Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578

Short-cut design of wind farms

C.T. Kiranoudis*, N.G. Voros, Z.B. Maroulis
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytexniou 9, Zografou Campus, Athens 15780, Greece
Received 10 February 2000
Abstract
The problem of designing wind parks has been addressed in terms of maximizing the economic bene"ts of such an investment. An
appropriate mathematical model for wind turbines was used, taking into account their construction characteristics and operational
performance. The regional wind "eld characteristics for a wide range of sites have been appropriately analyzed and a model involving
signi"cant physical parameters has been developed. The design problem was formulated as a mathematical programming problem,
and solved using appropriate mathematical programming techniques. The optimization covered a wide range of site characteristics
and four types of commercially available wind turbines. The methodology introduced a short-cut design empirical equation for the
determination of the optimum number of wind turbines. The model is appropriate for regional planning purposes. Variation of unit
cost of wind farm area introduced an additional degree of freedom to the problem and more e$cient designs could be ob-
tained. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Regional planning; Wind turbines; Mathematical modelling; Optimization
1. Introduction
Energy derived from wind is receiving considerable
attention due to its availability, low cost and environ-
ment friendly operation of such a technology. In most
recent applications, wind energy conversion systems are
considered for electricity generation. Many such machine
types, ranging in capacity from a few hundred watts to
a few megawatts, have been proposed and tested and
many are commercially available. However, the e!ect of
many design parameters on the energy output and eco-
nomic performance of such systems is not fully
documented (Golding, 1976, Hunt, 1981).
Early developments concentrated their e!orts in plac-
ing machines in open plains forming large arrays of
aerogenerators (i.e. wind farms), thus making convenient
and manageable power production units. In general, the
promotion of wind energy as an alternative resource, is
closely related to the design of reliable and cost e!ective
wind farms. In this sense, the design of a wind farm or
equivalently the determination of the type of machinery,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: #30-1-772-1503; fax: #30-1-772-
3228.
E-mail address: kyr@orfeas.chemeng.ntua.gr (C.T. Kiranoudis).
number and layout of wind turbines in space, should
maximize the energy output as well as the lifetime of the
machines (Cavalo et al., 1993).
The design of reliable and cost-e!ective wind farms
capable of large-scale electrical energy production is
a prerequisite for the e!ective use of wind power as an
alternative resource. In this sense, the design of a wind
farm or equivalently the determination of type, number
and layout of wind turbines should maximize the energy
output together with the lifetime of the machines (Mil-
borrow, 1980). In all cases, the design objective is closely
related to the total annual output of the wind farm
operation in power terms. Given the type of wind tur-
bines to be used, regional wind speed statistical data and
the area of the farm, we can estimate the total annual
energy output of the wind farm. In this case, the optimum
number of wind turbines to be installed has to be
determined under a certain economic environment. The
determination of the optimal farm characteristics must
be based on speci"c design objectives. In this case, the
design problem may be formulated as a mathematical
programming problem, involving an objective function
representing the investment e$ciency, which is expressed
by the pro"ts expected per unit of capital invested.
The construction and operation of various types of
wind turbines have been investigated to an extent that
0301-4215/01/$- see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 1 - 4 2 1 5 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 5 0 - 6
Nomenclature
a, b, c,
a
"
, a

,
a
`
short-cut model parameters of Eqs.
(14)}(19)
A area covered by wind turbine rotor (m`)
A
'
wind farm area (m`)
b
"
, b
"
,
b
"`
, b

,
b
`
short-cut model parameters of Eqs.
(14)}(19)
c
"
, c

,
c
`
capital cost coe$cients de"ned in Eq. (21)
c
"
, c
"
,
c
"`
, c

,
c
`
short-cut model parameters of Eqs.
(14)}(19)
c

power turbine coe$cient

c

nominal turbine power coe$cient

c
'
unit cost of electricity produced ($/kWh)
c
''
conventional unit cost of electricity
($/kWh)
c
'
cost of unit farm area ($/m`)
c
'"
operational cost coe$cient de"ned in Eq.
(16) ($/kW)
C
'"
capital cost ($)
C
'"
operational cost ($/h)
C
'
total annual cost ($)
d distance of wind farm turbines (m)
D wind turbine diameter (m)
e percentage of the capital cost on an annual
rate
E total energy recovered (kWh)
f Weibull cumulative distribution function
H height (m)
H
"
reference height (m)
i wind farm turbine index
k Weibull function shape factor
M Weibull cumulative distribution function
N total number of wind farm turbines
P power generated by a wind turbine (kW)
PI investment e$cieny
P

nominal turbine power (kW)

