ► We analyse the effect of feed-in tariffs on the cost of wind power production. ► Low tariffs imply low production costs but high external costs. ► High tariffs imply high production costs but low external costs. ► Optimal tariff is a delicate balance between opposing policy goals.

Industrializing Offshore Wind Power with Serial Assembly and Lower-cost Deployment - Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kempton, Willett [Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

2017-12-11

A team of engineers and contractors has developed a method to move offshore wind installation toward lower cost, faster deployment, and lower environmental impact. A combination of methods, some incremental and some breaks from past practice, interact to yield multiple improvements. Three designs were evaluated based on detailed engineering: 1) a 5 MW turbine on a jacket with pin piles (base case), 2) a 10 MW turbine on a conventional jacket with pin piles, assembled at sea, and 3) a 10 MW turbine on tripod jacket with suction buckets (caissons) and with complete turbine assembly on-shore. The larger turbine, assembly ashore, and the use of suction buckets together substantially reduce capital cost of offshore wind projects. Notable capital cost reductions are: changing from 5 MW to 10 MW turbine, a 31% capital cost reduction, and assembly on land then single-piece install at sea an additional 9% capital cost reduction. An estimated Design 4) estimates further cost reduction when equipment and processes of Design 3) are optimized, rather than adapted to existing equipment and process. Cost of energy for each of the four Designs are also calculated, yielding approximately the same percentage reductions. The methods of Design 3) analyzed here include accepted structures such as suction buckets used in new ways, innovations conceived but previously without engineering and economic validation, combined with new methods not previously proposed. Analysis of Designs 2) and 3) are based on extensive engineering calculations and detailed cost estimates. All design methods can be done with existing equipment, including lift equipment, ports and ships (except that design 4 assumes a more optimized ship). The design team consists of experienced offshore structure designers, heavy lift engineers, wind turbine designers, vessel operators, and marine construction contractors. Comparing the methods based on criteria of cost and deployment speed, the study selected the third design

Wind turbines, is it just wind?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boiteux, M.

2012-01-01

The author first outlines that wind energy is not only random, but almost absent in extreme situations when it would be needed (for example and notably, very cold weather without wind). He suggests the association of a gas turbine to each wind turbine, so that the gas turbine will replace non operating wind turbines. He notices that wind turbines are not proximity energy as they were said to be, and that profitability in fact requires tens of grouped giant wind turbines. He also outlines the high cost of construction of grids for the connection of these wind turbines. Thus, he states that wind energy is far from being profitable in the present conditions of electricity tariffs in France

Wind energy expo '82 and national conference American Wind Energy Association

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelson, V. (ed.)

1982-01-01

Separate abstracts were prepared for 41 papers in this conference report. Wind farms, large wind turbines, new wind turbines, marketing small wind systems, programs, performance, and economics, analytic methods, testing, power conversion, and rotor systems are the principal topics covered.

Primer: The DOE Wind Energy Program's Approach to Calculating Cost of Energy: July 9, 2005 - July 8, 2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

George, K.; Schweizer, T.

2008-01-01

This report details the methodology used by DOE to calculate levelized cost of wind energy and demonstrates the variation in COE estimates due to different financing assumptions independent of wind generation technology.

Visualization of boundary layer separation and passive flow control on airfoils and bodies in wind-tunnel and in-flight experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matejka Milan

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Infrared camera, Particle Image Velocimetry, smoke-wire, tuft filaments and oil-flow visualization techniques were used for wind-tunnel and in-flight investigation of boundary layer separation, both stall and separation bubbles, related to the low-Reynolds numbers transition mechanism. Airfoils of Wortmann FX66 series and FX66 series wing-fuselage interaction, as well as modern airfoils and their wing-fuselage geometry were subject to study. The presence of previously identified structures in the CFD modelling, such as horse-shoe vortices, was confirmed in the flow. Wind-tunnels and in-flight measurements on sailplanes were carried out and effect of passive flow control devices - vortex generators - was surveyed; namely counter-rotating vortex generators and Zig-zag type turbulators were applied. Separation suppression and consequent drag coefficient reduction of test aircrafts was reached. PIV investigation was further extended by Time-Resolved techniques. An important study on structure of the turbulent flow in the lower atmosphere, creating an environment of the soaring flight, was presented.

Visualization of boundary layer separation and passive flow control on airfoils and bodies in wind-tunnel and in-flight experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Popelka, Lukas; Kuklova, Jana; Simurda, David; Souckova, Natalie; Matejka, Milan; Uruba, Vaclav

2012-04-01

Infrared camera, Particle Image Velocimetry, smoke-wire, tuft filaments and oil-flow visualization techniques were used for wind-tunnel and in-flight investigation of boundary layer separation, both stall and separation bubbles, related to the low-Reynolds numbers transition mechanism. Airfoils of Wortmann FX66 series and FX66 series wing-fuselage interaction, as well as modern airfoils and their wing-fuselage geometry were subject to study. The presence of previously identified structures in the CFD modelling, such as horse-shoe vortices, was confirmed in the flow. Wind-tunnels and in-flight measurements on sailplanes were carried out and effect of passive flow control devices - vortex generators - was surveyed; namely counter-rotating vortex generators and Zig-zag type turbulators were applied. Separation suppression and consequent drag coefficient reduction of test aircrafts was reached. PIV investigation was further extended by Time-Resolved techniques. An important study on structure of the turbulent flow in the lower atmosphere, creating an environment of the soaring flight, was presented.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Wind Energy in Remote Regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gipe, P.; Brudny, J.F.; Ilinca, A.; Bouchard, Y.; Proulx, P.; Chaumel, J.L.; Brunelle, M.T.; Henin, S.; Beaudoin, P.; Poirier, N.; Belanger, M.

2005-01-01

This international conference focused on the growth opportunities for the wind power industry in Canada, with particular focus on Quebec and eastern Canada. The conference presented formal paper sessions dealing with the largest wind turbine technology to the smallest machines. It also included tutorials, site visits, case studies and commercial exhibits aimed at wind power developers, utility managers, manufacturers, sub-contractors, theoreticians and practitioners. Participants discussed the best and innovative solutions for the efficient regional development of wind power with particular focus on remote, off-grid applications such as isolated northern communities and islands. The presentations emphasized how wind energy can allow isolated communities to reduce their dependence on costly imported diesel fuel by combining modern electronics with wind turbines and diesel power systems. Environmental impacts and future innovations in wind technology were also discussed along with practical solutions for combining wind energy with other sources of energy. The conference featured 30 presentations, of which 18 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. (author)

Novel Low Cost, High Reliability Wind Turbine Drivetrain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chobot, Anthony; Das, Debarshi; Mayer, Tyler; Markey, Zach; Martinson, Tim; Reeve, Hayden; Attridge, Paul; El-Wardany, Tahany

2012-09-13

Clipper Windpower, in collaboration with United Technologies Research Center, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, developed a low-cost, deflection-compliant, reliable, and serviceable chain drive speed increaser. This chain and sprocket drivetrain design offers significant breakthroughs in the areas of cost and serviceability and addresses the key challenges of current geared and direct-drive systems. The use of gearboxes has proven to be challenging; the large torques and bending loads associated with use in large multi-MW wind applications have generally limited demonstrated lifetime to 8-10 years [1]. The large cost of gearbox replacement and the required use of large, expensive cranes can result in gearbox replacement costs on the order of $1M, representing a significant impact to overall cost of energy (COE). Direct-drive machines eliminate the gearbox, thereby targeting increased reliability and reduced life-cycle cost. However, the slow rotational speeds require very large and costly generators, which also typically have an undesirable dependence on expensive rare-earth magnet materials and large structural penalties for precise air gap control. The cost of rare-earth materials has increased 20X in the last 8 years representing a key risk to ever realizing the promised cost of energy reductions from direct-drive generators. A common challenge to both geared and direct drive architectures is a limited ability to manage input shaft deflections. The proposed Clipper drivetrain is deflection-compliant, insulating later drivetrain stages and generators from off-axis loads. The system is modular, allowing for all key parts to be removed and replaced without the use of a high capacity crane. Finally, the technology modularity allows for scalability and many possible drivetrain topologies. These benefits enable reductions in drivetrain capital cost by 10.0%, levelized replacement and O&M costs by 26.7%, and overall cost of

Spatial correlation of atmospheric wind at scales relevant for large scale wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Bardal, L. M.; Sætran, L. R.

2016-09-01

Wind measurements a short distance upstream of a wind turbine can provide input for a feedforward wind turbine controller. Since the turbulent wind field will be different at the point/plane of measurement and the rotor plane the degree of correlation between wind speed at two points in space both in the longitudinal and lateral direction should be evaluated. This study uses a 2D array of mast mounted anemometers to evaluate cross-correlation of longitudinal wind speed. The degree of correlation is found to increase with height and decrease with atmospheric stability. The correlation is furthermore considerably larger for longitudinal separation than for lateral separation. The integral length scale of turbulence is also considered.

Wind energy systems

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, H. J.

1978-01-01

A discussion on wind energy systems involved with the DOE wind energy program is presented. Some of the problems associated with wind energy systems are discussed. The cost, efficiency, and structural design of wind energy systems are analyzed.

Wind energy. To produce electricity with the wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bareau, Helene

2015-11-01

This guide addresses the different aspects of wind-based power generation. It outlines the role of wind energy to meet objectives related to the share of renewable energies in the French energy mix, that wind energy is actually replacing fossil energies, that it is based on local resources within higher safety and less wastage, that current advances are made to integrate wind energy production into the grid, and that it is a solution to diversify energy production. Some figures are presented and commented, regarding onshore wind energy production in France, the location of wind farms, and wind energy production in comparison with other renewable sources. The operation of a wind turbine is described and the different types of wind turbines are evoked. The issue of wind farm planning with citizen participation is addressed: regional planning, studies of pre-feasibility for location selection, procedure, and content of the impact study (radars, fauna and flora, landscapes, safety, health). Other features are outlined: a planned dismantling, and a globally favourable perception. The next part addresses offshore wind energy: the interesting potential of stronger and more reliable wind at sea (European situation, French opportunities, elements comprised in an offshore wind farm), impacts (on marine ecosystems, on neighbouring localities, and interests for visitors). Economic aspects are then addressed: cost and profitability, economic spin-offs, and perspectives. The last part concerns individuals and the possibilities to participate to wind farm projects or to invest in small wind turbines with some prerequisites (constant and steady winds, installation assessment, required expertise, indispensable preliminary steps, costs, aids and profitability)

Methodology to optimize the cost of deployment of a wind-solar hybrid system; Metodologia para otimizar o custo da implantacao de um sistema hibrido eolico-solar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nogueira, Jose Wilson Lage [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Norte (UERN), Natal, RN (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Mecanica], e-mail: wilson@ufrnet.br; Rocha, Brismark Goes da [Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), Patu, RN (Brazil). Dept. de Matematica], e-mail: brismarkrocha@uern.br

2008-07-01

Purposes the application of a methodology to optimize the implantation cost of an wind-solar hybrid system, to potencies between 2.250 W and 3.750 W. The developed mathematical model was obtained through the Multiple Linear Regression technique, on the basis of the previous knowledge of variables: necessary capacity of storage, total daily energy demand, wind power, module power and module number. These variables are gotten by means of sizing. Parametric statistical: T-student tests had been used to detect the significant difference in the average of total cost to being considered the diameter of the wind. Parametric statistical T-student tests had been used to detect the significant difference in the average of total cost to being considered the diameter of the wind, F-Snedecor in the variance analysis to test if the coefficients of the considered model are significantly different of zero and test not-parametric statistical by Friedman, to verify if there is difference in the total cost, by being considered the photovoltaic module powers. In decision of hypothesis tests was considered a 5%-significant level. The configurations module powers showed significant differences in total cost of investment by considering an electrical motor of 3 HP. The configurations module powers showed significant differences in total cost of investment by considering an electrical motor of 5 HP only to wind speed of 4 m/s and 6 m/s in wind of 3 m, 4 m and 5 m of diameter. There was not significant difference in costs to diameters of winds of 3 m and 4 m. A computational program was developed to assist the study of several configurations that optimizes the implantation cost of an wind-solar through considered mathematical model. (author)

Gradient-Based Optimization of Wind Farms with Different Turbine Heights

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stanley, Andrew P. J.; Thomas, Jared; Ning, Andrew; Annoni, Jennifer; Dykes, Katherine; Fleming, Paul

2017-01-09

Turbine wakes reduce power production in a wind farm. Current wind farms are generally built with turbines that are all the same height, but if wind farms included turbines with different tower heights, the cost of energy (COE) may be reduced. We used gradient-based optimization to demonstrate a method to optimize wind farms with varied hub heights. Our study includes a modified version of the FLORIS wake model that accommodates three-dimensional wakes integrated with a tower structural model. Our purpose was to design a process to minimize the COE of a wind farm through layout optimization and varying turbine hub heights. Results indicate that when a farm is optimized for layout and height with two separate height groups, COE can be lowered by as much as 5%-9%, compared to a similar layout and height optimization where all the towers are the same. The COE has the best improvement in farms with high turbine density and a low wind shear exponent.

Data Collection for Current U.S. Wind Energy Projects: Component Costs, Financing, Operations, and Maintenance; January 2011 - September 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin-Tretton, M.; Reha, M.; Drunsic, M.; Keim, M.

2012-01-01

DNV Renewables (USA) Inc. (DNV) used an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Cost Model to evaluate ten distinct cost scenarios encountered under variations in wind turbine component failure rates. The analysis considers: (1) a Reference Scenario using the default part failure rates within the O&M Cost Model, (2) High Failure Rate Scenarios that increase the failure rates of three major components (blades, gearboxes, and generators) individually, (3) 100% Replacement Scenarios that model full replacement of these components over a 20 year operating life, and (4) Serial Failure Scenarios that model full replacement of blades, gearboxes, and generators in years 4 to 6 of the wind project. DNV selected these scenarios to represent a broad range of possible operational experiences. Also in this report, DNV summarizes the predominant financing arrangements used to develop wind energy projects over the past several years and provides summary data on various financial metrics describing those arrangements.

Wind Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez D, J.M.

1998-01-01

The general theory of the wind energy conversion systems is presented. The availability of the wind resource in Colombia and the ranges of the speed of the wind in those which is possible economically to use the wind turbines are described. It is continued with a description of the principal technological characteristics of the wind turbines and are split into wind power and wind-powered pumps; and its use in large quantities grouped in wind farms or in autonomous systems. Finally, its costs and its environmental impact are presented

Sensitivity analysis of floating offshore wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro-Santos, Laura; Diaz-Casas, Vicente

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Develop a sensitivity analysis of a floating offshore wind farm. • Influence on the life-cycle costs involved in a floating offshore wind farm. • Influence on IRR, NPV, pay-back period, LCOE and cost of power. • Important variables: distance, wind resource, electric tariff, etc. • It helps to investors to take decisions in the future. - Abstract: The future of offshore wind energy will be in deep waters. In this context, the main objective of the present paper is to develop a sensitivity analysis of a floating offshore wind farm. It will show how much the output variables can vary when the input variables are changing. For this purpose two different scenarios will be taken into account: the life-cycle costs involved in a floating offshore wind farm (cost of conception and definition, cost of design and development, cost of manufacturing, cost of installation, cost of exploitation and cost of dismantling) and the most important economic indexes in terms of economic feasibility of a floating offshore wind farm (internal rate of return, net present value, discounted pay-back period, levelized cost of energy and cost of power). Results indicate that the most important variables in economic terms are the number of wind turbines and the distance from farm to shore in the costs’ scenario, and the wind scale parameter and the electric tariff for the economic indexes. This study will help investors to take into account these variables in the development of floating offshore wind farms in the future

Modeling the reliability and maintenance costs of wind turbines using Weibull analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vachon, W.A. [W.A. Vachon & Associates, Inc., Manchester, MA (United States)

1996-12-31

A general description is provided of the basic mathematics and use of Weibull statistical models for modeling component failures and maintenance costs as a function of time. The applicability of the model to wind turbine components and subsystems is discussed with illustrative examples of typical component reliabilities drawn from actual field experiences. Example results indicate the dominant role of key subsystems based on a combination of their failure frequency and repair/replacement costs. The value of the model is discussed as a means of defining (1) maintenance practices, (2) areas in which to focus product improvements, (3) spare parts inventory, and (4) long-term trends in maintenance costs as an important element in project cash flow projections used by developers, investors, and lenders. 6 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.

Weight and cost analysis of large wind turbine rotors constructed from conventional materials and from advanced composite materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

van Holten, Th

1982-07-01

Cost calculations and cost analyses of the blades and the (teetering) hubs of large wind turbines. The blades are of different shapes, construction and materials (aluminium, steel and glass reinforced plastics). Teetering hubs are heavy and complicated steel constructions, necessary to minimize material fatigue. In large wind turbines with a diameter of 60 to 100 m or even more the rotor mass (hubs and blades together) may vary from 46,000 to 216,000 kg. Costs are estimated to be DFL. 16/kg, both for teetering hubs and/or blades made of glass reinforced plastics. Due to lack of experience and of exact knowledge of the loads appearing during operation under field conditions the uncertainty factor may be 10% to 15%.

Network constrained wind integration on Vancouver Island

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maddaloni, Jesse D.; Rowe, Andrew M.; Kooten, G. Cornelis van

2008-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the costs and carbon emissions associated with operating a hydro-dominated electricity generation system (Vancouver Island, Canada) with varying degrees of wind penetration. The focus is to match the wind resource, system demand and abilities of extant generating facilities on a temporal basis, resulting in an operating schedule that minimizes system cost over a given period. This is performed by taking the perspective of a social planner who desires to find the lowest-cost mix of new and existing generation facilities. Unlike other studies, this analysis considers variable efficiency for thermal and hydro-generators, resulting in a fuel cost that varies with respect to generator part load. Since this study and others have shown that wind power may induce a large variance on existing dispatchable generators, forcing more frequent operation at reduced part load, inclusion of increased fuel cost at part load is important when investigating wind integration as it can significantly reduce the economic benefits of utilizing low-cost wind. Results indicate that the introduction of wind power may reduce system operating costs, but this depends heavily on whether the capital cost of the wind farm is considered. For the Vancouver Island mix with its large hydro-component, operating cost was reduced by a maximum of 15% at a wind penetration of 50%, with a negligible reduction in operating cost when the wind farm capital cost was included

Trading wind generation from short-term probabilistic forecasts of wind power

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pinson, Pierre; Chevallier, Christophe; Kariniotakis, Georges

2007-01-01

Due to the fluctuating nature of the wind resource, a wind power producer participating in a liberalized electricity market is subject to penalties related to regulation costs. Accurate forecasts of wind generation are therefore paramount for reducing such penalties and thus maximizing revenue......, as well as on modeling of the sensitivity a wind power producer may have to regulation costs. The benefits resulting from the application of these strategies are clearly demonstrated on the test case of the participation of a multi-MW wind farm in the Dutch electricity market over a year....... participation. Such strategies permit to further increase revenues and thus enhance competitiveness of wind generation compared to other forms of dispatchable generation. This paper formulates a general methodology for deriving optimal bidding strategies based on probabilistic forecasts of wind generation...