P* maximum power generated by a wind tur-
bine (kW)
P
'
total turbine power output (kW)
P

nominal turbine power (kW)

s wind turbine power curve shape factor
S total annual pro"ts expected from the in-
vestment ($)
u wind speed (m/s)
u

Weibull function wind speed parameter

(m/s)
u
G
onset speed of the ith turbine (m/s)
u

mean wind speed of a region (m/s)

u

nominal wind turbine speed (m/s)

u*

maximum wind turbine speed (m/s)

u
"
reference wind speed (m/s)
Greek letters
di!usional turbulence coe$cient of Eq.
(10)
gamma function

"
,

`
,
`
,

"
short-cut design model parameters de"ned
in Eq. (27)
relative distance of wind farm turbines
wind farm e$ciency
air density (kg/m`)
several sets of operating experimental data are currently
available in the literature. Furthermore, wind speed stat-
istical data and wind power potential have been thor-
oughly investigated for a wide range of regions where
wind energy seems promising for exploitation. In addi-
tion, suitable mathematical models describing the opera-
tion of wind turbines have been developed and used for
the simulation of wind farms. Galanis and Christophides
(1990) presented a systematic investigation of the e!ects
of rated power, rated wind speed and tower height on the
annual energy production and the unit cost of energy
produced. Based on these results, a method for the selec-
tion of optimum wind energy conversion systems was
formulated. Voutsinas and Rados (1993) developed
a method for designing aerodynamically optimal wind
farms. The method consisted of positioning wind tur-
bines so as to maximize the energy they absorb or equiv-
alently minimize the loss of energy due to wake e!ects. In
this sense, the optimal design problem was formulated as
a constraint minimization problem involving an objec-
tive that represented the loss of energy due to wake
e!ects. The wake e!ects of the farm were modeled by
means of an improved kinematic wake model.
Several commercial software products have been de-
veloped to analyze, design and optimise wind farms.
Most of them involve sophisticated algorithms for opti-
mising wind farms for increased energy or reduced cost of
energy, subject to environmental or physical constraints.
In addition, they calculate the energy yield of a farm
using integrated wind #ow modules and advanced wake
568 C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578
Fig. 1. Information #ow diagram for System Design and Energy
Planning.
models. They calculate long-term wind speed predictions
and use high-powered graphics capabilities in order to
visualize results (in some cases even 3D views are pro-
vided). Some very popular used by several consulting
"rms include WIndFarm by ReSoft, WinMap by Brower
and Company, WindFarmer by Ripe Software, WA`P by
RISO National Laboratory, and WindOps by WindOps
Ltd. This philosophy, is oriented towards detailed design
of farms but it is cumbersome to apply for regional
planning reasons, where primary decisions have to be
taken in order to roughly decide upon penetration of
wind power technology on speci"c regions. The regional
planning procedures involve "rst stage design calcu-
lations that will estimate wind park feasibility for a vast
number of sites and therefore short-cut design proced-
ures are favored. Regional planning strategies are pre-
sented in Fig. 1.
Short-cut design is a technical procedure for express-
ing, in a straightforward way, the optimal results of
a detailed design problem through emprical equations
involving the corresponding design variables. In this way,
all other model variables are directly computed through
the model equations. The parameters of the empirical
equations are evaluated by "tting the short-cut model
equations to the corresponding design problem optimal
results computed using the full process model. Short-cut
design is extremely important for preliminary selection of
alternative design scenaria for diversi"ed policies of in-
vestment at a regional level. In this way, short-cut evalu-
ations of optimal designs for certain sites is an indispens-
able tool for assessing regional planning strategies at
a national or international level. Moreover, it is extreme-
ly important for determining the way that alternative
energy sources could possibly penetrate the energy mar-
ket by an appropriate subsidy policy.
This work addresses the problem of wind farm short-
cut design in terms of maximizing the economic bene"ts
of the investment. The mathematical model of wind tur-
bines was developed taking into consideration their per-
formance with respect to construction and operation.
The objective function to be maximized was the total
pro"ts expected from the plant operation. The wind "eld
characteristics of a site have been analyzed in terms of
signi"cant physical parameters and modeled appro-
priately. Optimization was carried out for a wide range of
site characteristics expressed by the corresponding model
parameters and four di!erent types of commercial wind
turbines. A short-cut design empirical equation was in-
troduced for determining the optimum number of wind
turbines. The model is appropriately for regional plann-
ing purposes. From the engineering point of view, such
an analysis will directly serve as an evaluation tool for
explicitly determining the pro"tability of wind power
exploitation in a certain region.
2. Mathematical modeling of wind turbines and farms
The useful power of a wind turbine is (Kiranoudis
et al., 1997)
P"
`
C

u`A, (1)
where
A"
D`
4
. (2)
The power coe$cient, C

, depends on wind speed and

actual turbine characteristics. Experimental data for
power coe$cient in the case of four commercial wind
turbines studied in this work (namely VESTAS, ENER-
CON, BONUS and FLODA; mentioned in increased
nominal power order) are given in Fig. 2, as a function of
wind speed perpendicular to the wind direction. All
curves exhibit a maximum for a given wind speed value
representing the nominal performance of the turbine. An
expression for representing the power curve of wind
turbines is proposed (Kiranoudis et al., 1997):
C

"C

exp

(ln u!lnu

)`
2(lns)`
. (3)
In this expression, the turbine characteristics are the
nominal power coe$cient, C

, the nominal wind speed,

u

, and a parameter expressing the operating range of

C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578 569
Fig. 2. Wind turbine e$ciency curves (points are experimental data and lines are model predictions) for all types examined. (a) VESTAS,
(b) ENERCON, (c) BONUS, (d) FLODA.
wind speed, s. It must be noted that the nominal power of
the turbine is given by the following expression:
P
P
"
`
C

u`

A. (4)
Quite excellent "ts to actual data were detected when
Eq. (3) was used to real turbine data. The predictions of
the empirical equation proposed for the case of power
coe$cient experimental values, are also given in Fig. 2,
indicating the excellence of the "t and suggesting the
practical signi"cance of Eq. (3). The estimated turbine
parameters of Eq. (3) for all commercial wind turbines
studied, are given in Table 1. Eqs. (1) and (3) can now be
combined to express the actual power converted as
a function of wind speed. The corresponding turbine
diameters are also given in Table 1. The experimentally
detected power values and model predictions for the
entire wind speed region and for all turbines employed
are given in Fig. 3. The model, and most experimental
data, detect an optimum for power at a certain wind
speed level. Using the above mentioned model for power
coe$cient, maximization with respect to wind speed sug-
gests a corresponding value for wind speed, at optimum
power (Kiranoudis et al., 1997)
uH

"u

exp[3(lns)`]. (5)
The maximum power values for each turbine em-
ployed are given by the following equation (Kiranoudis
et al., 1997):
PH"
`
c

u`

exp["
`
(lns)`]A. (6)
Their corresponding values for all turbines employed
are also listed in Table 1.
When a record of the mean wind speeds for a speci"c
region are available, the frequency and wind duration
can be modeled accurately using mathematical functions
in predicting the output of wind turbines in various
locations. In this case, the Weibull distribution function
that estimates the probability that the wind speed ex-
ceeds a certain value, is widely used as a good match with
experimental data. The Weibull distribution has a cumu-
lative distribution function of the form (Bowden et al.,
1983)
M(u)"1!exp

u
u

(7)
and a probability density function of the form (Bowden et
al., 1983)
f(u)"
k
u

u
u

I
exp

u
u

. (8)
570 C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578
Table 1
Wind turbine and wind park model parameters
Turbine VESTAS ENERCON BONUS FLODA
D (m) 28 32 37 42
P

(kW) 59 85 134 170

u

(m/s) 7.2 8.2 8.1 8.2

c

0.43 0.32 0.39 0.37

s 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
u*

(m/s) 16.8 19.1 18.9 19.1

P* (kW) 211 302 475 602
a
"
43.4;10` 25.0;10` 29.8;10` 27.7;10`
a

0.277 0.256 0.282 0.275

a
`
8.62;10` 8.09;10` 8.47;10` 8.38;10`
b
"
4.02 4.09 4.04 4.05
b
"`
1.21;10" 1.54;10" 1.53;10" 1.62;10"
b