Full cost accounting in the analysis of separated waste collection efficiency: A methodological proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Onza, Giuseppe; Greco, Giulio; Allegrini, Marco

2016-02-01

Recycling implies additional costs for separated municipal solid waste (MSW) collection. The aim of the present study is to propose and implement a management tool - the full cost accounting (FCA) method - to calculate the full collection costs of different types of waste. Our analysis aims for a better understanding of the difficulties of putting FCA into practice in the MSW sector. We propose a FCA methodology that uses standard cost and actual quantities to calculate the collection costs of separate and undifferentiated waste. Our methodology allows cost efficiency analysis and benchmarking, overcoming problems related to firm-specific accounting choices, earnings management policies and purchase policies. Our methodology allows benchmarking and variance analysis that can be used to identify the causes of off-standards performance and guide managers to deploy resources more efficiently. Our methodology can be implemented by companies lacking a sophisticated management accounting system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Framework for Statewide Analysis of Site Suitability, Energy Estimation, Life Cycle Costs, Financial Feasibility and Environmental Assessment of Wind Farms: A Case Study of Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Indraneel

In the last decade, Midwestern states including Indiana have experienced an unprecedented growth in utility scale wind energy farms. For example, by end of 2013, Indiana had 1.5 GW of wind turbines installed, which could provide electrical energy for as many as half-a-million homes. However, there is no statewide systematic framework available for the evaluation of wind farm impacts on endangered species, required necessary setbacks and proximity standards to infrastructure, and life cycle costs. This research is guided to fill that gap and it addresses the following questions. How much land is suitable for wind farm siting in Indiana given the constraints of environmental, ecological, cultural, settlement, physical infrastructure and wind resource parameters? How much wind energy can be obtained? What are the life cycle costs and economic and financial feasibility? Is wind energy production and development in a state an emission free undertaking? The framework developed in the study is applied to a case study of Indiana. A fuzzy logic based AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) spatial site suitability analysis for wind energy is formulated. The magnitude of wind energy that could be sited and installed comprises input for economic and financial feasibility analysis for 20-25 years life cycle of wind turbines in Indiana. Monte Carlo simulation is used to account for uncertainty and nonlinearity in various costs and price parameters. Impacts of incentives and cost variables such as production tax credits, costs of capital, and economies of scale are assessed. Further, an economic input-output (IO) based environmental assessment model is developed for wind energy, where costs from financial feasibility analysis constitute the final demand vectors. This customized model for Indiana is used to assess emissions for criteria air pollutants, hazardous air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) across life cycle events of wind turbines. The findings of the case study include

Future wind power forecast errors, need for regulating power, and costs in the Swedish system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlsson, Fredrik [Vattenfall Research and Development AB, Stockholm (Sweden). Power Technology

2011-07-01

Wind power is one of the renewable energy sources in the electricity system that grows most rapid in Sweden. There are however two market challenges that need to be addressed with a higher proportion of wind power - that is variability and predictability. Predictability is important since the spot market Nord Pool Spot requires forecasts of production 12 - 36 hours ahead. The forecast errors must be regulated with regulating power, which is expensive for the actors causing the forecast errors. This paper has investigated a number of scenarios with 10 - 55 TWh of wind power installed in the Swedish system. The focus has been on a base scenario with 10 TWh new wind power consisting of 3,5 GW new wind power and 1,5 GW already installed power, which gives 5 GW. The results show that the costs for the forecast errors will increase as more intermittent production is installed. However, the increase can be limited by for instance trading on intraday market or increase quality of forecasts. (orig.)

WindPACT Reference Wind Turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dykes, Katherine L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rinker, Jennifer [Former National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) employee

2018-04-02

To fully understand how loads and turbine cost scale with turbine size, it is necessary to have identical turbine models that have been scaled to different rated powers. The report presents the WindPACT baseline models, which are a series of four baseline models that were designed to facilitate investigations into the scalings of loads and turbine cost with size. The models have four different rated powers (750 kW, 1.5 MW, 3.0 MW, and 5.0 MW), and each model was designed to its specified rated power using the same design methodology. The models were originally implemented in FAST_AD, the predecessor to NREL's open-source wind turbine simulator FAST, but have yet to be implemented in FAST. This report contains the specifications for all four WindPACT baseline models - including structural, aerodynamic, and control specifications - along with the inherent assumptions and equations that were used to calculate the model parameters. It is hoped that these baseline models will serve as extremely useful resources for investigations into the scalings of costs, loads, or optimization routines.

Low-cost solution to the grid reliability problem with 100% penetration of intermittent wind, water, and solar for all purposes.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Mark Z; Delucchi, Mark A; Cameron, Mary A; Frew, Bethany A

2015-12-08

This study addresses the greatest concern facing the large-scale integration of wind, water, and solar (WWS) into a power grid: the high cost of avoiding load loss caused by WWS variability and uncertainty. It uses a new grid integration model and finds low-cost, no-load-loss, nonunique solutions to this problem on electrification of all US energy sectors (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry) while accounting for wind and solar time series data from a 3D global weather model that simulates extreme events and competition among wind turbines for available kinetic energy. Solutions are obtained by prioritizing storage for heat (in soil and water); cold (in ice and water); and electricity (in phase-change materials, pumped hydro, hydropower, and hydrogen), and using demand response. No natural gas, biofuels, nuclear power, or stationary batteries are needed. The resulting 2050-2055 US electricity social cost for a full system is much less than for fossil fuels. These results hold for many conditions, suggesting that low-cost, reliable 100% WWS systems should work many places worldwide.

Cost-covering remuneration - wind and solar energy skinned

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niederhaeusern, A.

2008-01-01

In this article, the details of Switzerland's cost-covering remuneration scheme for electrical energy from renewable resources are discussed. Several experts from the renewable energies area express their opinions on the scheme's tariffs for the remuneration of electrical energy fed into the public mains. Wind energy is quoted as being 'skinned', with a lower tariff than before and solar energy is quoted as being promoted 'with the hand brake still on'. Geothermal energy and power from biomass power stations is quoted as being 'undamaged' by the new remuneration system. In general, the opinion is expressed that small investors and producers have, once more, been put at a disadvantage. The situation in Switzerland is briefly compared with that in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. An overview of the tariffs is presented in tabular form

Wind power in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

This report analyses business costs and socio-economic costs in the development of wind power in Norway and policy instruments to encourage such a development. It is founded on an analysis of the development of wind power in other countries, notably U.S.A, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. The report describes the institutional background in each country, the policy instruments that have been used and still are and the results achieved. The various cost components in Norwegian wind power development and the expected market price of wind power are also discussed. The discussion of instruments distinguishes between investment oriented and production oriented instruments. 8 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs

Wind power today: 1999 Wind Energy program highlights

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weis-Taylor, Pat

2000-04-06

Wind Power Today is an annual publication that provides an overview for the Department of Energy's Wind Energy Program. The purpose of Wind Power Today is to show how DOE's Wind Energy Program supports wind turbine research and deployment in hopes of furthering the advancement of wind technologies that produce clean, low-cost, reliable energy for the 21st century. Content objectives include: Educate readers about the advantages and potential for widespread deployment of wind energy; explain DOE wind energy program objectives and goals; describe program accomplishments in research and application; examine the barriers to widespread deployment; describe benefits of continued research and development; facilitate technology transfer; attract cooperative wind energy projects with industry.

Reliability Modeling of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kostandyan, Erik

Cost reductions for offshore wind turbines are a substantial requirement in order to make offshore wind energy more competitive compared to other energy supply methods. During the 20 – 25 years of wind turbines useful life, Operation & Maintenance costs are typically estimated to be a quarter...... for Operation & Maintenance planning. Concentrating efforts on development of such models, this research is focused on reliability modeling of Wind Turbine critical subsystems (especially the power converter system). For reliability assessment of these components, structural reliability methods are applied...... to one third of the total cost of energy. Reduction of Operation & Maintenance costs will result in significant cost savings and result in cheaper electricity production. Operation & Maintenance processes mainly involve actions related to replacements or repair. Identifying the right times when...

Design optimization of offshore wind farms with multiple types of wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feng, Ju; Shen, Wen Zhong

2017-01-01

Most studies on offshore wind farm design assume a uniform wind farm, which consists of an identical type of wind turbines. In order to further reduce the cost of energy, we investigate the design of non-uniform offshore wind farms, i.e., wind farms with multiple types of wind turbines and hub-he...

Wind energy: A viable alternative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soin, R.S.

1991-01-01

This article examines the economic feasibility of wind energy in the current economic and political environment. The article specifically addresses the wind farm application to India, with asides to Europe and the US. Topics discussed include cost of energy generation for a 10 MW wind farm, cost comparison for captive energy options (diesel, coal, wind), environmental impacts, and social benefits

Danish Wind Power

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Henrik; Hvelplund, Frede; Østergaard, Poul Alberg

In a normal wind year, Danish wind turbines generate the equivalent of approx. 20 percent of the Danish electricity demand. This paper argues that only approx. 1 percent of the wind power production is exported. The rest is used to meet domestic Danish electricity demands. The cost of wind power...... misleading. The cost of CO2 reduction by use of wind power in the period 2004-2008 was only 20 EUR/ton. Furthermore, the Danish wind turbines are not paid for by energy taxes. Danish wind turbines are given a subsidy via the electricity price which is paid by the electricity consumers. In the recent years...... is paid solely by the electricity consumers and the net influence on consumer prices was as low as 1-3 percent on average in the period 2004-2008. In 2008, the net influence even decreased the average consumer price, although only slightly. In Denmark, 20 percent wind power is integrated by using both...

Wind power development. Status and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morthorst, P.E.

1998-09-01

This is the final report on the status and long-term perspectives for the development of wind power, contributing to the Macro Task E1 on production cost for fusion and alternative technologies, part of the programme for Socio-Economic Research on Fusion. The report concentrates on the development of the production costs for wind power, limited to turbines connected to the public grid. The report shows status and perspectives for production costs for wind turbines until the year 2020-30. In general two trends have dominated the grid-connected wind turbine development until now: The average size of the turbines sold at the market place has increased substantially, while at the same time the efficiency of turbine electricity production has increased steadily. Together these trends have increased the cost-effectiveness of wind power by almost 45% over a time span of 9-10 years. Looking at perspectives, a substantial cut in wind power cost per kWh can be expected within the next 20-30 years. A survey performed for a number of long-term forecasts for the wind power technology in general shows a decrease in production costs of 2-2.5% p.a., which implies that the cost of wind-generated electricity would be halved by the year 2030, probably making it fully competitive to conventional fossil fuel based electricity production. (au)

Design and fabrication of a low cost Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine system: Phase 2, volume 1: Executive summary

Science.gov (United States)

1983-03-01

Described is the successful fabrication, installation, and checkout of 100 kW 17 meter Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs). The turbines are Darrieus-type VAWTs with rotors 17 meters (55 feet) in diameter and 25.15 meters (83 feet) in height. They can produce 100 kW of electric power at a cost of energy as low as 3 cents per kWh, in an 18 mph wind regime using 12% annualized costs. Four turbines were produced; three are installed and are operable at: (1) Wind Systems Test Center, Rocky Flats, Colorado; (2) the US Department of Agriculture Conservation and Production Research Center at Bushland, Texas; and (3) Tisbury Water Authority, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The fourth turbine is stored at Bushland, Texas awaiting selection of an erection site.

Proceedings of the Canadian Wind Energy Association's 2009 wind matters conference : wind and power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-01-01

This conference provided a forum for wind energy and electric power industry experts to discuss issues related to wind and power systems. An overview of wind integration studies and activities in Canada and the United States was provided. New tools and technologies for facilitating the integration of wind and improve market conditions for wind energy developers were presented. Methods of increasing wind penetration were evaluated, and technical issues related to wind interconnections throughout North America were reviewed. The conference was divided into the following 5 sessions: (1) experiences with wind integration, and lessons learned, (2) update on ongoing wind integration initiatives in Canada and the United States, (3) initiatives and tools to facilitate wind integration and market access, (4) developments in wind interconnection and grid codes, (5) wind energy and cold weather considerations, and (6) challenges to achieving the 20 per cent WindVision goal in Canada. The conference featured 21 presentations, of which 13 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

Design, evaluation, and fabrication of low-cost composite blades for intermediate-size wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Weingart, O.

1981-01-01

Low cost approaches for production of 60 ft long glass fiber/resin composite rotor blades for the MOD-OA wind turbine were identified and evaluated. The most cost-effective configuration was selected for detailed design. Subelement and subscale specimens were fabricated for testing to confirm physical and mechanical properties of the composite blade materials, to develop and evaluate blade fabrication techniques and processes, and to confirm the structural adequacy of the root end joint. Full-scale blade tooling was constructed and a partial blade for tool and process tryout was built. Then two full scale blades were fabricated and delivered to NASA-LeRC for installation on a MOD-OA wind turbine at Clayton, New Mexico for operational testing. Each blade was 60 ft. long with 4.5 ft. chord at root end and 2575 lbs weight including metal hub adapter. The selected blade configuration was a three cell design constructed using a resin impregnated glass fiber tape winding process that allows rapid wrapping of primarily axially oriented fibers onto a tapered mandrel, with tapered wall thickness. The ring winder/transverse filament tape process combination was used for the first time on this program to produce entire rotor blade structures. This approach permitted the complete blade to be wound on stationary mandrels, an improvement which alleviated some of the tooling and process problems encountered on previous composite blade programs.

Gradient-Based Optimization of Wind Farms with Different Turbine Heights: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stanley, Andrew P. J.; Thomas, Jared; Ning, Andrew; Annoni, Jennifer; Dykes, Katherine; Fleming, Paul

2017-05-08

Turbine wakes reduce power production in a wind farm. Current wind farms are generally built with turbines that are all the same height, but if wind farms included turbines with different tower heights, the cost of energy (COE) may be reduced. We used gradient-based optimization to demonstrate a method to optimize wind farms with varied hub heights. Our study includes a modified version of the FLORIS wake model that accommodates three-dimensional wakes integrated with a tower structural model. Our purpose was to design a process to minimize the COE of a wind farm through layout optimization and varying turbine hub heights. Results indicate that when a farm is optimized for layout and height with two separate height groups, COE can be lowered by as much as 5%-9%, compared to a similar layout and height optimization where all the towers are the same. The COE has the best improvement in farms with high turbine density and a low wind shear exponent.

Wind power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1979-01-01

This publication describes some of the technical, economic, safety and institutional considerations involved in the selection, installation and evaluation of a wind generation system. This information is presented, where possible, in practical, non-technical terms. The first four sections provide background information, theory, and general knowledge, while the remaining six sections are of a more specific nature to assist the prospective owner of a wind generator in his calculations and selections. Meteorological information is provided relating to the wind regime in Nova Scotia. The section on cost analysis discusses some of the factors and considerations which must be examined in order to provide a logical comparison between the alternatives of electricity produced from other sources. The final two sections are brief summaries of the regulations and hazards pertaining to the use of wind generators. The cost of wind-generated electricity is high compared to present Nova Scotia Power Corporation rates, even on Sable Island, Nova Scotia's highest wind area. However, it may be observed that Sable Island is one of the areas of Nova Scotia which is not presently supplied through the power grid and, particularly if there was a significant increase in the price of diesel oil, wind-generated electricity may well be the most economical alternative in that area. Generally speaking, however, where a consumer can purchase electricity at the normal domestic rate, wind generators are not economical, and they will not become economical unless there is a great reduction in their cost, an great increase in electricity rates, or both. Includes glossary. 23 figs., 11 tabs.

Reliability and cost/worth evaluation of generating systems utilizing wind and solar energy

Science.gov (United States)

Bagen

The utilization of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar energy for electric power supply has received considerable attention in recent years due to adverse environmental impacts and fuel cost escalation associated with conventional generation. At the present time, wind and/or solar energy sources are utilized to generate electric power in many applications. Wind and solar energy will become important sources for power generation in the future because of their environmental, social and economic benefits, together with public support and government incentives. The wind and sunlight are, however, unstable and variable energy sources, and behave far differently than conventional sources. Energy storage systems are, therefore, often required to smooth the fluctuating nature of the energy conversion system especially in small isolated applications. The research work presented in this thesis is focused on the development and application of reliability and economic benefits assessment associated with incorporating wind energy, solar energy and energy storage in power generating systems. A probabilistic approach using sequential Monte Carlo simulation was employed in this research and a number of analyses were conducted with regards to the adequacy and economic assessment of generation systems containing wind energy, solar energy and energy storage. The evaluation models and techniques incorporate risk index distributions and different operating strategies associated with diesel generation in small isolated systems. Deterministic and probabilistic techniques are combined in this thesis using a system well-being approach to provide useful adequacy indices for small isolated systems that include renewable energy and energy storage. The concepts presented and examples illustrated in this thesis will help power system planners and utility managers to assess the reliability and economic benefits of utilizing wind energy conversion systems, solar energy conversion

IEA Wind Task 26: Offshore Wind Farm Baseline Documentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smart, Gavin [Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Blyth, Northumberland (United Kingdom); Smith, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Warner, Ethan [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Sperstad, Iver Bakken [SINTEF Energy Research, Trondheim (Norway); Prinsen, Bob [Ecofys, Utrecht (Netherlands). TKI Wind Op Zee; Lacal-Arantegui, Roberto [European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), Brussels (Belgium)

2016-06-02

This document has been produced to provide the definition and rationale for the Baseline Offshore Wind Farm established within IEA Wind Task 26--Cost of Wind Energy. The Baseline has been developed to provide a common starting point for country comparisons and sensitivity analysis on key offshore wind cost and value drivers. The baseline project reflects an approximate average of the characteristics of projects installed between 2012 and 2014, with the project life assumed to be 20 years. The baseline wind farm is located 40 kilometres (km) from construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) ports and from export cable landfall. The wind farm consists of 100 4-megawatt (MW) wind turbines mounted on monopile foundations in an average water depth of 25 metres (m), connected by 33-kilovolt (kV) inter-array cables. The arrays are connected to a single offshore substation (33kV/220kV) mounted on a jacket foundation, with the substation connected via a single 220kV export cable to an onshore substation, 10km from landfall. The wind farm employs a port-based O&M strategy using crew-transfer vessels.