86.1 80.1 95.7 257

b
`
1.44;10` 1.07;10` 1.21;10` 4.06;10"
c
"
0.846 0.824 0.818 0.817
c
"`
1.84;10" 1.38;10" 1.42;10" 1.31;10"
c

1.06 0.948 1.00 0.987

c
`
7.23;10 0.102 7.78;10` 8.17;10`
Fig. 3. Wind turbine performance curves (symbols as in Fig. 2).
The Weibull parameters that characterise wind
speed distribution for a speci"ed site, are the shape
parameter k and the scale parameter u

. A com-
mon starting point for evaluating Weibull func-
tion parameters is the mean wind speed of the
region which is given by the following relation
(Bowden et al., 1983):
u

"u

1#
1
k
. (9)
C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578 571
Fig. 4. Yearly wind speed duration curves (k"2). (1) u

"5 m/s, (2)

u

"7 m/s, (3) u

"9 m/s.
The mean wind speed is the most commonly encoun-
tered variable for representing wind speed data for a spe-
ci"c region. The Weibull shape parameter k usually
varies between 1.8 and 2.2 for most regions. The yearly
wind speed duration curves expressing the time period
that wind speed lies within a speci"c range can be directly
computed by means of the cumulative Weibull distribu-
tion function. The e!ect of mean wind speed on yearly
wind speed duration (8760 h) is given in Fig. 4.
In most cases mean wind speed for a speci"c region is
measured at a standard height (usually 10 m). In order to
estimate the wind speed at di!erent heights so that the
corresponding values are corrected with respect to the
center of the wind turbine (where the total power output
is actually evaluated), the following power law has been
proposed (Voutsinas and Rados, 1993):
u
u
"
"

H
H
"

?
, (10)
where the power index, , depends on the roughness of
the terrain, the time of day, the wind stability and speed
level. In most cases a value of
`
is quite appropriate for
most regions.
The total annual power output of the wind turbine can
now be evaluated by means of the following relation:
P
'
"

`
"
P(u) f(u) du. (11)
Given the power curve of a speci"c turbine, the energy
per year generated by each individual turbine can be
computed. The ratio of the entire power generated by the
real farm to the one corresponding to all wind turbines
operating in the absence of wake e!ects is the wind farm
e$ciency. Thus, for a wind farm involving N wind tur-
bines placed in a prede"ned con"guration, the wind farm
e$ciency for a speci"c wind speed u and calculated onset
wind velocities (u
G
, i"1,
2
, N), is given by the following
equation (Lissaman, 1979):
"
,

GJ
P(u
G
)
NP(u)
. (12)
Obviously, the wind farm e$ciency is a function of the
turbine type employed, the wind farm con"guration and
wind speed. Estimation of the overall e$ciency of a wind
farm is of crucial importance to a wind farm design
procedure since due to its explicit relation to total annual
power converted, it is considered a vital trade-o! be-
tween performance and cost. In general, the design objec-
tives would seek the best wind farm con"guration, i.e.
number and layout of individual turbines, and the actual
type and size of each turbine, provided that wind statist-
ical data and region characteristics as well as economic
"gures are supplied. In the case where we seek for the
total optimal design of the wind farm, the procedure for
the determination of the layout of wind turbines must be
repeated within the optimization iterative loop, thus re-
quiring a problem of extreme di$culty to be solved.
A short-cut model for wind farm e$ciency is used for
the uniform turbine grid, i.e. the turbines are equally
displaced from each other. It is expressed as a function of
type of machinery used, wind speed and wind farm char-
acteristics. The wind farm characteristics are in the case
of the uniform grid employed, the total number of tur-
bines, N, and their relative distance, d, that is related to
the turbine diameter and their absolute distance by
means of the following equation (Kiranoudis and
Maroulis, 1997):
"
d
D
. (13)
The short-cut model proposed is given by the follow-
ing equation (Kiranoudis and Maroulis, 1997) that esti-
mates the wind farm e$ciency as a function of wind
speed, the number of turbines and their relative distance:
"1au@ exp(!uA), (14)
where
a"a
"
exp(!a