Reducing costs of wind power with a gearless permanent-magnet generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vihriaelae, H.; Peraelae, R.; Soederlund, L.; Eriksson, J.T.

1995-01-01

This article examines a disc-type axial-field permanent magnet generator (PMG) utilizing the latest generation of permanent magnet material, namely Nd 15 B 8 Fe 77 . A frequency converter (FC) is needed to keep the system synchronized with the grid. It also offers a possibility to use variable speed. The main advantages of this novel system compared to the conventional one are a higher overall efficiency, better reliability, reduced weight and diminished need for maintenance, all contributing to the cost-reduction of wind power. (author)

Optimisation of Offshore Wind Farm Cable Connection Layout Considering Levelised Production Cost Using Dynamic Minimum Spanning Tree Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hou, Peng; Hu, Weihao; Chen, Cong

2016-01-01

The approach in this paper hads been developed to optimize the cable connection layout of large scale offshore wind farms. The objective is to minimize the Levelised Production Cost (LPC) og an offshore wind farm by optimizing the cable connection configuration. Based on the minimum spanning tree...... (MST) algorithm, an improved algorithm, the Dynamic Minimum Spanning Tree (DMST) algorithm is proposed. The current carrying capacity of the cable is considered to be the main constraint and the cable sectional area is changed dynamically. An irregular shaped wind farm is chosen as the studie case...

Wind Power Today: 1998 Wind Energy Program Highlights

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tromly, K.

1999-06-17

The US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy manages the Federal Wind Energy Program. The mission of the program is to help the US wind industry to complete the research, testing, and field verification needed to fully develop advanced wind technologies that will lead the world in cost-effectiveness and reliability. This publication, printed annually, provides a summary of significant achievements in wind energy made during the previous calendar year. Articles include wind energy in the Midwest, an Alaskan wind energy project, the US certification program, structural testing, and the federal program in review.

Modelling the existing Irish energy-system to identify future energy costs and the maximum wind penetration feasible

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Connolly, D.; Leahy, M.; Lund, H.; Mathiesen, B.V.

2010-01-01

In this study a model of the Irish energy-system was developed using EnergyPLAN based on the year 2007, which was then used for three investigations. The first compares the model results with actual values from 2007 to validate its accuracy. The second illustrates the exposure of the existing Irish energy-system to future energy costs by considering future fuel prices, CO 2 prices, and different interest rates. The final investigation identifies the maximum wind penetration feasible on the 2007 Irish energy-system from a technical and economic perspective, as wind is the most promising fluctuating renewable resource available in Ireland. It is concluded that the reference model simulates the Irish energy-system accurately, the annual fuel costs for Ireland's energy could increase by approximately 58% from 2007 to 2020 if a business-as-usual scenario is followed, and the optimum wind penetration for the existing Irish energy-system is approximately 30% from both a technical and economic perspective based on 2020 energy prices. Future studies will use the model developed in this study to show that higher wind penetrations can be achieved if the existing energy-system is modified correctly. Finally, these results are not only applicable to Ireland, but also represent the issues facing many other countries. (author)

Two-Stage Coordinated Operational Strategy for Distributed Energy Resources Considering Wind Power Curtailment Penalty Cost

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Qiu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The concept of virtual power plant (VPP has been proposed to facilitate the integration of distributed renewable energy. VPP behaves similar to a single entity that aggregates a collection of distributed energy resources (DERs such as distributed generators, storage devices, flexible loads, etc., so that the aggregated power outputs can be flexibly dispatched and traded in electricity markets. This paper presents an optimal scheduling model for VPP participating in day-ahead (DA and real-time (RT markets. In the DA market, VPP aims to maximize the expected profit and reduce the risk in relation to uncertainties. The risk is measured by a risk factor based on the mean-variance Markowitz theory. In the RT market, VPP aims to minimize the imbalance cost and wind power curtailment by adjusting the scheduling of DERs in its portfolio. In case studies, the benefits (e.g., surplus profit and reduced wind power curtailment of aggregated VPP operation are assessed. Moreover, we have investigated how these benefits are affected by different risk-aversion levels and uncertainty levels. According to the simulation results, the aggregated VPP scheduling approach can effectively help the integration of wind power, mitigate the impact of uncertainties, and reduce the cost of risk-aversion.

Structural optimization procedure of a composite wind turbine blade for reducing both material cost and blade weight

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Weifei; Park, Dohyun; Choi, DongHoon

2013-12-01

A composite blade structure for a 2 MW horizontal axis wind turbine is optimally designed. Design requirements are simultaneously minimizing material cost and blade weight while satisfying the constraints on stress ratio, tip deflection, fatigue life and laminate layup requirements. The stress ratio and tip deflection under extreme gust loads and the fatigue life under a stochastic normal wind load are evaluated. A blade element wind load model is proposed to explain the wind pressure difference due to blade height change during rotor rotation. For fatigue life evaluation, the stress result of an implicit nonlinear dynamic analysis under a time-varying fluctuating wind is converted to the histograms of mean and amplitude of maximum stress ratio using the rainflow counting algorithm Miner's rule is employed to predict the fatigue life. After integrating and automating the whole analysis procedure an evolutionary algorithm is used to solve the discrete optimization problem.

Reliability and Energy Loss in Full-scale Wind Power Converter Considering Grid Codes and Wind Classes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhou, Dao; Blaabjerg, Frede; Franke, Toke

2014-01-01

With the increasing penetration of the wind power, reliable operation and cost-effective wind energy production are of more and more importance. As one of the promising configurations, the cost on reliability and production losses of permanent-magnet synchronous generator based full-scale wind......, if the specific designed wind turbine system operates at different wind classes, it can be seen that higher wind class level results in lower lifetime of the power converter. In respect to the cost of the reactive power, either the OE or the UE reactive power increases the energy loss per year significantly...... power converter is studied considering the grid code with reactive power production as well as the annual wind profile. Regarding the reliability, it is found that either the Over-Excited (OE) or the Under-Excited (UE) reactive power injection threatens the lifespan under all wind classes. Meanwhile...

Main Coast Winds - Final Scientific Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jason Huckaby; Harley Lee

2006-03-15

The Maine Coast Wind Project was developed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of small, distributed wind systems on coastal sites in Maine. The restructuring of Maine's electric grid to support net metering allowed for the installation of small wind installations across the state (up to 100kW). The study performed adds insight to the difficulties of developing cost-effective distributed systems in coastal environments. The technical hurdles encountered with the chosen wind turbine, combined with the lower than expected wind speeds, did not provide a cost-effective return to make a distributed wind program economically feasible. While the turbine was accepted within the community, the low availability has been a negative.

Reducing costs of wind power with a gearless permanent-magnet generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vihriaelae, H; Peraelae, R; Soederlund, L; Eriksson, J T [Tampere Univ. of Technology (Finland). Lab. of Electricity and Magnetism

1996-12-31

This article examines a disc-type axial-field permanent magnet generator (PMG) utilizing the latest generation of permanent magnet material, namely Nd{sub 15}B{sub 8}Fe{sub 77}. A frequency converter (FC) is needed to keep the system synchronized with the grid. It also offers a possibility to use variable speed. The main advantages of this novel system compared to the conventional one are a higher overall efficiency, better reliability, reduced weight and diminished need for maintenance, all contributing to the cost-reduction of wind power. (author)

Reducing costs of wind power with a gearless permanent-magnet generator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vihriaelae, H.; Peraelae, R.; Soederlund, L.; Eriksson, J.T. [Tampere Univ. of Technology (Finland). Lab. of Electricity and Magnetism

1995-12-31

This article examines a disc-type axial-field permanent magnet generator (PMG) utilizing the latest generation of permanent magnet material, namely Nd{sub 15}B{sub 8}Fe{sub 77}. A frequency converter (FC) is needed to keep the system synchronized with the grid. It also offers a possibility to use variable speed. The main advantages of this novel system compared to the conventional one are a higher overall efficiency, better reliability, reduced weight and diminished need for maintenance, all contributing to the cost-reduction of wind power. (author)

Sixth international wind-diesel workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

At a workshop on hybrid wind/diesel power generation systems, papers were presented on international research programs, demonstration projects, wind/diesel deployment strategies and requirements, wind/diesel market development and economics, wind turbine design requirements, and wind/diesel models and analytical tools. Separate abstracts have been prepared for 11 papers from this workshop

Sixth international wind-diesel workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-01-01

At a workshop on hybrid wind/diesel power generation systems, papers were presented on international research programs, demonstration projects, wind/diesel deployment strategies and requirements, wind/diesel market development and economics, wind turbine design requirements, and wind/diesel models and analytical tools. Separate abstracts have been prepared for 11 papers from this workshop.

Wind Power Today: 2000 Wind Energy Program Highlights

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weis-Taylor, W.

2001-05-08

Wind Power Today is an annual publication that provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Program. The purpose of Wind Power Today is to show how DOE's Wind Energy Program supports wind turbine research and deployment in hopes of furthering the advancement of wind technologies that produce clean, low-cost, reliable energy. Content objectives include: educate readers about the advantages and potential for widespread deployment of wind energy; explain the program's objectives and goals; describe the program's accomplishments in research and application; examine the barriers to widespread deployment; describe the benefits of continued research and development; facilitate technology transfer; and attract cooperative wind energy projects with industry.

Reliability assessment of Wind turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2015-01-01

Wind turbines can be considered as structures that are in between civil engineering structures and machines since they consist of structural components and many electrical and machine components together with a control system. Further, a wind turbine is not a one-of-a-kind structure...... but manufactured in series production based on many component tests, some prototype tests and zeroseries wind turbines. These characteristics influence the reliability assessment where focus in this paper is on the structural components. Levelized Cost Of Energy is very important for wind energy, especially when...... comparing to other energy sources. Therefore much focus is on cost reductions and improved reliability both for offshore and onshore wind turbines. The wind turbine components should be designed to have sufficient reliability level with respect to both extreme and fatigue loads but also not be too costly...

Assessing high wind energy penetration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tande, J.O.

1995-01-01

In order to convincingly promote installing wind power capacity as a substantial part of the energy supply system, a set of careful analyses must be undertaken. This paper applies a case study concentrated on assessing the cost/benefit of high wind energy penetration. The case study considers...... expanding the grid connected wind power capacity in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. The currently installed 1 MW of wind power is estimated to supply close to 10% of the electric energy consumption in 1996. Increasing the wind energy penetration to a higher level is considered viable as the project...... with the existing wind power, supply over 30% of the electric consumption in 1996. Applying the recommended practices for estimating the cost of wind energy, the life-cycle cost of this 2.4 MW investment is estimated at a 7% discount rate and a 20 year lifetime to 0.26 DKK/kW h....

Wind of opportunity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jamieson, Peter

1999-01-01

This article traces the move towards the offshore exploitation of wind energy in Europe, and presents information on existing offshore wind energy projects and proposed wind turbine prototypes for offshore operation. The building of the first major offshore wind project at Vindeby, the use of rock socketed monopile foundations for pile drilling and erection of the wind turbines from a mobile jack-up barge, the costs of wind turbines, the fatigue loads on the support structures due to the wind loading, and the offshore wind market in the UK and Europe are discussed. (UK)

An analysis of UK wind farm statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milborrow, D.J.

1995-01-01

An analysis of key data for 22 completed wind projects shows 134 MW of plant cost Pound 152 million, giving an average cost of Pound 1136/kW. The energy generation potential of these windfarms is around 360 GWh, derived from sites with windspeeds between 6.2 and 8.8 m/s. Relationships between wind speed, energy production and cost were examined and it was found that costs increased with wind speed, due to the difficulties of access in hilly regions. It also appears that project costs fell with time and wind energy prices have fallen much faster than electricity prices. (Author)

Optimizing transmission from distant wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pattanariyankool, Sompop; Lave, Lester B.

2010-01-01

We explore the optimal size of the transmission line from distant wind farms, modeling the tradeoff between transmission cost and benefit from delivered wind power. We also examine the benefit of connecting a second wind farm, requiring additional transmission, in order to increase output smoothness. Since a wind farm has a low capacity factor, the transmission line would not be heavily loaded, on average; depending on the time profile of generation, for wind farms with capacity factor of 29-34%, profit is maximized for a line that is about 3/4 of the nameplate capacity of the wind farm. Although wind generation is inexpensive at a good site, transmitting wind power over 1600 km (about the distance from Wyoming to Los Angeles) doubles the delivered cost of power. As the price for power rises, the optimal capacity of transmission increases. Connecting wind farms lowers delivered cost when the wind farms are close, despite the high correlation of output over time. Imposing a penalty for failing to deliver minimum contracted supply leads to connecting more distant wind farms.

Capabilities and costs for ancillary services provision by wind power plants. Deliverable D 3.1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faiella, Mariano; Hennig, Tobias; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio

This report is the deliverable of the third work package of the REserviceS project and describes the technical options and related costs for the provision of ancillary services specifically from wind energy technologies. It is focused on the set of ancillary services defined in the previous work...

Wind Power Today: Wind Energy Program Highlights 2001

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2002-05-01

Wind Power Today is an annual publication that provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Program accomplishments for the previous year. The purpose of Wind Power Today is to show how DOE's Wind Energy Program supports wind turbine research and deployment in hopes of furthering the advancement of wind technologies that produce clean, low-cost, reliable energy. Content objectives include: educate readers about the advantages and potential for widespread deployment of wind energy; explain the program's objectives and goals; describe the program's accomplishments in research and application; examine the barriers to widespread deployment; describe the benefits of continued research and development; facilitate technology transfer; and attract cooperative wind energy projects with industry. This 2001 edition of Wind Power Today also includes discussions about wind industry growth in 2001, how DOE is taking advantage of low wind speed regions through advancing technology, and distributed applications for small wind turbines.

Analysis of the current cost situation of wind power in Germany; Untersuchungen der aktuellen Kostensituation der Windenergienutzung in Deutschland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rehfeldt, K. [Deutsches Windenergie-Inst. Sucursal en Espana, Pamplona (Spain); Schwenk, B. [InnoVent GmbH, Varel (Germany)

2000-07-01

Against the background of the discussion concerning the Reimbursement Act (StrEG) and the draft Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Bundesverband Windenergie e.V. (BWE) asked the Deutsches Windenergie-Institut (DEWI) to investigate the current cost situation of wind power in Germany. This involved a statistics of wind power generation cost over a period of 20 years. The data were obtained from wind power system operators, technical experts, producers of wind power systems and insurance companies. It was found that especially the cost of component replacement was higher than expected, so that long component life must be one of the main goals in the further development of wind power systems. According to the technical experts, component life today is much less than the rated life of 20 years. [German] Vor dem Hintergrund der Diskussion um das Stromeinspeisegesetz (StrEG) bzw. des Neuentwurfs zum Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG) wurde das Deutsche Windenergie-Institut (DEWI) vom Bundesverband Windenergie e.V. (BWE) beauftragt, eine Studie ueber die aktuelle Kostensituation in Deutschland zu erarbeiten. Erstmals wurden hierbei Stromerzeugungskosten aus Windenergieanlagen (WEA) ueber einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren ermittelt. Hierbei wurden Umfrageergebnisse von Betreibern von WEA, technischen Sachverstaendigen sowie von Herstellern von WEA und Versicherungsgesellschaften verwendet, um belastbare Aussagen ueber Betriebskosten und notwendige Ersatzinvestitionen zu erhalten. Insbesondere die Aussagen ueber notwendige Ersatzinvestitionen durch die technischen Sachverstaendigen waren hoeher als erwartet, so dass es in Zukunft Ziel sein muss, insbesondere bei der Weiterentwicklung von WEA auf wesentlich laengere Lebensdauern der Bauteilkomponenten von WEA zu draengen. Nach Aussage der technischen Sachverstaendigen liegen bisher die Lebensdauern wesentlicher Bauteile der WEA, wie Rotor, Bremssystem, Pitchregelung usw., weit unter der kalkulierten Lebensdauer von 20 Jahren

Representivity of wind measurements for design wind speed estimations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Goliger, Adam M

2013-07-01

Full Text Available of instrumentation sited according to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) requirements. With the advent of automatic weather station technology several decades ago, wind measurements have become much more cost-effective. While previously wind measurements were...

The Economics of Wind Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krohn, S.; Morthorst, P.E.; Awerbuch, S.

2009-03-01

This report is the result of an effort by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) to assemble a team of professional economists to assess the costs, benefits and risks associated with wind power generation. In particular, the authors were asked to evaluate the costs and benefits to society of wind energy compared to other forms of electricity production. In the present context of increasing energy import dependency in industrialised countries as well as the volatility of fuel prices and their impact on GDP, the aspects of energy security and energy diversification have to be given particular weight in such an analysis. Chapter 1 examines the basic (riskless) cost components of wind energy, as it leaves the wind farm, including some international comparisons and a distinction between onshore and offshore technologies. Chapter 2 illustrates other costs, mainly risks that are also part of the investment and thus have to be incorporated in the final price at which electricity coming from wind can be sold in the markets. The chapter discusses why the electricity market for renewable energy sources (RES) is regulated and how different support systems and institutional settings affect the final cost (and hence, price) of wind power. Chapter 3 discusses how the integration of wind energy is modifying the characteristics and management of the electrical system including grids, and how such modifications can affect the global price of electricity. Chapter 4 analyses how the external benefits of wind energy, such as its lower environmental impact and the lower social risk it entails can be incorporated into its valuation. Chapter 5 develops a methodology for the correct economic comparison of electricity costs coming from wind and from fuel-intensive coal and gas power generation. Chapter 5 uses as a starting point the methodology currently applied by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and improves it by incorporating some of the elements described in the previous

Integrated installation for offshore wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Way, J.; Bowerman, H.

2003-07-01

A project to investigate the feasibility of integrating the offshore installation of foundation, turbine and tower for offshore wind turbines into one operation is described. Three separate objectives are listed. They are: (1) Telescopic tower study - reversible process incorporating lift and lock mechanisms; (2) Transportation study - technical and economic feasibility of transporting and installing a wind turbine unit via a standard barge with minimal conversion and (3) Self-burial system study - to demonstrate the feasibility of self burial of a slab foundation via controlled jetting beneath the slab. The background to the study and the proposed concepts are discussed. The work carried out to date and the costs are reported together with the findings. Recommendations for future work are listed. The work was carried out by Corus UK Ltd and is managed by Future Energy Solutions for the DTI.

Investigation of value and costs of wind energy in the electric system. Report - Final meeting, Paris, 30 January 2013

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

This document contains five Power Point presentations which respectively address: the values and costs of wind energy in the electric system (economic assessment of wind energy in the French electric system), the analysis principles and methods (economic assessment and comparison of two scenarios defined by six different parameters: consumption, energy price, wind energy deployment, evolution of the nuclear fleet, nuclear load factor, potential of demand side management), the analysis of the energy substitution value, the value analysis of the peak management, and the impact on infrastructures and system services

Wind Energy: Trends And Enabling Technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Devabhaktuni, Vijay; Alam, Mansoor; Boyapati, Premchand; Chandna, Pankaj; Kumar, Ashok; Lack, Lewis; Nims, Douglas; Wang, Lingfeng

2010-09-15

With attention now focused on the damaging impact of greenhouse gases, wind energy is rapidly emerging as a low carbon, resource efficient, cost-effective sustainable technology in many parts of the world. Despite higher economic costs, offshore appears to be the next big step in wind energy development alternative because of the space scarcity for installation of onshore wind turbine. This paper presents the importance of off-shore wind energy, the wind farm layout design, the off-shore wind turbine technological developments, the role of sensors and the smart grid, and the challenges and future trends of wind energy.

The Economics of Wind Power in China and Policy Implications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zifa Liu

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In 2009, the implementation of feed-in tariff (FIT and attractive public subsidies for onshore wind farms aroused great investment enthusiasm and spurred remarkable development of wind power in China. Meanwhile, rapid learning-by-doing has significantly cut down the cost of wind turbines and the capital cost of wind farms as well. Therefore, it is the right time to examine the appropriateness of the existing FIT policy for wind power in China. In this paper, we employ the analytical framework for levelized cost of electricity (LCOE to model the generation cost of wind power. Results show that the existing FIT policy is attractive to investors, but serious curtailment and turbine quality issues could make wind power unprofitable. Meanwhile, rapid substantial decreases in the cost of wind power have made it competitive to coal power in 2013, implying that it is possible and necessary to reform the FIT policy for new wind farms. In the future, energy policies for onshore wind power in China could be concentrated on reducing the integration cost, so as to reduce the overall system cost.

Technology Roadmap: Wind Energy. 2013 edition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-07-01

The IEA Wind Power Technology Roadmap 2013 Edition recognises the very significant progress made since the first edition was published in 2009. The technology continues to improve rapidly, and costs of generation from land-based wind installations continue to fall. Wind power is now being deployed in countries with good resources without any dedicated financial incentives. The 2013 Edition targets an increased share (15% to 18%) of global electricity to be provided by wind power in 2050, compared to 12% in the original roadmap of 2009. However, increasing levels of low-cost wind still require predictable, supportive regulatory environments and appropriate market designs. The challenges of integrating higher levels of variable wind power into the grid need to be addressed. For offshore wind, much remains to be done to develop appropriate large-scale systems and to reduce costs. The 2013 Wind Power Roadmap also provides updated analysis on the barriers that exist for the technology and suggests ways to address them, including legal and regulatory recommendations.

Economics of wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ranganathan, V.; Kumar, H.P.S.

1991-01-01

Conventional economic analysis of wind energy often ignores the fact that it is not an energy source available on tap, but is intermittent. The analysis at times is discriminatory in the sense that the costs of transmission and distribution are added to the central grid alternative but the costs of the locational constraints of wind energy siting are not quantified. This paper evaluates wind energy after correcting for these two factors. The results are not encouraging

Advanced Performance Hydraulic Wind Energy

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Jack A.; Bruce, Allan; Lam, Adrienne S.

2013-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, has developed a novel advanced hydraulic wind energy design, which has up to 23% performance improvement over conventional wind turbine and conventional hydraulic wind energy systems with 5 m/sec winds. It also has significant cost advantages with levelized costs equal to coal (after carbon tax rebate). The design is equally applicable to tidal energy systems and has passed preliminary laboratory proof-of-performance tests, as funded by the Department of Energy.

20% wind by 2030: Overcoming the challenge - U.S. wind supply chain bottlenecks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shaw, Meghan

2010-09-15

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provided PowerAdvocate with funding to evaluate the challenges facing the supply chain and provide strategic solutions to overcoming the short and long term supply chain challenges. PowerAdvocate conducted market research and interviews with wind developers, turbine and component suppliers and offshore wind development experts. PowerAdvocate created a comprehensive model. The model includes labor statistics, wind facility cost forecasting, and component supplier manufacturing investments in order to estimate the total cost to build a supply chain that supports the DOE's 20% by 2030 wind installation goal.

Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2018-02-27

The Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) is a periodic solicitation through the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) is a periodic solicitation through the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Manufacturers of small and medium wind turbines are awarded cost-shared grants via a competitive process to optimize their designs, develop advanced manufacturing processes, and perform turbine testing. The goals of the CIP are to make wind energy cost competitive with other distributed generation technology and increase the number of wind turbine designs certified to national testing standards. This fact sheet describes the CIP and funding awarded as part of the project.ufacturers of small and medium wind turbines are awarded cost-shared grants via a competitive process to optimize their designs, develop advanced manufacturing processes, and perform turbine testing. The goals of the CIP are to make wind energy cost competitive with other distributed generation technology and increase the number of wind turbine designs certified to national testing standards. This fact sheet describes the CIP and funding awarded as part of the project.

Wind tipping point

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, E.

2006-01-01

In this article the author looks at how in five years wind energy has rapidly evolved into a mainstream industry. The United States has begun to look at wind differently - from a macroeconomic perspective.'This country is going to become increasingly committed to renewable energy, and it's not about altruism', said Alan Waxman, managing director of Goldman Sachs and Co., a financial giant that has invested $1 billion in the resource. Wind is seen not just as an environmentally benign alternative, but also as a means to solve some large problems plaguing the energy business and ultimately the United States as a whole. The last year brought record-breaking electricity rate increases, in some cases doubling consumer costs, and escalating the flight of large enterprises out of high-cost energy regions - or out of business altogether. The rate hikes were caused by hurricanes that hit the southern states and disrupted natural gas and oil operations. Adding wind power to the grid is increasingly seen as a way to limit the price shock caused by such events. Wind power reduces reliance on gas and oil-fired generation and, in particular, creates a hedge against spikes in natural gas, a fuel that increasingly sets the marginal price. Large energy users, too, are becoming aware of wind's hedging benefits. The author looks at the cost issues and how the future of wind energy in the country can be sustained as a reliable alternative fuel

Winding Design for Minimum Power Loss and Low-Cost Manufacture in Application to Fixed-Speed PM Generator

OpenAIRE

Wrobel, Rafal; Staton, David; Lock, Richard J; Booker, Julian D; Drury, David

2015-01-01

This paper presents the results from a coupled thermal and power loss analysis of an open-slot permanent-magnet (PM) generator. The research focus has been placed on the winding design providing minimum power loss at an ac operation, together with low-cost manufacture. The analyzed PM generator is intended to operate at a fixed speed, allowing for the winding design to be finely tuned for a single operating point. Such a design approach has not been widely reported in literature, and the exis...

Study of the costs of offshore wind generation: a report to the Renewables Advisory Board and DTI (Dept. of Trade and Industry)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-03-12

This study was commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to provide an estimation of the future costs of offshore wind generation, and the potential for cost reductions in the future. Currently, given the strong market demand for wind turbines and cables, project costs are rising for an industry that is already borderline in terms of economical viability. Hence, the industry and the Government needs to be convinced that there is potential to make this industry more economically attractive and to ensure that it is able to contribute to meet future UK targets of energy from renewable sources. The focus of this report is on the Offshore Design Engineering Ltd. (ODE) Offshore Wind Farm Cost Model, which was specifically developed to allow specific estimates of future wind generation costs to be produced and to allow the user to carry out 'what if' scenarios for changes in the primary trends. Following extensive research six parameters were identified has having the most significant effect on overall project costs. Those are supply and demand, steel costs, copper costs, the effect of learning, research and development and supply and demand of turbines. These trends have been developed based on, where applicable, historical data, previous study work and an extensive Industry Research carried out by ODE. Three trend lines were identified for each trend, a normalised trend line which ODE perceived would be the most likely, and an upper and lower bound. The cost model is based on a level 2 schedule with calculated and fixed costs and durations to individual activities. These costs and durations have been based on information garnered from representatives right across the industry from developers to financiers to cable manufacturers to installation contractors. In parallel with the cost model, a structural study was run with the aim of identifying foundation weights with varying water depths and soil types. It was determined that the monopile, the

TOPFARM: Multi-fidelity optimization of wind farms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Réthoré, Pierre-Elouan; Fuglsang, Peter; Larsen, Gunner Chr.

2014-01-01

design of the Middelgrunden wind farm, this work focuses on demonstrating a method that optimizes the profit of wind farms over their lifetime based on a balance of the energy production income, the electrical grid costs, the foundations cost, and the cost of wake turbulence induced fatigue degradation...... of different wind turbine components. A multi-fidelity concept is adapted, which uses cost function models of increasing complexity (and decreasing speed) to accelerate the convergence to an optimum solution. In the EU-FP6 TOPFARM project, three levels of complexity are considered. The first level uses...... a simple stationary wind farm wake model to estimate the Annual Energy Production (AEP), a foundations cost model depending on the water depth and an electrical grid cost function dictated by cable length. The second level calculates the AEP and adds a wake-induced fatigue degradation cost function...

Offshore Wind Energy Market Overview (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baring-Gould, I.

2013-07-01

This presentation describes the current international market conditions regarding offshore wind, including the breakdown of installation costs, how to reduce costs, and the physical siting considerations considered when planning offshore wind construction. The presentation offers several examples of international existing and planned offshore wind farm sites and compares existing international offshore resources with U.S. resources. The presentation covers future offshore wind trends and cites some challenges that the United States must overcome before it will be able to fully develop offshore wind sites.

Model Predictive Control of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Lars Christian

Wind turbines play a major role in the transformation from a fossil fuel based energy production to a more sustainable production of energy. Total-cost-of-ownership is an important parameter when investors decide in which energy technology they should place their capital. Modern wind turbines...... the need for maintenance of the wind turbine. Either way, better total-cost-of-ownership for wind turbine operators can be achieved by improved control of the wind turbines. Wind turbine control can be improved in two ways, by improving the model on which the controller bases its design or by improving...

Global experience curves for wind farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Junginger, M.; Faaij, A.; Turkenburg, W.C.

2005-01-01

In order to forecast the technological development and cost of wind turbines and the production costs of wind electricity, frequent use is made of the so-called experience curve concept. Experience curves of wind turbines are generally based on data describing the development of national markets, which cause a number of problems when applied for global assessments. To analyze global wind energy price development more adequately, we compose a global experience curve. First, underlying factors for past and potential future price reductions of wind turbines are analyzed. Also possible implications and pitfalls when applying the experience curve methodology are assessed. Second, we present and discuss a new approach of establishing a global experience curve and thus a global progress ratio for the investment cost of wind farms. Results show that global progress ratios for wind farms may lie between 77% and 85% (with an average of 81%), which is significantly more optimistic than progress ratios applied in most current scenario studies and integrated assessment models. While the findings are based on a limited amount of data, they may indicate faster price reduction opportunities than so far assumed. With this global experience curve we aim to improve the reliability of describing the speed with which global costs of wind power may decline

Wind power takes over

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

All over the industrialized world concentrated efforts are being made to make wind turbines cover some of the energy demand in the coming years. There is still a long way to go, however, towards a 'green revolution' as far as energy is concerned, for it is quite futile to use wind power for electric heating. The article deals with some of the advantages and disadvantages of developing wind power. In Norway, for instance, environmentalists fear that wind power plants along the coast may have serious consequences for the stocks of white-tailed eagle and golden eagle. An other factor that delays the large-scale application of wind power in Norway is the low price of electricity. Some experts, however, maintain that wind power may already compete with new hydroelectric power of intermediate cost. The investment costs are expected to go down with one third by 2020, when wind power may be the most competitive energy source to utilize

Wind energy - an overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rangi, R.; Oprisan, M.

1998-01-01

The current status of wind technology developments in Canada and around the world was reviewed. Information regarding the level of wind turbine deployment was presented. It was shown that significant effort has been made on the national and international level to increase the capacity of this clean, non-polluting form of energy. Wind energy has become competitive with conventional sources of electricity due to lower cost, higher efficiency and improved reliability of generating equipment. The advantages and disadvantages of wind electricity generating systems and the economics and atmospheric emissions of the systems were described. At present, there is about 23 MW of wind energy generating capacity installed in Canada, but the potential is very large. It was suggested that wind energy could supply as much as 60 per cent of Canada's electricity needs if only one per cent of the land with 'good winds' were covered by wind turbines. Recently, the Canadian government has provided an accelerated capital cost allowance for certain types of renewable energies under the Income Tax Act, and the flow-through share financing legislation to include intangible expenses in certain renewable energy projects has been extended. Besides the support provided to the private sector through tax advantages, the Government also supports renewable energy development by purchasing 'green' energy for its own buildings across the country, and by funding a research and development program to identify and promote application of wind energy technologies, improve its cost effectiveness, and support Canadian wind energy industries with technology development to enhance their competitiveness at home and abroad. Details of the Wind Energy Program, operated by Natural Resources Canada, are described. 3 tabs., 5 figs

PV–wind hybrid power option for a low wind topography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhattacharjee, Subhadeep; Acharya, Shantanu

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Optimally harness the wind energy by unification of solar resource. • Analysis of PV–wind hybrid system with tangible experience. • Cost of generation and renewable fraction are $0.488/kWh and 0.90 respectively. • Maximum wind penetration is observed to be 32.75% with installed PV–wind system. • Indicative annual grid electricity conservation is 90%. - Abstract: Solar and wind are clean energy sources with enormous potential to alleviate grid dependence. The paper aims to optimally harness the wind resource with the support of solar energy through hybrid technology for a north-east Indian state Tripura (low wind topography). Techno-economic analysis of a photovoltaic (PV)-wind hybrid simulation model has been performed for small scale application in an educational building. The study also evaluates the tangible performance of a similar plant in practical condition of the site. It has emerged from the study that major energy generation is turning out from PV segment which is promising almost all round the year. Nonetheless, a considerable amount of wind power is found to be generated during half of the year when average PV power production is comparatively less. The cost of electricity from the simulation model is found to be $0.488/kWh while renewable fraction in the total electricity share is obtained to be 0.90. From the actual performance of the plant, maximum wind penetration is observed to be 32.75%

Estimating the electricity prices, generation costs and CO_2 emissions of large scale wind energy exports from Ireland to Great Britain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cleary, Brendan; Duffy, Aidan; Bach, Bjarne; Vitina, Aisma; O’Connor, Alan; Conlon, Michael

2016-01-01

The share of wind generation in the Irish and British electricity markets is set to increase by 2020 due to renewable energy (RE) targets. The United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland have set ambitious targets which require 30% and 40% of electricity demand to come from RE, mainly wind, by 2020, respectively. Ireland has sufficient indigenous onshore wind energy resources to exceed the RE target, while the UK faces uncertainty in achieving its target. A possible solution for the UK is to import RE directly from large scale onshore and offshore wind energy projects in Ireland; this possibility has recently been explored by both governments but is currently on hold. Thus, the aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of large scale wind energy in the Irish and British electricity markets in terms of wholesale system marginal prices, total generation costs and CO_2 emissions. The results indicate when the large scale Irish-based wind energy projects are connected directly to the UK there is a decrease of 0.6% and 2% in the Irish and British wholesale system marginal prices under the UK National Grid slow progression scenario, respectively. - Highlights: • Modelling the Irish and British electricity markets. • Investigating the impacts of large scale wind energy within the markets. • Results indicate a reduction in wholesale system marginal prices in both markets. • Decrease in total generation costs and CO_2 emissions in both markets.

Modelling and Measuring Flow and Wind Turbine Wakes in Large Wind Farms Offshore

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barthelmie, Rebecca Jane; Hansen, Kurt Schaldemose; Frandsen, Sten Tronæs

2009-01-01

power losses due to wakes and loads. The research presented is part of the EC-funded UpWind project, which aims to radically improve wind turbine and wind farm models in order to continue to improve the costs of wind energy. Reducing wake losses, or even reduce uncertainties in predicting power losses...

Strategic wind power trading considering rival wind power production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Exizidis, Lazaros; Kazempour, Jalal; Pinson, Pierre

2016-01-01

In an electricity market with high share of wind power, it is expected that wind power producers may exercise market power. However, wind producers have to cope with wind’s uncertain nature in order to optimally offer their generation, whereas in a market with more than one wind producers, uncert...... depending on the rival’s wind generation, given that its own expected generation is not high. Finally, as anticipated, expected system cost is higher when both wind power producers are expected to have low wind power generation......In an electricity market with high share of wind power, it is expected that wind power producers may exercise market power. However, wind producers have to cope with wind’s uncertain nature in order to optimally offer their generation, whereas in a market with more than one wind producers......, uncertainty of rival wind power generation should also be considered. Under this context, this paper addresses the impact of rival wind producers on the offering strategy and profits of a pricemaker wind producer. A stochastic day-ahead market setup is considered, which optimizes the day-ahead schedules...