)[1!exp(!a
`
N)], (15)
b"b
"
#(b

!b
"
)[1!exp(!b
`
)], (16)
c"c
"
#(c

!c
"
)[1!exp(!c
`
)] (17)
572 C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578
and
b
"
"b
"
exp(b
"`
N), (18)
c
"
"c
"
exp(!c
"`
N). (19)
Kiranoudis and Maroulis (1997) evaluated the 11
parameters of the proposed short-cut wind e$ciency
model for all types of turbines studied. These values are
also given in Table 1.
The annual energy obtained by the operation of the
wind farm is calculated by integrating Eq. (12) for the
entire year:
E"N

`
"
P(u) du. (20)
The installation cost of the farm is given by the follow-
ing equation as a function of the wind turbines' max-
imum power, their number plus the cost of the land
(Maroulis et al., 1996; Milborrow, 1995):
C
'"
"c
"
(PH)A
NA`
#c
'
A
'
. (21)
The annual operational cost of the plant is propor-
tional to the installed plant capacity and is given by the
following equation (Maroulis et al., 1996):
C
'"
"c
'"
NPH. (22)
The total annual cost of the plant is therefore cal-
culated by means of the following equation:
C
'
"eC
'"
#C
'"
. (23)
As a result, the unit cost of energy produced is the ratio
of total annual cost and annual energy recovered:
c
'
"
C
'
E
. (24)
The expected pro"ts from the operation of the wind
farm is therefore given below:
S"E(c
''
!c
'
). (25)
The investment e$ciency is expressed as the ratio of
expected pro"ts per invested capital:
PI"
S
C
'"
. (26)
Eqs. (1)}(26) constitute the mathematical model of the
entire wind farm. In this case, the design objective is to
maximize the investment e$ciency from the operation of
such a plant. Given the type of wind turbine, the farm size
and the site wind "eld characteristics, there is only one
design variable to be computed by means of maximizing
the objective function; the number of wind turbines to be
installed. The optimization procedure throughout this
paper was carried out by means of the successive quad-
ratic programming algorithmimplemented in the form of
the subroutine E04UCF/NAG. All runs were performed
on a SG Indy workstation under Unix.
3. Short-cut design of wind farms
On the basis of the above, the design strategy for wind
farms can now be clearly stated. Given the type of wind
turbine, the available farm area and the site wind "eld
characteristics (i.e. wind duration curve parameters)
the number of wind turbines to be installed must be
determined by means of optimizing appropriate
technoeconomical criteria under speci"c operational and
environmental constraints.
As a consequence of the above, the determination of
the optimum plant con"guration must be based on speci-
"c design objectives. In practice, the representation of the
design problem for wind farms should focus to corre-
sponding mathematical "gures obtained through an ad-
equate mathematical model as previously formulated. In
all cases, the design procedure should involve an objec-
tive function representing the economic bene"ts from the
operation of such a plant or its e$ciency in terms of
energy availability towards regional demand. Certain
alternative objective function types may be taken into
consideration regarding the bene"ts expected:
(i) Maximization of the investment ezciency: This case
suits to design problems confronted by individual
power-producing industries (either private or municipal)
that have invested or plan to invest in this "eld, in
countries where legislation permits so. In other words,
this objective refers to the direct economical bene"ts
expected from such an investment under a speci"c com-
petitive economic environment, thus determining the
feasibility of exploiting this type of renewable energy
source.
(ii) Maximization of the amount of energy annually
produced from the available wind potential: This case
suits to design problems usually confronted for regions
where no other sources of energy are technically exploit-
able, and the objective is to exploit the highest possible
energy potential of a region in order to cover the local
demand, assuming that the use of wind power is still
pro"table compared to the unit cost of electricty avail-
able in remote national regions due to increased trans-
poration cost.
Throughout this paper we choose the "rst possibility
for our objective function. Characteristic economical "g-
ures concerning capital and operational cost components
for a typical economic environment were taken into
consideration and are listed in Table 2. Between these
two cases, the former evaluates an optimum farm size
that is completely di!erent (smaller) than the latter. How-
ever, it can be shown that the optimal results of the "rst
objective that is an economically driven function co-
incide with the ones of the second objective that is a pure-
ly technical function (independent of economics) when
the unit cost of conventional electricity approaches in"n-
ity. In this case, the farm operates at the point of max-
imum energy recovery.
C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578 573
Table 2
Design and cost data
c
"
($/kWh) 1000
c