Separate valuation subsystems for delay and effort decision costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Prévost, Charlotte; Pessiglione, Mathias; Météreau, Elise; Cléry-Melin, Marie-Laure; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2010-10-20

Decision making consists of choosing among available options on the basis of a valuation of their potential costs and benefits. Most theoretical models of decision making in behavioral economics, psychology, and computer science propose that the desirability of outcomes expected from alternative options can be quantified by utility functions. These utility functions allow a decision maker to assign subjective values to each option under consideration by weighting the likely benefits and costs resulting from an action and to select the one with the highest subjective value. Here, we used model-based neuroimaging to test whether the human brain uses separate valuation systems for rewards (erotic stimuli) associated with different types of costs, namely, delay and effort. We show that humans devalue rewards associated with physical effort in a strikingly similar fashion to those they devalue that are associated with delays, and that a single computational model derived from economics theory can account for the behavior observed in both delay discounting and effort discounting. However, our neuroimaging data reveal that the human brain uses distinct valuation subsystems for different types of costs, reflecting in opposite fashion delayed reward and future energetic expenses. The ventral striatum and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex represent the increasing subjective value of delayed rewards, whereas a distinct network, composed of the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, represent the decreasing value of the effortful option, coding the expected expense of energy. Together, these data demonstrate that the valuation processes underlying different types of costs can be fractionated at the cerebral level.

Economic cost evaluation on the viability of offshore wind turbine farms in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.O. Effiom

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an economic cost evaluation on the feasibility of offshore wind turbine (OWT farms development in Nigeria, using a 500 MW OWT farm as an incident study. A developed model was used to evaluate the economic cost of the OWTs at different phases of the project. Additionally, the effect of the cost drivers at the changed phases of the OWTs was studied correspondingly. Results obtained showed that over 50% of the OWT project cost emanated from CAPEX while a value less than 50% came from OPEX. However, further analysis indicates at maximum power of 4 MW a 4.95% diminution in LCOE. For comparable power rating (PR between 5⩽PR⩽6MW, a 2.7% reduction in LCOE exists. Cost stability was apparent at a growth of WTs between 300⩽WT⩽500 MW. The study also observed a decrease in LCOE for all development stages of the OWT while a decrease in the CMS detectability was considered marginal. Subsequently, it can be inferred that Nigeria has the potential for OWT farm expansion. However, the demonstrated model was appropriate for handling preliminary variations in OWT studies.

Design and fabrication of a low-cost Darrieus vertical-axis wind-turbine system, phase 2. Volume 3: Design, fabrication, and site drawing

Science.gov (United States)

1983-03-01

The design, fabrication, and site drawings associated with fabrication, installation, and check out of 100 kW 17 meter Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) were reported. The turbines are Darrieus type VAWTs with rotors 17 meters in diameter and 25.15 meters in height. They can produce 100 kW of electric power at a cost of energy as low as 3 cents per kWh, in an 18 mph wind regime using 12% annualized costs. Four turbines are produced, three are installed and operable.

Energy potential of the wind and possibility for construction of big energy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruevski, Trpe

2004-01-01

In this paper a brief theoretical survey is given on the wind as a clean and renewable energy source.The wind energy potential is analyzed as well as the power limits that could be obtained as a result of the wind kinetic energy.The total generating costs for wind turbine systems are determined by total investments costs, the life time, the operating and maintenance costs, the wind regime, the efficiency and availability of the wind turbine. The optimum size of a wind turbine depends on the wind speed, the wind turbine costs, the construction costs, the environmental impact and the social costs. The value of wind energy depends on the application that is made of the energy generated and on the costs of alternatives

Turbine endwall two-cylinder program. [wind tunnel and water tunnel investigation of three dimensional separation of fluid flow

Science.gov (United States)

Langston, L. S.

1980-01-01

Progress is reported in an effort to study the three dimensional separation of fluid flow around two isolated cylinders mounted on an endwall. The design and performance of a hydrogen bubble generator for water tunnel tests to determine bulk flow properties and to measure main stream velocity and boundary layer thickness are described. Although the water tunnel tests are behind schedule because of inlet distortion problems, tests are far enough along to indicate cylinder spacing, wall effects and low Reynolds number behavior, all of which impacted wind tunnel model design. The construction, assembly, and operation of the wind tunnel and the check out of its characteristics are described. An off-body potential flow program was adapted to calculate normal streams streamwise pressure gradients at the saddle point locations.

Global wind power development: Economics and policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timilsina, Govinda R.; Cornelis van Kooten, G.; Narbel, Patrick A.

2013-01-01

Existing literature indicates that theoretically, the earth's wind energy supply potential significantly exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 2–3% of global electricity demand is currently derived from wind power despite 27% annual growth in wind generating capacity over the last 17 years. More than 95% of total current wind power capacity is installed in the developed countries plus China and India. Our analysis shows that the economic competitiveness of wind power varies at wider range across countries or locations. A climate change damage cost of US$20/tCO 2 imposed to fossil fuels would make onshore wind competitive to all fossil fuels for power generation; however, the same would not happen to offshore wind, with few exceptions, even if the damage cost is increased to US$100/tCO 2 . To overcome a large number of technical, financial, institutional, market and other barriers to wind power, many countries have employed various policy instruments, including capital subsidies, tax incentives, tradable energy certificates, feed-in tariffs, grid access guarantees and mandatory standards. Besides, climate change mitigation policies, such as the Clean Development Mechanism, have played a pivotal role in promoting wind power. Despite these policies, intermittency, the main technical constraint, could remain as the major challenge to the future growth of wind power. - Highlights: • Global wind energy potential is enormous, yet the wind energy contribution is very small. • Existing policies are boosting development of wind power. • Costs of wind energy are higher than cost of fossil-based energies. • Reasonable premiums for climate change mitigation substantially promote wind power. • Intermittency is the key challenge to future development of wind power

The cost of SMRs. How Rolls Royce aims to compete with wind and solar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalton, David [NucNet The Independent Global Nuclear News Agency, Brussels (Belgium)

2017-12-15

The UK nuclear industry is hoping that claims by Rolls-Royce that small modular reactor (SMR) projects could deliver electricity for a similar cost to offshore wind will provide much-needed impetus to government plans for the country to develop a ''best value'' SMR and put it into commercial operation by the end of the next decade. Rolls-Royce and its consortium partners, including Amec Foster Wheeler, Arup, Laing O'Rourke and Nuvia, say the UK SMR they are developing could produce energy for as low as pound 60 (Euro 66, $ 79) per MWh, which is competitive against wind and solar and significantly lower than the pound 92.50 per MWh agreed by the government and project developer EDF for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear station.

The cost of SMRs. How Rolls Royce aims to compete with wind and solar

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalton, David

2017-01-01

The UK nuclear industry is hoping that claims by Rolls-Royce that small modular reactor (SMR) projects could deliver electricity for a similar cost to offshore wind will provide much-needed impetus to government plans for the country to develop a ''best value'' SMR and put it into commercial operation by the end of the next decade. Rolls-Royce and its consortium partners, including Amec Foster Wheeler, Arup, Laing O'Rourke and Nuvia, say the UK SMR they are developing could produce energy for as low as pound 60 (Euro 66, $ 79) per MWh, which is competitive against wind and solar and significantly lower than the pound 92.50 per MWh agreed by the government and project developer EDF for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear station.

Distributed energy systems with wind power and energy storage

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korpaas, Magnus

2004-07-01

The topic of this thesis is the study of energy storage systems operating with wind power plants. The motivation for applying energy storage in this context is that wind power generation is intermittent and generally difficult to predict, and that good wind energy resources are often found in areas with limited grid capacity. Moreover, energy storage in the form of hydrogen makes it possible to provide clean fuel for transportation. The aim of this work has been to evaluate how local energy storage systems should be designed and operated in order to increase the penetration and value of wind power in the power system. Optimization models and sequential and probabilistic simulation models have been developed for this purpose. Chapter 3 presents a sequential simulation model of a general wind hydrogen energy system. Electrolytic hydrogen is used either as a fuel for transportation or for power generation in a stationary fuel cell. The model is useful for evaluating how hydrogen storage can increase the penetration of wind power in areas with limited or no transmission capacity to the main grid. The simulation model is combined with a cost model in order to study how component sizing and choice of operation strategy influence the performance and economics of the wind-hydrogen system. If the stored hydrogen is not used as a separate product, but merely as electrical energy storage, it should be evaluated against other and more energy efficient storage options such as pumped hydro and redox flow cells. A probabilistic model of a grid-connected wind power plant with a general energy storage unit is presented in chapter 4. The energy storage unit is applied for smoothing wind power fluctuations by providing a firm power output to the grid over a specific period. The method described in the chapter is based on the statistical properties of the wind speed and a general representation of the wind energy conversion system and the energy storage unit. This method allows us to

TOPFARM wind farm optimization tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rethore, P.-E.; Fuglsang, P.; Larsen, Torben J.; Buhl, T.; Larsen, Gunner C.

2011-02-15

A wind farm optimization framework is presented in detail and demonstrated on two test cases: 1) Middelgrunden and 2) Stags Holt/Coldham. A detailed flow model describing the instationary flow within a wind farm is used together with an aeroelastic model to determine production and fatigue loading of wind farm wind turbines. Based on generic load cases, the wind farm production and fatigue evaluations are subsequently condensed in a large pre-calculated database for rapid calculation of lifetime equivalent loads and energy production in the optimization loop. The objective function defining the optimization problem includes elements as energy production, turbine degradation, operation and maintenance costs, electrical grid costs and foundation costs. The objective function is optimized using a dedicated multi fidelity approach with the locations of individual turbines in the wind farm spanning the design space. The results are over all satisfying and are giving some interesting insights on the pros and cons of the design choices. They show in particular that the inclusion of the fatigue loads costs give rise to some additional details in comparison with pure power based optimization. The Middelgrunden test case resulted in an improvement of the financial balance of 2.1 M Euro originating from a very large increase in the energy production value of 9.3 M Euro mainly counterbalanced by increased electrical grid costs. The Stags Holt/Coldham test case resulted in an improvement of the financial balance of 3.1 M Euro. (Author)

Reducing Wind Curtailment through Transmission Expansion in a Wind Vision Future

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jorgensen, Jennie [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Mai, Trieu [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Brinkman, Greg [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-01-01

The Department of Energy's 2015 Wind Vision study, which analyzed an ambitious scenario where wind power served 35% of U.S. electricity consumption in 2050, showed the potential for wind energy to provide substantial health, environmental, and economic benefits. Using a commercial unit commitment and economic dispatch model, we build on this research by assessing the hourly operational feasibility of a similar high wind future in the Western United States. Our detailed simulations found no hours of unmet load or reserve violations with more than 35% potential wind (and 12% potential solar) available on the system, which highlights the technical possibility of integrating large amounts of wind energy. However, absent significant changes to the western grid, we find that substantial wind curtailment could be an issue, as it could degrade the potential for wind power to reduce fuel costs and lowering the emission benefits. To assess the value of transmission to mitigate wind curtailment, we model a suite of transmission expansion scenarios. We find that wind curtailment could be reduced by approximately half under a scenario where new transmission is based only on proposed projects. This avoided wind curtailment could lower annual production costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions substantially. Greater transmission expansion was found to yield further benefits, although the marginal benefits of these new lines were found to decline. Overall, these results suggest that power systems operation can be realized with more than 35% wind penetration, but that transmission expansion is likely to play a vital role.

Financing wind projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manson, J.

2006-01-01

This presentation reviewed some of the partnership opportunities available from GE Energy. GE Energy's ecomagination commitment has promised to double research investment, make customers true partners and reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs). GE Energy's renewable energy team provides a broad range of financial products, and has recently funded 30 wind farms and 2 large solar projects. The company has a diverse portfolio of technology providers and wind regimes, and is increasing their investment in technology. GE Energy recognizes that the wind industry is growing rapidly and has received increased regulatory support that is backed by strong policy and public support. It is expected that Canada will have 3006 wind projects either planned or under construction by 2007. According to GE Energy, successful wind financing is dependent on the location of the site and its wind resources, as well as on the wind developer's power sales agreement. The success of a wind project is also determined by clear financing goals. Site-specific data is needed to determine the quality of wind resource, and off-site data can also be used to provide validation. Proximity to load centres will help to minimize capital costs. Power sales agreements should be based on the project's realistic net capacity factor as well as on the cost of the turbines. The economics of many wind farms is driven by the size of the turbines used. Public consultations are also needed to ensure the success of wind power projects. It was concluded that a good partner will have staying power in the wind power industry, and will understand the time-lines and needs that are peculiar to wind energy developers. refs., tabs., figs

Risk management tools from the traditional energy industry to wind energy projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Randall, G.; Marks, R.

2010-01-01

Risk-based analysis techniques are used to quantify and prioritize a wide variety of problems within the traditional fossil fuel and nuclear power industries. This poster presentation evaluated some of the risk analysis tools and methods used by the energy industry to quantify and manage wind energy development risks. A comprehensive risk-based approach for identifying the probability and consequences of potential concerns was presented for a sample wind energy project. The process determined objectives in relation to the project's net present value. Contributing domains included the energy production, prices, and operating costs of the project. Decision criteria used to evaluate the desirability of the wind project were then developed. Monte Carlo simulations were the used to aggregate individual risks into an overall total. The contribution of each element to the decision objective was calculated separately. The element outputs were than combined into a measure of aggregate risk exposure. Aggregate results were used to calculate the decision criteria. The decision objective was to determine if the energy cost was less than the avoided cost of other project options. The study showed that the approach can allow decision-makers to mitigate risks. However, the results are dependent on the quality of the input data. tabs., figs.

Strength and Reliability of Wood for the Components of Low-cost Wind Turbines: Computational and Experimental Analysis and Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishnaevsky, Leon; Freere, Peter; Sharma, Ranjan

2009-01-01

of experiments and computational investigations. Low cost testing machines have been designed, and employed for the systematic analysis of different sorts of Nepali wood, to be used for the wind turbine construction. At the same time, computational micromechanical models of deformation and strength of wood......This paper reports the latest results of the comprehensive program of experimental and computational analysis of strength and reliability of wooden parts of low cost wind turbines. The possibilities of prediction of strength and reliability of different types of wood are studied in the series...... are developed, which should provide the basis for microstructure-based correlating of observable and service properties of wood. Some correlations between microstructure, strength and service properties of wood have been established....

Evaluation of a proposal for reliable low-cost grid power with 100% wind, water, and solar.

Science.gov (United States)

Clack, Christopher T M; Qvist, Staffan A; Apt, Jay; Bazilian, Morgan; Brandt, Adam R; Caldeira, Ken; Davis, Steven J; Diakov, Victor; Handschy, Mark A; Hines, Paul D H; Jaramillo, Paulina; Kammen, Daniel M; Long, Jane C S; Morgan, M Granger; Reed, Adam; Sivaram, Varun; Sweeney, James; Tynan, George R; Victor, David G; Weyant, John P; Whitacre, Jay F

2017-06-27

A number of analyses, meta-analyses, and assessments, including those performed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the International Energy Agency, have concluded that deployment of a diverse portfolio of clean energy technologies makes a transition to a low-carbon-emission energy system both more feasible and less costly than other pathways. In contrast, Jacobson et al. [Jacobson MZ, Delucchi MA, Cameron MA, Frew BA (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(49):15060-15065] argue that it is feasible to provide "low-cost solutions to the grid reliability problem with 100% penetration of WWS [wind, water and solar power] across all energy sectors in the continental United States between 2050 and 2055", with only electricity and hydrogen as energy carriers. In this paper, we evaluate that study and find significant shortcomings in the analysis. In particular, we point out that this work used invalid modeling tools, contained modeling errors, and made implausible and inadequately supported assumptions. Policy makers should treat with caution any visions of a rapid, reliable, and low-cost transition to entire energy systems that relies almost exclusively on wind, solar, and hydroelectric power.

Challenges in wind farm optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Gunner Chr.

To achieve the optimal economic output from a wind farm over its lifetime, an optimal balance between capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, fatigue lifetime consumption of turbine components and power production is to be determined on a rational basis. This has implications both...... for the wind turbine modeling, where aeroelastic models are required, and for the wind farm flow field description, where in-stationary flow field modeling is needed to capture the complicated mixture of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows and upstream emitted meandering wind turbine wakes, which together...... dictates the fatigue loading of the individual wind turbines. Within an optimization context, the basic challenge in describing the in-stationary wind farm flow field is computational speed. The Dynamic Wake Meandering (DWM) model includes the basic features of a CFD Large Eddy Simulation approach...

Costs of head-end incineration with respect to Kr separation in the reprocessing of HTR fuel elements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnert-Wiemer, H.; Boehnert, R.

1976-07-15

The C-incinerations and the Kr-separations during head-end incineration in the reprocessing of HTR fuel elements are described. The costs for constructing an operating a head-end incineration of reprocessing capacities with 5,000 to 50,000 MW(e)-HTR power have been determined. The cost estimates are divided into investment and operating costs, further after the fraction of the N/sub 2/-content in the incineration exhaust gas, which strongly affects costs. It appears that, in the case of Kr-separation from the incineration exhaust gas, the investment costs as well as the operating costs of the head-end for N/sub 2/-containing exhaust gas are considerably greater than those for gas without N/sub 2/. The C-incineration of the graphite of the HTR fuel elements should therefore only be performed with influx gas that is free of N/sub 2/.

Assessing high wind energy penetration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tande, J.O.

1995-01-01

In order to convincingly promote installing wind power capacity as a substantial part of the energy supply system, a set of careful analyses must be undertaken. This paper applies a case study concentrated on assessing the cost/benefit of high wind energy penetration. The case study considers expanding the grid connected wind power capacity in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. The currently installed 1 MW of wind power is estimated to supply close to 10% of the electric energy consumption in 1996. Increasing the wind energy penetration to a higher level is considered viable as the project settings are close to ideal, including a very capable national utility company, Electra, a conventional power supply system based on imported heavy fuel and gas oil, and favourable wind conditions with an estimated annual average of 9.3 m/s at the hub height of the wind turbines. With the applied case study assumptions, simulations with WINSYS over the lifetime of the assessed wind power investment show that investments up to 4.2 MW are economically viable. The economic optimum is found at 2.4 MW reaching an internal rate of return of almost 8% p.a. This 2.4 MW of wind power would, together with the existing wind power, supply over 30% of the electric consumption in 1996. Applying the recommended practices for estimating the cost of wind energy, the life-cycle cost of this 2.4 MW investment is estimated at a 7% discount rate and a 20 year lifetime to 0.26 DKK/kW h. (Author)

Betting on wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-11-01

In the first part of this study, the authors try to identify whether the economical and environmental context is adapted to the wind energy development. In order to do so, they discuss wind energy as a possible answer to climate emergency, critics formulated against wind energy, the effects of the financial crisis and the opportunities offered by wind energy within this crisis. In the second part, they discuss the French context and the debates on wind energy, highlighting the importance of some parameters in the cost analysis of wind turbine, presenting the results of a sensitivity analysis, and highlighting the importance of the over-cost calculation. They assess the current development status of the French wind energy industry and underline the opportunities for the future. In the third part, they describe the development status, lever and perspectives in different countries: Germany where the development of this sector has been successful, China which is becoming a major actor, the United States which are displaying the highest growth in this area, and Denmark which is the world leader

Estimation of extreme wind speeds in the mixed strong wind climate of South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Kruger, AC

2010-08-01

Full Text Available wind-generating mechanisms for Australia. Annual extreme wind speeds are generated by different mechanisms, forthcoming from thunderstorm activity and the passages of extratropical low pressure systems, which were identified. Separate extreme value...

Innovative Offshore Wind Plant Design Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hurley, William L. [Glosten Associates, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States); Nordstrom, Charles J. [Glosten Associates, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States); Morrison, Brent J. [Glosten Associates, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States)

2013-12-18

Technological advancements in the Glosten PelaStar floating wind turbine system have led to projected cost of energy (COE) reductions from today’s best-in-class offshore wind systems. The PelaStar system is projected to deliver a COE that is 35% lower than that delivered by the current offshore wind plants. Several technology developments have been achieved that directly target significant cost of energy reductions. These include: Application of state-of-the-art steel construction materials and methods, including fatigue-resistant welding techniques and technologies, to reduce hull steel weight; Advancements in synthetic fiber tendon design for the mooring system, which are made possible by laboratory analysis of full-scale sub-rope specimens; Investigations into selected anchor technologies to improve anchor installation methods; Refinement of the installation method, specifically through development of the PelaStar Support Barge design. Together, these technology developments drive down the capital cost and operating cost of offshore wind plants and enable access to superb wind resources in deep water locations. These technology developments also reduce the uncertainty of the PelaStar system costs, which increases confidence in the projected COE reductions.

Mini-review of wind energy 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

At the 1995 meeting of the International Energy Agency CADDET renewable energy technologies programme, contributors aimed to advise on wind energy use and identify future needs for analysis of future trends and review research tasks. Three major trends leading to the commercial exploitation of wind energy are identified. Firstly, cost reduction and increased efficiency is aimed at through technical innovation, economies of scale and reduced labour costs. The environmental and social benefits of wind energy are acknowledged in the second place. Lastly, wind turbine deployment has been given decisive market incentives. Two major barriers block the development of the wind energy market, availability of site locations and the current economic state of countries likely to espouse wind energy. (UK)

Life cycle assessment and costing of urine source separation: Focus on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug removal.

Science.gov (United States)

Landry, Kelly A; Boyer, Treavor H

2016-11-15

Urine source separation has the potential to reduce pharmaceutical loading to the environment, while enhancing nutrient recovery. The focus of this life cycle assessment (LCA) was to evaluate the environmental impacts and economic costs to manage nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (i.e., diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen and naproxen) and nutrients in human urine. Urine source separation was compared with centralized wastewater treatment (WWT) (biological or upgraded with ozonation). The current treatment method (i.e., centralized biological WWT) was compared with hypothetical treatment scenarios (i.e., centralized biological WWT upgraded with ozonation, and urine source separation). Alternative urine source separation scenarios included varying collection and handling methods (i.e., collection by vacuum truck, vacuum sewer, or decentralized treatment), pharmaceuticals removal by ion-exchange, and struvite precipitation. Urine source separation scenarios had 90% lower environmental impact (based on the TRACI impact assessment method) compared with the centralized wastewater scenarios due to reduced potable water production for flush water, reduced electricity use at the wastewater treatment plant, and nutrient offsets from struvite precipitation. Despite the greatest reduction of pharmaceutical toxicity, centralized treatment upgraded with ozone had the greatest ecotoxicity impacts due to ozonation operation and infrastructure. Among urine source separation scenarios, decentralized treatment of urine and centralized treatment of urine collected by vacuum truck had negligible cost differences compared with centralized wastewater treatment. Centralized treatment of urine collected by vacuum sewer and centralized treatment with ozone cost 30% more compared with conventional wastewater treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

IEA Wind TCP Task 26: Impacts of Wind Turbine Technology on the System Value of Wind in Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lantz, Eric J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Riva, Alberto D [Ea Energy Analyses; Hethey, Janos [Ea Energy Analyses; Vitina, Aisma [Danish Energy Agency

2018-05-01

This report analyzes the impact of different land-based wind turbine designs on grid integration and related system value and cost. This topic has been studied in a number of previous publications, showing the potential benefits of wind turbine technologies that feature higher capacity factors. Building on the existing literature, this study aims to quantify the effects of different land-based wind turbine designs in the context of a projection of the European power system to 2030. This study contributes with insights on the quantitative effects in a likely European market setup, taking into account the effect of existing infrastructure on both existing conventional and renewable generation capacities. Furthermore, the market effects are put into perspective by comparing cost estimates for deploying different types of turbine design. Although the study focuses on Europe, similar considerations and results can be applied to other power systems with high wind penetration.

Wind Generation on Winnebago Tribal Lands

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Multiple

2009-09-30

The Winnebago Wind Energy Study evaluated facility-scale, community-scale and commercial-scale wind development on Winnebago Tribal lands in northeastern Nebraska. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has been pursuing wind development in various forms for nearly ten years. Wind monitoring utilizing loaned met towers from NREL took place during two different periods. From April 2001 to April 2002, a 20-meter met tower monitored wind data at the WinnaVegas Casino on the far eastern edge of the Winnebago reservation in Iowa. In late 2006, a 50-meter tower was installed, and subsequently monitored wind data at the WinnaVegas site from late 2006 through late 2008. Significant challenges with the NREL wind monitoring equipment limited the availability of valid data, but based on the available data, average wind speeds between 13.6 – 14.3 miles were indicated, reflecting a 2+/3- wind class. Based on the anticipated cost of energy produced by a WinnaVegas wind turbine, and the utility policies and rates in place at this time, a WinnaVegas wind project did not appear to make economic sense. However, if substantial grant funding were available for energy equipment at the casino site, and if either Woodbury REC backup rates were lower, or NIPCO was willing to pay more for wind power, a WinnaVegas wind project could be feasible. With funding remaining in the DOE-funded project budget,a number of other possible wind project locations on the Winnebago reservation were considered. in early 2009, a NPPD-owned met tower was installed at a site identified in the study pursuant to a verbal agreement with NPPD which provided for power from any ultimately developed project on the Western Winnebago site to be sold to NPPD. Results from the first seven months of wind monitoring at the Western Winnebago site were as expected at just over 7 meters per second at 50-meter tower height, reflecting Class 4 wind speeds, adequate for commercial development. If wind data collected in the remaining

The economics of wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanco, Maria Isabel

2009-01-01

This article presents the outcomes of a recent study carried out among wind energy manufacturers and developers regarding the current generation costs of wind energy projects in Europe, the factors that most influence them, as well as the reasons behind their recent increase and their expected future evolution. The research finds that the generation costs of an onshore wind farm are between 4.5 and 8.7 EURcent/kWh; 6-11.1 EURcent/kWh when located offshore, with the number of full hours and the level of capital cost being the most influencing elements. Generation costs have increased by more than 20% over the last 3 years mainly due to a rise of the price of certain strategic raw materials at a time when the global demand has boomed. However, the competitive position of wind energy investments vis-a-vis other technologies has not been altered. In the long-term, one would expect production costs go down; whether this will be enough to offset the higher price of inputs will largely depend on the application of correct policies, like R and D in new materials, O and M with remote-control devices, offshore wind turbines and substructures; introduction of advanced siting and forecasting techniques; access to adequate funding; and long-term legal stability. (author)

The economics of wind energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blanco, Maria Isabel [Department of Economics, University of Alcala, Plaza de la Victoria, 3, 28002 Alcala de Henares, Madrid (Spain)

2009-08-15

This article presents the outcomes of a recent study carried out among wind energy manufacturers and developers regarding the current generation costs of wind energy projects in Europe, the factors that most influence them, as well as the reasons behind their recent increase and their expected future evolution. The research finds that the generation costs of an onshore wind farm are between 4.5 and 8.7 EURcent/kWh; 6-11.1 EURcent/kWh when located offshore, with the number of full hours and the level of capital cost being the most influencing elements. Generation costs have increased by more than 20% over the last 3 years mainly due to a rise of the price of certain strategic raw materials at a time when the global demand has boomed. However, the competitive position of wind energy investments vis-a-vis other technologies has not been altered. In the long-term, one would expect production costs go down; whether this will be enough to offset the higher price of inputs will largely depend on the application of correct policies, like R and D in new materials, O and M with remote-control devices, offshore wind turbines and substructures; introduction of advanced siting and forecasting techniques; access to adequate funding; and long-term legal stability. (author)

Wind energy developments in the 20th century

Science.gov (United States)

Vargo, D. J.

1974-01-01

Wind turbine systems for generating electrical power have been tested in many countries. Representative examples of turbines which have produced from 100 to 1250 kW are described. The advantages of wind energy consist of its being a nondepleting, nonpolluting, and free fuel source. Its disadvantages relate to the variability of wind and the high installation cost per kilowatt of capacity of wind turbines when compared to other methods of electric-power generation. High fuel costs and potential resource scarcity have led to a five-year joint NASA-NSF program to study wind energy. The program will study wind energy conversion and storage systems with respect to cost effectiveness, and will attempt to estimate national wind-energy potential and develop techniques for generator site selection. The studies concern a small-systems (50-250 kW) project, a megawatt-systems (500-3000 kW) project, supporting research and technology, and energy storage. Preliminary economic analyses indicate that wind-energy conversion can be competitive in high-average-wind areas.

Energy Analysis of Offshore Systems | Wind | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

markets enables the compilation of a database of installed and proposed project costs. These are used to offshore wind projects Discounted cash-flow analysis (with the University of Delaware) to identify the level costs based on wind turbine size, annual energy production, and operation costs. The model

Alternative Design Study Report: WindPACT Advanced Wind Turbine Drive Train Designs Study; November 1, 2000 -- February 28, 2002

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poore, R.; Lettenmaier, T.

2003-08-01

This report presents the Phase I results of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) WindPACT (Wind Partnership for Advanced Component Technologies) Advanced Wind Turbine Drive Train Designs Study. Global Energy Concepts, LLC performed this work under a subcontract with NREL. The purpose of the WindPACT project is to identify technology improvements that will enable the cost of energy (COE) from wind turbines to be reduced. Other parts of the WindPACT project have examined blade and logistics scaling, balance-of-station costs, and rotor design. This study was designed to investigate innovative drive train designs.

Long-Range WindScanner System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vasiljevic, Nikola; Lea, Guillaume; Courtney, Michael

2016-01-01

The technical aspects of a multi-Doppler LiDAR instrument, the long-range WindScanner system, are presented accompanied by an overview of the results from several field campaigns. The long-range WindScanner system consists of three spatially-separated, scanning coherent Doppler LiDARs and a remote......-rangeWindScanner system measures the wind field by emitting and directing three laser beams to intersect, and then scanning the beam intersection over a region of interest. The long-range WindScanner system was developed to tackle the need for high-quality observations of wind fields on scales of modern wind turbine...

Should we build wind farms close to load or invest in transmission to access better wind resources in remote areas? A case study in the MISO region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamy, Julian V.; Jaramillo, Paulina; Azevedo, Inês L.; Wiser, Ryan

2016-01-01

Wind speeds in remote areas are sometimes very high, but transmission costs to access these locations can be prohibitive. We present a conceptual model to estimate the economics of accessing high quality wind resources in remote areas to comply with renewable energy policy targets, and apply the model to the Midwestern grid (MISO) as a case study. We assess the goal of providing 40 TWh of new wind generation while minimizing costs, and include temporal aspects of wind power (variability costs and correlation to market prices) as well as total wind power produced from different farms. We find that building wind farms in North/South Dakota (windiest states) compared to Illinois (less windy, but close to load) would only be economical if the incremental transmission costs to access them were below $360/kW of wind capacity (break-even value). Historically, the incremental transmission costs for wind development in North/South Dakota compared to in Illinois are about twice this value. However, the break-even incremental transmission cost for wind farms in Minnesota/Iowa (also windy states) is $250/kW, which is consistent with historical costs. We conclude that wind development in Minnesota/Iowa is likely more economical to meet MISO renewable targets compared to North/South Dakota or Illinois. - Highlights: •We evaluate the economics of building wind farms in remote areas in MISO. •We present a conceptual wind site selection model to meet 40 TWh of new wind. •We use the model to compare remote windy sites to less windy ones closer to load. •We show break-even transmission costs that would justify remote wind development. •Comparing break-even values to historical costs, MN/IA sites are most economical.

Economics of wind farm layout

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Germain, A.C. [Wind Energy Resource Specialist, Oakland, CA (United States); Bain, D.A. [Oregon Office of Energy, Portland, OR (United States)

1997-12-31

The life cycle cost of energy (COE) is the primary determinant of the economic viability of a wind energy generation facility. The cost of wind turbines and associated hardware is counterbalanced by the energy which can be generated. This paper focuses on the turbine layout design process, considering the cost and energy capture implications of potential spacing options from the viewpoint of a practicing project designer. It is argued that lateral spacings in the range of 1.5 to 5 diameters are all potentially optimal, but only when matched to wind resource characteristics and machine design limits. The effect of wakes on energy capture is quantified while the effect on turbine life and maintenance cost is discussed qualitatively. Careful optimization can lower COE and project designers are encouraged to integrate the concepts in project designs.

Reliability and cost evaluation of small isolated power systems containing photovoltaic and wind energy

Science.gov (United States)

Karki, Rajesh

Renewable energy application in electric power systems is growing rapidly worldwide due to enhanced public concerns for adverse environmental impacts and escalation in energy costs associated with the use of conventional energy sources. Photovoltaics and wind energy sources are being increasingly recognized as cost effective generation sources. A comprehensive evaluation of reliability and cost is required to analyze the actual benefits of utilizing these energy sources. The reliability aspects of utilizing renewable energy sources have largely been ignored in the past due the relatively insignificant contribution of these sources in major power systems, and consequently due to the lack of appropriate techniques. Renewable energy sources have the potential to play a significant role in the electrical energy requirements of small isolated power systems which are primarily supplied by costly diesel fuel. A relatively high renewable energy penetration can significantly reduce the system fuel costs but can also have considerable impact on the system reliability. Small isolated systems routinely plan their generating facilities using deterministic adequacy methods that cannot incorporate the highly erratic behavior of renewable energy sources. The utilization of a single probabilistic risk index has not been generally accepted in small isolated system evaluation despite its utilization in most large power utilities. Deterministic and probabilistic techniques are combined in this thesis using a system well-being approach to provide useful adequacy indices for small isolated systems that include renewable energy. This thesis presents an evaluation model for small isolated systems containing renewable energy sources by integrating simulation models that generate appropriate atmospheric data, evaluate chronological renewable power outputs and combine total available energy and load to provide useful system indices. A software tool SIPSREL+ has been developed which generates

Coastal Ohio Wind Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gorsevski, Peter [Bowling Green State Univ., OH (United States); Afjeh, Abdollah [Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States); Jamali, Mohsin [Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States); Bingman, Verner [Bowling Green State Univ., OH (United States)

2014-04-04

The Coastal Ohio Wind Project intends to address problems that impede deployment of wind turbines in the coastal and offshore regions of Northern Ohio. The project evaluates different wind turbine designs and the potential impact of offshore turbines on migratory and resident birds by developing multidisciplinary research, which involves wildlife biology, electrical and mechanical engineering, and geospatial science. Firstly, the project conducts cost and performance studies of two- and three-blade wind turbines using a turbine design suited for the Great Lakes. The numerical studies comprised an analysis and evaluation of the annual energy production of two- and three-blade wind turbines to determine the levelized cost of energy. This task also involved wind tunnel studies of model wind turbines to quantify the wake flow field of upwind and downwind wind turbine-tower arrangements. The experimental work included a study of a scaled model of an offshore wind turbine platform in a water tunnel. The levelized cost of energy work consisted of the development and application of a cost model to predict the cost of energy produced by a wind turbine system placed offshore. The analysis found that a floating two-blade wind turbine presents the most cost effective alternative for the Great Lakes. The load effects studies showed that the two-blade wind turbine model experiences less torque under all IEC Standard design load cases considered. Other load effects did not show this trend and depending on the design load cases, the two-bladed wind turbine showed higher or lower load effects. The experimental studies of the wake were conducted using smoke flow visualization and hot wire anemometry. Flow visualization studies showed that in the downwind turbine configuration the wake flow was insensitive to the presence of the blade and was very similar to that of the tower alone. On the other hand, in the upwind turbine configuration, increasing the rotor blade angle of attack

Cost reduction potentials of offshore wind power in Germany; Kostensenkungspotenziale der Offshore-Windenergie in Deutschland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hobohm, Jens; Krampe, Leonard; Peter, Frank [Prognos AG, Berlin (Germany). Bereich Energiewirtschaft

2014-01-15

Offshore wind power is a major hope for the German energy turnaround. However, it will only be possible to tap its cost reduction potentials if industry, the political leadership and the administrative authorities join forces to create the necessary preconditions. An important requirement for this capital-intensive technology are stable legal and political framework conditions. A recent study on the future shows what needs to be done.