0.67
c
`
0.75
c
'
(k$/km`) 1.7
c
'"
($/kW) 135
c
''
(c/kWh) 6.7
e 0.1
Fig. 5. E!ect of number of wind park turbines on certain process
variables. (1) Investment e$ciency, (2) Energy recovered. (a)
c
''
"6 c/kWh, (b) c
''
"8 c/kWh, (c) c
''
"14 c/k Wh, (d)
c
''
"20 c/kWh.
Table 3
Short-cut model parameters
Turbine VESTAS ENERCON BONUS FLODA

"
191.84 171.01 131.45 127.23

2.42 1.82 1.46 1.53

`
!9041.8 !16760.7 !11258.5 !19475.3

`
1.97 2.19 2.06 2.33

"
131.83 169.38 158.00 153.09
In order to illustrate the above-mentioned situation,
we examine the case of a typical site involving a farm of
1 km` area, a wind farm involving VESTAS wind tur-
bines and a wind "eld of annual mean speed of 8 m/s with
a Weibull function shape factor of value 2. The e!ect of
number of wind turbines on investment e$ciency and
total energy recovered is presented in Fig. 5. Obviously,
each case results in completely di!erent farm size and
economic "gures. For increasing unit cost of conven-
tional electricity, optimum farm size determined by opti-
mizing the investment e$ciency increases to the one
determined by maximizing the energy recovery.
The optimization procedure for the determination of
the optimal number of wind turbines described earlier,
was concentrated on the solution of a speci"c design
problem involving a prede"ned turbine type, farm size
and site wind "eld characteristics. This procedure
can be extended to include a wide range of turbine
types, farm size and wind "eld particularities. When the
results of the optimization for each wind turbine and site
combination are systematically compiled and presented,
an empirical short-cut design equation can be evaluated
so that the design engineer can automatically determine
the optimal size of each plant and subsequently evaluate
its performance in terms of the recovered amount of
energy and the unit cost of power produced. A short-cut
design empirical equation of the following form is pro-
posed:
N"
"
AA
'
#
`
uA`

#
"
. (27)
It involves "ve parameters and expresses the optimal
number of wind farm turbines in terms of investment
e$ciency maximization. The determination of the intro-
duced short-cut model parameters was carried out by
"tting Eq. (27) to the optimal results of the full-design
problem for all wind turbines studied. The values of
model parameter for all turbines are given in Table 3. The
"tting of the short-cut empirical model to the optimal
number of wind farm turbines for all turbines studied are
given in Fig. 6. Visually, all "ts were extremely satisfac-
tory and Eq. (27) can be safely used for short-cut design
purposes in the case of wind farm design. The optimum
number of wind turbines increases with both farm area
and mean wind speed of the region. Also signi"cant
variation of the optimum number of wind turbines was
observed between all four types of wind turbines studied.
574 C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578
Fig. 6. Fitting of the short-cut empirical equation (lines) on the number of wind park turbines (points). (1) VESTAS, (2) ENERCON, (3) BONUS, (4)
FLODA. (a) u