Investigation of Wind Turbine Rotor Concepts for Offshore Wind Farms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ceyhan, Özlem; Grasso, Francesco

2014-01-01

Current plans in offshore wind energy developments call for further reduction of cost of energy. In order to contribute to this goal, several wind turbine rotor concepts have been investigated. Assuming the future offshore wind turbines will operate only in the offshore wind farms, the rotor concepts are not only evaluated for their stand-alone performances and their potential in reducing the loads, but also for their performance in an offshore wind farm. In order to do that, the 10MW reference wind turbine designed in Innwind.EU project is chosen as baseline. Several rotor parameters have been modified and their influences are investigated for offshore wind turbine design purposes. This investigation is carried out as a conceptual parametrical study. All concepts are evaluated numerically with BOT (Blade optimisation tool) software in wind turbine level and with Farmflow software in wind farm level for two wind farm layouts. At the end, all these concepts are compared with each other in terms of their advantages and disadvantages

A comparative analysis of the costs of onshore wind energy: Is there a case for community-specific policy support?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berka, Anna L.; Harnmeijer, Jelte; Roberts, Deborah; Phimister, Euan; Msika, Joshua

2017-01-01

There is growing policy interest in increasing the share of community-owned renewable energy generation. This study explores why and how the costs of community-owned projects differ from commercially-owned projects by examining the case of onshore wind in the UK. Based on cross-sectoral literature on the challenges of community ownership, cost differences are attributed to six facets of an organisation or project: internal processes, internal knowledge and skills, perceived local legitimacy of the project, perceived external legitimacy of the organisation, investor motivation and expectations, and finally, project scale. These facets impact not only development costs but also project development times and the probability that projects pass certain critical stages in the development process. Using survey-based and secondary cost data on community and commercial projects in the UK, a model is developed to show the overall impact of cost, time and risk differences on the value of a hypothetical 500 kW onshore wind project. The results show that the main factors accounting for differences are higher pre-planning costs and additional risks born by community projects, and suggest that policy interventions may be required to place community- owned projects on a level playing field with commercial projects. - Highlights: • Policy support for community energy projects should be targeted at reducing early costs and risk factors. • Hurdle rates are critical in determining the financial viability of projects. • Shared ownership arrangements may help remove some of key challenges to community-only projects.

Detecting and mitigating wind turbine clutter for airspace radar systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wen-Qin

2013-01-01

It is well recognized that a wind turbine has a large radar cross-section (RCS) and, due to the movement of the blades, the wind turbine will generate a Doppler frequency shift. This scattering behavior may cause severe interferences on existing radar systems including static ground-based radars and spaceborne or airborne radars. To resolve this problem, efficient techniques or algorithms should be developed to mitigate the effects of wind farms on radars. Herein, one transponder-based mitigation technique is presented. The transponder is not a new concept, which has been proposed for calibrating high-resolution imaging radars. It modulates the radar signal in a manner that the retransmitted signals can be separated from the scene echoes. As wind farms often occupy only a small area, mitigation processing in the whole radar operation will be redundant and cost inefficient. Hence, this paper uses a transponder to determine whether the radar is impacted by the wind farms. If so, the effects of wind farms are then mitigated with subsequent Kalman filtering or plot target extraction algorithms. Taking airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and pulse Doppler radar as the examples, this paper provides the corresponding system configuration and processing algorithms. The effectiveness of the mitigation technique is validated by numerical simulation results.

Detecting and Mitigating Wind Turbine Clutter for Airspace Radar Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Qin Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available It is well recognized that a wind turbine has a large radar cross-section (RCS and, due to the movement of the blades, the wind turbine will generate a Doppler frequency shift. This scattering behavior may cause severe interferences on existing radar systems including static ground-based radars and spaceborne or airborne radars. To resolve this problem, efficient techniques or algorithms should be developed to mitigate the effects of wind farms on radars. Herein, one transponder-based mitigation technique is presented. The transponder is not a new concept, which has been proposed for calibrating high-resolution imaging radars. It modulates the radar signal in a manner that the retransmitted signals can be separated from the scene echoes. As wind farms often occupy only a small area, mitigation processing in the whole radar operation will be redundant and cost inefficient. Hence, this paper uses a transponder to determine whether the radar is impacted by the wind farms. If so, the effects of wind farms are then mitigated with subsequent Kalman filtering or plot target extraction algorithms. Taking airborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR and pulse Doppler radar as the examples, this paper provides the corresponding system configuration and processing algorithms. The effectiveness of the mitigation technique is validated by numerical simulation results.

Costs and profitability of renewable energies in metropolitan France - ground-based wind energy, biomass, solar photovoltaic. Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-04-01

After a general presentation of the framework of support to renewable energies and co-generation (purchasing obligation, tendering, support funding), of the missions of the CRE (Commission for Energy Regulation) within the frame of the purchasing obligation, and of the methodology adopted for this analysis, this document reports an analysis of production costs for three different renewable energy sectors: ground-based wind energy, biomass energy, and solar photovoltaic energy. For each of them, the report recalls the context (conditions of purchasing obligation, winning bid installations, installed fleet in France at the end of 2012), indicates the installations taken into consideration in this study, analyses the installation costs and funding (investment costs, exploitation and maintenance costs, project funding, production costs), and assesses the profitability in terms of capital and for stakeholders

Generation of electricity by wind power

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Golding, E W

1976-01-01

Information on wind power is presented concerning the history of windmills; estimation of the energy obtainable from the wind; wind characteristics and distribution; wind power sites; wind surveys; wind flow over hills; measurement of wind velocity; wind structure and its determination; wind data and energy estimation; testing of wind driven ac generators; wind-driven machines; propeller type windmills; plants for isolated premises and small communities; economy of wind power generation; construction costs for large wind-driven generators; relationship of wind power to other power sources; research and development; and international cooperation.

Low cost infrastructure solutions for small embedded wind generators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robb, C.

2003-07-01

This report gives details of a project to demonstrate novel economic solutions to increase the potential for installing small-scale embedded wind generator systems at many UK sites which have so far been dismissed as too difficult. Details are given of the first phase of the study which examined current solutions to infrastructure problems and potential techniques. The use of drilled rock anchor foundations to minimise the need for delivery of ready-mix concrete to wind turbine sites, and the use of a winch and A-frame system for erecting a wind turbine to avoid the use of cranes are discussed. The demonstration of the installation of a 50kW wind turbine on the Isle of Luing in Scotland where there is no access for cranes or larger vehicles in the second phase of the project is described. The potential for the use of these techniques on larger wind turbines is considered.

Wind power in Norway; Vindkraft i Norge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-12-01

This report analyses business costs and socio-economic costs in the development of wind power in Norway and policy instruments to encourage such a development. It is founded on an analysis of the development of wind power in other countries, notably U.S.A, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. The report describes the institutional background in each country, the policy instruments that have been used and still are and the results achieved. The various cost components in Norwegian wind power development and the expected market price of wind power are also discussed. The discussion of instruments distinguishes between investment oriented and production oriented instruments. 8 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs.

Latest results of the international discussion on the social costs of energy - how does wind compare today?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hohmeyer, O.H.

1990-01-01

A first analysis of the social costs of competing technologies for electric power generation published in 1988 has induced a rather controversial scientific discussion about the magnitude of and the possible ways to incorporate cost elements not included in energy prices into decisions on energy systems. Different research projects following up a number of controversial or unanswered questions in the field of social costs have been started in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), in Europe and overseas. A first ''counter-study'' has been published in the FRG in 1989. The paper summarizes the latest results of international scientific discussion and research and sketches possible future trends in this field and the practical and political implementation of its results. A first estimate of the consideration of global warming effects due to conventional electricity generation is included in addition to recalculated results on topics addressed by the author in 1988. It concludes that the figures calculated in 1988 have been underestimating the magnitude of the costs not included in the energy prices and that new calculations including further results on CO 2 lead to significantly higher figures. The difference of the costs not included in the price of conventional electricity and wind energy rises from 8.4 to 14 Pf/kWh on average with an estimated range of 4.7 to 25.4 Pf/kWh (1 DM = 100 pf = 0.5 ECU). Considering the full costs of electricity generation it can be concluded that wind energy is one of the most economical ways to produce electricity today. Political considerations on how to take social costs of electricity generation into account have reached some definite conclusions in some states of the USA. The paper gives a short sketch of these activities. (Author)

2010 Wind Technologies Market Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryan Wiser, Mark Bolinger

2011-06-01

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends in the U.S. wind power market in 2010. The report analyzes trends in wind power capacity, industry, manufacturing, turbines, installed project costs, project performance, and wind power prices. It also describes trends among wind power developers, project owners, and power purchasers, and discusses financing issues.

Measuring tropospheric wind with microwave sounders

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrigtsen, B.; Su, H.; Turk, J.; Hristova-Veleva, S. M.; Dang, V. T.

2017-12-01

In its 2007 "Decadal Survey" of earth science missions for NASA the U.S. National Research Council recommended that a Doppler wind lidar be developed for a three-dimensional tropospheric winds mission ("3D-Winds"). The technology required for such a mission has not yet been developed, and it is expected that the next Decadal Survey, planned to be released by the end of 2017, will put additional emphasis on the still pressing need for wind measurements from space. The first Decadal Survey also called for a geostationary microwave sounder (GMS) on a Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity (PATH) mission, which could be used to measure wind from space. Such a sounder, the Geostationary Synthetic Thinned Aperture Radiometer (GeoSTAR), has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The PATH mission has not yet been funded by NASA, but a low-cost subset of PATH, GeoStorm has been proposed as a hosted payload on a commercial communications satellite. Both PATH and GeoStorm would obtain frequent (every 15 minutes of better) measurements of tropospheric water vapor profiles, and they can be used to derive atmospheric motion vector (AMV) wind profiles, even in the presence of clouds. Measurement of wind is particularly important in the tropics, where the atmosphere is largely not in thermal balance and wind estimates cannot generally be derived from temperature and pressure fields. We report on simulation studies of AMV wind vectors derived from a GMS and from a cluster of low-earth-orbiting (LEO) small satellites (e.g., CubeSats). The results of two separate simulation studies are very encouraging and show that a ±2 m/s wind speed precision is attainable, which would satisfy WMO requirements. A GMS observing system in particular, which can be implemented now, would enable significant progress in the study of atmospheric dynamics. Copyright 2017 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged

Market Suitability and Performance Tradeoffs Offered by Commercial Wind Turbines across Differing Wind Regimes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Souma Chowdhury

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The suitability of turbine configurations to different wind resources has been traditionally restricted to considering turbines operating as standalone entities. In this paper, a framework is thus developed to investigate turbine suitability in terms of the minimum cost of energy offered when operating as a group of optimally-micro-sited turbines. The four major steps include: (i characterizing the geographical variation of wind regimes in the onshore U.S. market; (ii determining the best performing turbines for different wind regimes through wind farm layout optimization; (iii developing a metric to quantify the expected market suitability of available turbine configurations; and (iv exploring the best tradeoffs between the cost and capacity factor yielded by these turbines. One hundred thirty one types of commercial turbines offered by major global manufacturers in 2012 are considered for selection. It is found that, in general, higher rated power turbines with medium tower heights are the most favored. Interestingly, further analysis showed that “rotor diameter/hub height” ratios greater than 1.1 are the least attractive for any of the wind classes. It is also observed that although the “cost-capacity factor” tradeoff curve expectedly shifted towards higher capacity factors with increasing wind class, the trend of the tradeoff curve remained practically similar.

Reliability Modeling of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kostandyan, Erik

Cost reductions for offshore wind turbines are a substantial requirement in order to make offshore wind energy more competitive compared to other energy supply methods. During the 20 – 25 years of wind turbines useful life, Operation & Maintenance costs are typically estimated to be a quarter...... and uncertainties are quantified. Further, estimation of annual failure probability for structural components taking into account possible faults in electrical or mechanical systems is considered. For a representative structural failure mode, a probabilistic model is developed that incorporates grid loss failures...

Evaluation of small wind turbines in distributed arrangement as sustainable wind energy option for Barbados

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bishop, Justin D.K.; Amaratunga, Gehan A.J.

2008-01-01

The island of Barbados is 99% dependent on fossil fuel imports to satisfy its energy needs, which is unsustainable. This study proposes a 10 MW distributed wind energy scheme using micro wind turbines (WT) of horizontal (HAWT) and vertical axis (VAWT) configurations. These units are rated less than 500 W, and the scheme is hereafter referred to as mWT10. mWT10 is compared to the proposed 10 MW medium WT farm by the Barbados Light and Power Company (BL and P). The economic bottom line is the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The results highlight the BL and P proposal as the best economic option at BDS$0.19 per kWh, while that of both mWT10 configurations exceeds the conventional cost of BDS$0.25 by two to nine times. This is attributed to significantly higher relative installation and operational costs. However, the financial gap between mWT10 LCOE and the retail price of electricity is much smaller due to a large fuel surcharge passed on to each customer. Annual additional benefits of using wind energy include: greenhouse gas emissions savings of 6-23 kt of carbon dioxide; and anavoided fuel costs of BDS$1.5-5.3 million. The distributed mWT10 using HAWTs competes directly with the BL and P farm, however, it provides these benefits without the visual or ecological impacts of the larger machines. Conversely, VAWTs have features that favour a visually discrete and widely repeatable scheme but suffer relatively high costs. Therefore, this study illustrates the great potential of small wind turbines to be competitive with conventional wind farms, thus challenging the small wind industry to meet its potential by producing reliable and robust machines at lower cost

Innovation and the price of wind energy in the US

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berry, David

2009-01-01

In the last ten years, the wind energy industry has experienced many innovations resulting in wider deployment of wind energy, larger wind energy projects, larger wind turbines, and greater capacity factors. Using regression analysis, this paper examines the effects of technological improvements and other factors on the price of wind energy charged under long-term contracts in the United States. For wind energy projects completed during the period 1999-2006, higher capacity factors and larger wind farms contributed to reductions in wind energy contract prices paid by regulated investor owned utilities in 2007. However, this effect was offset by rising construction costs. Turbine size (in MW) shows no clear relationship to contract prices, possibly because there may be opposing factors tending to decrease costs as turbine size increases and tending to increase costs as turbine size increases. Wind energy is generally a low-cost resource that is competitive with natural gas-fired power generation.

Space-time wind speed forecasting for improved power system dispatch

KAUST Repository

Zhu, Xinxin

2014-02-27

To support large-scale integration of wind power into electric energy systems, state-of-the-art wind speed forecasting methods should be able to provide accurate and adequate information to enable efficient, reliable, and cost-effective scheduling of wind power. Here, we incorporate space-time wind forecasts into electric power system scheduling. First, we propose a modified regime-switching, space-time wind speed forecasting model that allows the forecast regimes to vary with the dominant wind direction and with the seasons, hence avoiding a subjective choice of regimes. Then, results from the wind forecasts are incorporated into a power system economic dispatch model, the cost of which is used as a loss measure of the quality of the forecast models. This, in turn, leads to cost-effective scheduling of system-wide wind generation. Potential economic benefits arise from the system-wide generation of cost savings and from the ancillary service cost savings. We illustrate the economic benefits using a test system in the northwest region of the United States. Compared with persistence and autoregressive models, our model suggests that cost savings from integration of wind power could be on the scale of tens of millions of dollars annually in regions with high wind penetration, such as Texas and the Pacific northwest. © 2014 Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa.

Analyzing the Energy Performance, Wind Loading, and Costs of Photovoltaic Slat Modules on Commercial Rooftops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Geet, Otto D. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Fu, Ran [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Horowitz, Kelsey A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kurup, Parthiv [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); MacAlpine, Sara M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Silverman, Timothy J. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-02-13

NREL studied a new type of photovoltaic (PV) module configuration wherein multiple narrow, tilted slats are mounted in a single frame. Each slat of the PV slat module contains a single row of cells and is made using ordinary crystalline silicon PV module materials and processes, including a glass front sheet and weatherproof polymer encapsulation. Compared to a conventional ballasted system, a system using slat modules offer higher energy production and lower weight at lower LCOE. The key benefits of slat modules are reduced wind loading, improved capacity factor and reduced installation cost. First, the individual slats allow air to flow through, which reduce wind loading. Using PV performance modeling software, we compared the performance of an optimized installation of slats modules to a typical installation of conventional modules in a ballasted rack mounting system. Based on the results of the performance modeling two different row tilt and spacing were tested in a wind tunnel. Scaled models of the PV Slat modules were wind tunnel tested to quantify the wind loading of a slat module system on a commercial rooftop, comparing the results to conventional ballasted rack mounted PV modules. Some commercial roofs do not have sufficient reserve dead load capacity to accommodate a ballasted system. A reduced ballast system design could make PV system installation on these roofs feasible for the first time without accepting the disadvantages of penetrating mounts. Finally, technoeconomic analysis was conducted to enable an economic comparison between a conventional commercial rooftop system and a reduced-ballast slat module installation.

Wind power plants the fuel savers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akbar, M.

2006-01-01

Wind is a converted from of solar energy. The Sun's radiation heats different parts of the earth at variable rates as the earth surfaces absorb or reflect at different rates. This in turn causes portions of the atmosphere to warm at varying levels. The hot air rises reducing atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface beneath, the cooler air rushes to replace it and in the process creates a momentum called wind. Air possesses mass and when it sets into motion, it contains the energy of that motion, called the Kinetic Energy. A part of the Kinetic Energy of the wind can be converted into other forms of energy i.e. mechanical force or electric power that can be used to perform work. The cost of electric energy from the wind system has dropped from the initial cost of 30 to 40 Cents per kWh to about 5 to 7 Cents/k Wh during the past 20 years. The costs are continually declining as the technology is advanced, the unit size is increased and larger plants are built. Wind power is now a viable, robust and fast growing industry. The cost of wind energy is expected to drop to 2 to 3 Cents / kWh during the next 5 to 10 years. Due to sky-rocketing prices of the fossil fuels, the competitive position of power generation technologies is rapidly changing. Wind energy is likely to emerge as the cheapest source of electric power generation in the global market in the near future. The current assessment of the global wind resources indicate that the wind energy potential is more than double the world's electricity needs. (author)

Analysis of Ideal Towers for Tall Wind Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dykes, Katherine L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Damiani, Rick R [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Roberts, Joseph O [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lantz, Eric J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-01-12

Innovation in wind turbine tower design is of significant interest for future development of wind power plants. First, wind turbine towers account for a large portion of overall capital expenditures for wind power projects. Second, for low wind-resource regions of the world, the use of low-cost tall-tower technology has the potential to open new markets for development. This study investigates the relative potential of various tower configurations in terms of mass and cost. For different market applications and hub heights, idealized tall towers are designed and compared. The results show that innovation in wind turbine controls makes reaching higher hub heights with current technology economically viable. At the same time, new technologies hold promise for reducing tower costs as these technologies mature and hub heights reach twice the current average.