"8 m/s, (b) u

"10 m/s, (c) u

"12 m/s, (d) u

"14 m/s.
With increasing the size of the wind turbine, the optimum
number of turbines installed decreases.
Fig. 6 expressing Eq. (27) is the essence of short-cut
design of wind farms. Given the type of wind turbine
used, the farm area and the site mean wind speed, the
engineer can automatically evaluate the optimum num-
ber of wind turbines to be installed, the corresponding
total amount of energy recovered and a reasonable es-
timation of the total plant cost and pro"ts expected at
a preliminary design level. At this stage of design, the
short-cut design equation for wind farms produced is
a tool of great signi"cance for feasibility studies on such
investments.
In order to determine the range of applicability of each
wind turbine, all wind turbines were directly compared
for a wide range of model parameters. The range of
application for all wind turbines are given in Fig. 7.
When all four wind turbines are compared, FLODA was
found to be the best. Among all three others, BONUS is
best for almost the entire range of wind speed values,
except for very small mean wind velocities and small to
moderate farm areas. In this case, VESTAS is preferrable,
while ENERCON is the worst of all. Between VESTAS
and ENERCON, VESTAS is more suitable for low to
moderate wind speed values, while ENERCON applies
for moderate to high mean wind velocities. Obviously,
larger wind turbines are superior to smaller for wind farm
design. Small wind turbines apply only for lower mean
wind velocities.
The design of wind farms is greatly a!ected by the
mean wind speed of the speci"c region. The correspond-
ing wind speed distribution is also characterized by the
Weibull function parameter k which in most cases varies
between 1.8 and 2.2, as mentioned in the previous sec-
tions. The e!ect of this parameter on signi"cant wind
farm variables (optimum number of wind turbines, unit
cost of electricity and total energy recovered) is presented
in Fig. 8 for the typical (and practically observable for
most sites) case of mean wind speed of 8 m/s and for
VESTAS wind turbine. In this typical case, the deviations
for the complete range of k parameter variation is less
than 2% for the case of unit cost of electricity. Thus, the
overall e!ect of the Weibull function shape factor is
practically negligible, and clearly the only region variable
that should be taken into consideration for design pur-
poses is the mean wind speed value.
In all design cases mentioned above, the farm size was
taken to be constant dictated by availability reasoning.
In more realistic scenaria, we also study the e!ect of
external cost factors, such as the cost of the farm on the
C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578 575
Fig. 7. Regions of applicability of all wind turbines studied. (1) VES-
TAS-ENERCON, (2) VESTAS-ENERCON-BONUS, (3) VESTAS-
ENERCON-BONUS-FLODA.
Fig. 8. E!ect of Weibull constant k on process variables (u

"8 m/s).
(1) unit cost of electricity, (2) number of turbines, (3) total energy
recovered, (a) k"1.8, (b) k"2, (c) k"2.2.
optimumnumber of wind turbines to be installed and the
optimum farm area to be purchased (provided that it is
available). In this case, the farm size constitutes an addi-
tional design variable to the original problem of wind
farm design. This e!ect was studied for varying farm cost
and for VESTAS turbines operating for various mean
wind velocities. The results are graphically presented in
Fig. 9. As clearly indicated, the less the farm cost is, the
larger the optimum farm size to be purchased and the
more the optimum number of wind turbines to be instal-
led is.
In order to illustrate the e!ectiveness of the above-
mentioned procedure, the Greek island of Crete was
taken as a characteristic example. The individual sites
that have strong wind potential for the island are given in
Table 4, along with their characteristic available area and
mean wind speed. The application of the proposed model
resulted in the estimated number of turbines, energy
produced and unit cost of energy calculated. These values
576 C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578
Fig. 9. E!ect of park cost on process variables (VESTAS wind turbine).
(1) number of wind turbines, (2) wind park area. (a) u

"6 m/s, (b)

u

"8 m/s, (c) u

"10 m/s.
Fig. 10. Wind Park construction potential in Crete.
T
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C.T. Kiranoudis et al. / Energy Policy 29 (2001) 567}578 577
are given in Table 3 for all turbines. Energy versus cost
correlation is depicted in Fig. 10. This Figure will act as
a strong compass to future investment plans in this
particular area. In addition, it serves as a valuable tool
for the state regional planner to appropriately guide
subsidies strategy in order to favor a speci"c site over
another one (thus selectively reduce energy produced
unit cost).
4. Conclusions
Regional planning requires short-cut design of wind
farms so that decisions related to the penetration of the
corresponding technology are taken on a uni"ed regional
rationale. Under this concept, the design of wind farms
can be properly analysed and addressed by means of
optimizing the expected bene"ts from such an investment
in the "eld of renewable energy exploitation. Optimiza-
tion can be carried out by developing the mathematical
model of wind turbines, taking into account their con-
struction characteristics and operational performance.
The model must also involve the regional characteristics
in terms of the yearly wind speed duration curve of
a speci"c site. The design problem can be formulated as
a mathematical programming one, and can be solved
using appropriate programming techniques. An empiri-
cal short-cut design equation describes optimal farm size
for a wide range of site characteristics and farm sizes and
four di!erent types of commercially available wind tur-
bines. In this case, the optimum number of wind turbines
installed, the amount of energy recovered and a reason-
able estimation of the plant cost can be automatically
determined. Generally, large wind turbines are preferred
for the most cases of wind farm design. Moreover, unit
cost of land area has a signi"cant impact on the design
problem, since its variation introduces an additional
degree of freedom to the problem and a more relaxed
optimization can be carried out.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the EU ALTENER
Project No.1030/93.
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