Pricing offshore wind power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levitt, Andrew C.; Kempton, Willett; Smith, Aaron P.; Musial, Walt; Firestone, Jeremy

2011-01-01

Offshore wind offers a very large clean power resource, but electricity from the first US offshore wind contracts is costlier than current regional wholesale electricity prices. To better understand the factors that drive these costs, we develop a pro-forma cash flow model to calculate two results: the levelized cost of energy, and the breakeven price required for financial viability. We then determine input values based on our analysis of capital markets and of 35 operating and planned projects in Europe, China, and the United States. The model is run for a range of inputs appropriate to US policies, electricity markets, and capital markets to assess how changes in policy incentives, project inputs, and financial structure affect the breakeven price of offshore wind power. The model and documentation are made publicly available. - Highlights: → We calculate the Breakeven Price (BP) required to deploy offshore wind plants. → We determine values for cost drivers and review incentives structures in the US. → We develop 3 scenarios using today's technology but varying in industry experience. → BP differs widely by Cost Scenario; relative policy effectiveness varies by stage. → The low-range BP is below regional market values in the Northeast United States.

Estimating the impacts of wind power on power systems—summary of IEA Wind collaboration

Science.gov (United States)

Holttinen, Hannele

2008-04-01

Adding wind power to power systems will have beneficial impacts by reducing the emissions of electricity production and reducing the operational costs of the power system as less fuel is consumed in conventional power plants. Wind power will also have a capacity value to a power system. However, possible negative impacts will have to be assessed to make sure that they will only offset a small part of the benefits and also to ensure the security of the power system operation. An international forum for the exchange of knowledge of power system impacts of wind power has been formed under the IEA Implementing Agreement on Wind Energy. The Task 'Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power' is analyzing existing case studies from different power systems. There are a multitude of studies completed and ongoing related to the cost of wind integration. However, the results are not easy to compare. This paper describes the general issues of wind power impacts on power systems and presents a comparison of results from ten case studies on increased balancing needs due to wind power.

Estimating the impacts of wind power on power systems-summary of IEA Wind collaboration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holttinen, Hannele

2008-01-01

Adding wind power to power systems will have beneficial impacts by reducing the emissions of electricity production and reducing the operational costs of the power system as less fuel is consumed in conventional power plants. Wind power will also have a capacity value to a power system. However, possible negative impacts will have to be assessed to make sure that they will only offset a small part of the benefits and also to ensure the security of the power system operation. An international forum for the exchange of knowledge of power system impacts of wind power has been formed under the IEA Implementing Agreement on Wind Energy. The Task 'Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power' is analyzing existing case studies from different power systems. There are a multitude of studies completed and ongoing related to the cost of wind integration. However, the results are not easy to compare. This paper describes the general issues of wind power impacts on power systems and presents a comparison of results from ten case studies on increased balancing needs due to wind power

Market value of wind power

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haan, de J.E.S.; Shoeb, M.A.; Lopes Ferreira, H.M.; Kling, W.L.

2013-01-01

Variability and predictability constraints of wind hinder the cost-efficient integration of wind power generation into power markets. Within the framework of EIT KIC INNOENERGY Offwindtech project, a ‘Market Value’ tool is developed. Here, the market value of wind power generation can be assessed

Wind Energy Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laurie, Carol

2017-02-01

This book takes readers inside the places where daily discoveries shape the next generation of wind power systems. Energy Department laboratory facilities span the United States and offer wind research capabilities to meet industry needs. The facilities described in this book make it possible for industry players to increase reliability, improve efficiency, and reduce the cost of wind energy -- one discovery at a time. Whether you require blade testing or resource characterization, grid integration or high-performance computing, Department of Energy laboratory facilities offer a variety of capabilities to meet your wind research needs.

Assessing the value of wind generation in future carbon constrained electricity industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vithayasrichareon, Peerapat; MacGill, Iain F.

2013-01-01

This paper employs a novel Monte-Carlo based generation portfolio assessment tool to explore the implications of increasing wind penetration and carbon prices within future electricity generation portfolios under considerable uncertainty. This tool combines optimal generation mix techniques with Monte Carlo simulation and portfolio analysis methods to determine expected overall generation costs, associated cost uncertainty and expected CO 2 emissions for different possible generation portfolios. A case study of an electricity industry with coal, Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT), Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) and wind generation options that faces uncertain future fossil-fuel prices, carbon pricing, electricity demand and plant construction costs is presented to illustrate some of the key issues associated with growing wind penetrations. The case study uses half-hourly demand and wind generation data from South Eastern Australia, and regional estimates of new-build plant costs and characteristics. Results suggest that although wind generation generally increases overall industry costs, it reduces associated cost uncertainties and CO 2 emissions. However, there are some cases in which wind generation can reduce the overall costs of generation portfolios. The extent to which wind penetration affects industry expected costs and uncertainties depends on the level of carbon price and the conventional technology mix in the portfolios. - Highlights: ► A probabilistic portfolio analysis tool to assess generation portfolios with wind power. ► Explore the impacts of wind penetrations and carbon prices under uncertainties. ► Wind generation increases overall portfolio costs but reduces cost risks and emissions. ► The value of wind power depends on the carbon price and the technology mix. ► Complex interactions between wind penetration level and carbon pricing.

Coupled Dynamic Modeling of Floating Wind Turbine Systems: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wayman, E. N.; Sclavounos, P. D.; Butterfield, S.; Jonkman, J.; Musial, W.

2006-03-01

This article presents a collaborative research program that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have undertaken to develop innovative and cost-effective floating and mooring systems for offshore wind turbines in water depths of 10-200 m. Methods for the coupled structural, hydrodynamic, and aerodynamic analysis of floating wind turbine systems are presented in the frequency domain. This analysis was conducted by coupling the aerodynamics and structural dynamics code FAST [4] developed at NREL with the wave load and response simulation code WAMIT (Wave Analysis at MIT) [15] developed at MIT. Analysis tools were developed to consider coupled interactions between the wind turbine and the floating system. These include the gyroscopic loads of the wind turbine rotor on the tower and floater, the aerodynamic damping introduced by the wind turbine rotor, the hydrodynamic damping introduced by wave-body interactions, and the hydrodynamic forces caused by wave excitation. Analyses were conducted for two floater concepts coupled with the NREL 5-MW Offshore Baseline wind turbine in water depths of 10-200 m: the MIT/NREL Shallow Drafted Barge (SDB) and the MIT/NREL Tension Leg Platform (TLP). These concepts were chosen to represent two different methods of achieving stability to identify differences in performance and cost of the different stability methods. The static and dynamic analyses of these structures evaluate the systems' responses to wave excitation at a range of frequencies, the systems' natural frequencies, and the standard deviations of the systems' motions in each degree of freedom in various wind and wave environments. This article in various wind and wave environments. This article explores the effects of coupling the wind turbine with the floating platform, the effects of water depth, and the effects of wind speed on the systems' performance. An economic feasibility analysis of

Statistical fault diagnosis of wind turbine drivetrain applied to a 5MW floating wind turbine

OpenAIRE

Ghane, Mahdi; Rasekhi Nejad, Amir; Blanke, Mogens; Gao, Zhen; Moan, Torgeir

2016-01-01

Deployment of large scale wind turbine parks, in particular offshore, requires well organized operation and maintenance strategies to make it as competitive as the classical electric power stations. It is important to ensure systems are safe, profitable, and cost-effective. In this regards, the ability to detect, isolate, estimate, and prognose faults plays an important role. One of the critical wind turbine components is the gearbox. Failures in the gearbox are costly both due to the cost of...

Wind Predictions Upstream Wind Turbines from a LiDAR Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soledad Le Clainche

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article presents a new method to predict the wind velocity upstream a horizontal axis wind turbine from a set of light detection and ranging (LiDAR measurements. The method uses higher order dynamic mode decomposition (HODMD to construct a reduced order model (ROM that can be extrapolated in space. LiDAR measurements have been carried out upstream a wind turbine at six different planes perpendicular to the wind turbine axis. This new HODMD-based ROM predicts with high accuracy the wind velocity during a timespan of 24 h in a plane of measurements that is more than 225 m far away from the wind turbine. Moreover, the technique introduced is general and obtained with an almost negligible computational cost. This fact makes it possible to extend its application to both vertical axis wind turbines and real-time operation.

Feasibility study on the wind farm; Wind farm no kanosei chosa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1997-03-01

For assessment of the possibility of the wind farm (collective wind power facility) in Japan, site conditions, business plans and various issues in development were arranged using some projects in a planning stage. The case study of a system design was also conducted for a typical site. Four sites were selected based on geographical conditions, topographic features and weather conditions. Scales of every site are as large as 1000-3000kW and 400- 750kW in wind turbine capacity. Every developer expects a subsidy, and governmental economic support is indispensable for the wind farm. In the case of Hisai city, Mie prefecture with the most favorable wind condition in Japan, the annual mean wind velocity of the site is valued at nearly 8m/s, suggesting that it is promising for the wind farm. From the planned scale of 750kWtimes4, the annual generated power and availability factor are valued at 9,800,000kWh/y and 37%, respectively. From the construction cost of 1 billion yen including a subsidy of its half, the generation cost is valued at 14.5 yen/kWh in durability of 15 years, and 12.2 yen/kWh in 20 years, and the profitability is dependent on the purchase price of a power company. 27 figs., 36 tabs.

Renewable energy as a natural gas price hedge: the case of wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berry, David

2005-01-01

Electric utilities use natural gas to fuel many of their power plants, especially those plants which provide electricity at peak and intermediate hours. Natural gas prices are highly volatile and have shown a general upward trend. Wind energy can provide a cost-effective hedge against natural gas price volatility or price increases. This conclusion is based on analysis of the costs of marginal conventional generation given the historical probability distribution of natural gas prices, the cost of wind energy, wind integration costs, transmission costs for wind energy, the capacity value of wind, and environmental benefits of wind energy for a hypothetical utility in the Southwestern United States. The efficacy of using wind energy as a hedge at a particular utility will depend on site specific conditions

Lightning protection of wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soerensen, T; Brask, M H [DEFU (Denmark); Jensen, F V; Raben, N [SEAS (Denmark); Saxov, J [Nordjyllandsvaerket (Denmark); Nielsen, L [Vestkraft (Denmark); Soerensen, P E [Risoe National Lab. (Denmark)

1999-03-01

Lightning damage to wind turbines is a serious problem for Danish power companies, who have experienced some cases with very costly lightning damage and a large number of cases with minor damage. The most costly cases include one catastrophic damage to an entire wind turbine, and several cases of destruction of blades, main bearings, generators and control systems. Over the years there have been several hundreds of cases with minor damage - typically damage and interruptions of the control and communication systems, or the power systems. The Danish power companies anticipate that the lightning threat will be even bigger for the large off-shore wind turbine installations that are currently being planned in Denmark. Furthermore, it is known from the off-shore wind turbines at Vindeby in Denmark that the costs of inspection and particularly repair work must be expected to be much higher off-shore as compared to wind turbines on land. These considerations was the background for a two year project concerned with investigation of lighting damages and with the formulation of a DEFU Recommendation for lightning protection of wind turbines, which was published in January 1999. The project was funded by the Danish power companies Elsam, Eltra, Elkraft and by DEFU. (au)

Alcoa wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Ai, D. K.

1979-01-01

An overview of Alcoa's wind energy program is given with emphasis on the the development of a low cost, reliable Darrieus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine System. The design layouts and drawings for fabrication are now complete, while fabrication and installation to utilize the design are expected to begin shortly.

Predicting Faults in Wind Turbines Using SCADA Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borchersen, Anders Bech; Larsen, Jesper Abildgaard; Stoustrup, Jakob

2013-01-01

The cost of operation and maintenance of wind turbines is a significant part of the overall cost of wind turbines. To reduce this cost a method for enabling early fault detection is proposed and tested in this paper. The method is taking advantage of the fact that wind turbines in wind farms...... and tested on historical Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) data from nine operational turbines over a testing period of nine months. The performance of the fault detection is found to be acceptable based on the testing period. During the testing period several gear related services were...

Shoosing the appropriate size wind turbine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lynette, R. [FloWind Corp., San Rafael, CA (United States)

1996-12-31

Within the past several years, wind turbines rated at 400 kW and higher have been introduced into the market, and some manufacturers are developing machines rated at 750 - 1,000+ kW. This raises the question: What is the appropriate size for utility-grade wind turbines today? The answer depends upon the site where the machines will be used and the local conditions. The issues discussed in the paper are: (1) Site-Related (a) Visual, noise, erosion, television interference, interference with aviation (b) Siting efficiency (2) Logistics (a) Adequacy of roads and bridges to accept large vehicles (b) Availability and cost of cranes for erection and maintenance (c) Capability of local repair/overhauls (3) Cost Effectiveness (a) Capital costs (1) Wind Turbine (2) Infrastructure costs (b) Maintenance costs (4) Technical/Financial Risk. 1 fig., 1 tab.

Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2011-12-01

Power through Policy: 'Best Practices' for Cost-Effective Distributed Wind is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project to identify distributed wind technology policy best practices and to help policymakers, utilities, advocates, and consumers examine their effectiveness using a pro forma model. Incorporating a customized feed from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE), the Web-based Distributed Wind Policy Comparison Tool (Policy Tool) is designed to assist state, local, and utility officials in understanding the financial impacts of different policy options to help reduce the cost of distributed wind technologies. The Policy Tool can be used to evaluate the ways that a variety of federal and state policies and incentives impact the economics of distributed wind (and subsequently its expected market growth). It also allows policymakers to determine the impact of policy options, addressing market challenges identified in the U.S. DOE’s '20% Wind Energy by 2030' report and helping to meet COE targets.

Windpower 2000: The growing U.S. wind energy base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergey, M.L.S.; Swisher, R.

1994-01-01

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has set forth the following wind energy industry objectives for the year 2000: (1) to achieve 10,000 MW cumulative, grid-connected wind power capacity in the United States; (2) to build a $4 billion domestic wind industry base capable of delivering at least 3,000 MW of turbine production per year; (3) to create tens of thousands of new, long-term, skilled jobs, primarily in the manufacturing sector; (4) to achieve levelized costs below four cents per kWh and capital costs 30 percent lower than current costs; (5) to make wind power a major renewable energy option in achieving the nation's' global climate change objectives; (6) to make the US wind power industry the world's technology leader and lowest-cost supplier. This paper will describe the industry's progress toward meeting these goals by presenting the milestones that have been achieved over the last year. In addition, the paper will discuss the Association's strategy for addressing remaining obstacles and moving wind energy into the status of a generally accepted utility technology and one of the lowest cost providers of bulk power for the 21st century

Does wind power amount to a luxury in France?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brassard, G.

2010-01-01

The avoided costs to the French electrical system thanks to wind power generation should be calculated by estimating avoided domestic generation costs rather than by using the cost of contracts traded on international exchanges, as is currently done by regulatory authorities. Up to now, wind power has basically displaced thermal power. The French Energy Regulatory Commission has feared that, in the future nuclear energy and thermal power could be equally substituted by wind power. Excess power capacity might induce authorities to postpone development of additional nuclear and renewable facilities. However, barring a collapse of electricity requirements in Europe, it is expected that electricity surpluses will be exported to neighboring networks. In the eventuality of increasing world energy prices, wind power would generate significant savings or the French electrical system, as the cost of wind power will be stable over the 15 year mandatory contracts. After taking account of external costs, wind-power on the French mainland is competitive with all other sources of electricity. With this conditions wind power is likely to play a significant and long term role in the French power generation mix. (author)

Wind energy global trends: Opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ancona, D.F.

1995-01-01

Wind energy is one of the least cost and environmentally attractive new electricity source options for many parts of the world. Because of new wind turbine technology, reduced costs, short installation time, and environmental benefits, countries all over the world are beginning to once again develop one of the world's oldest energy technologies. A unique set of opportunities and challenges now faces the wind industry and its proponents. This paper discusses the potential and challenges of wind power. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is working closely with industry to develop new, improved wind turbine technology and to support both domestic and international deployment. The US DOE Wind Program is discussed within this context

Socio-economic research on fusion. SERF 1997-98. Macro Tast E2: External costs and benefits. Task 2: Comparison of external costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schleisner, Lotte; Korhonen, Riitta

1998-12-01

This report is part of the SERF (Socio-Economic Research on Fusion) project, Macro Task E2, which covers External Costs and Benefits. The report is the documentation of Task 2, Comparison of External Costs. The aim of Task 2 Comparison of External Costs, has been to compare the external costs of the fusion energy with those from other alternative energy generation technologies. In this task identification and quantification of the external costs for wind energy and photovoltaic have been performed by Risoe, while identification and quantification of the external cost for nuclear fission and fossil fuels have been discussed by VTT. The methodology used for the assessment of the externalities of the fuel cycles selected has been the one developed within the ExternE Project. First estimates for the externalities of fusion energy have been under examination in Macrotask E2. Externalities of fossil fuels and nuclear fission have already been evaluated in the ExternE project and a vast amount of material for different sites in various countries is available. This material is used in comparison. In the case of renewable wind energy and photovoltaic are assessed separately. External costs of the various alternatives may change as new technologies are developed and costs can to a high extent be avoided (e.g. acidifying impacts but also global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions). Also fusion technology can experience major progress and some important cost components probably can be avoided already by 2050. (EG)

Socio-economic research on fusion. SERF 1997-98. Macro Tast E2: External costs and benefits. Task 2: Comparison of external costs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schleisner, Lotte; Korhonen, Riitta

1998-12-01

This report is part of the SERF (Socio-Economic Research on Fusion) project, Macro Task E2, which covers External Costs and Benefits. The report is the documentation of Task 2, Comparison of External Costs. The aim of Task 2 Comparison of External Costs, has been to compare the external costs of the fusion energy with those from other alternative energy generation technologies. In this task identification and quantification of the external costs for wind energy and photovoltaic have been performed by Risoe, while identification and quantification of the external cost for nuclear fission and fossil fuels have been discussed by VTT. The methodology used for the assessment of the externalities of the fuel cycles selected has been the one developed within the ExternE Project. First estimates for the externalities of fusion energy have been under examination in Macrotask E2. Externalities of fossil fuels and nuclear fission have already been evaluated in the ExternE project and a vast amount of material for different sites in various countries is available. This material is used in comparison. In the case of renewable wind energy and photovoltaic are assessed separately. External costs of the various alternatives may change as new technologies are developed and costs can to a high extent be avoided (e.g. acidifying impacts but also global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions). Also fusion technology can experience major progress and some important cost components probably can be avoided already by 2050. (EG) 36 refs.

Wind energy comes of age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swisher, R.

1991-01-01