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By Clarence Prestwich

Since early recorded history, people have been harnessing the energy of the wind.

5000 B.C used wind to propelled boats along the Nile River. 200 B.C., simple windmills in China were pumping water while vertical-axis water, vertical axis used to mill grain in Persia and the Middle East 11th century, windmills used extensively for food production in the Middle East. The Dutch refined the windmill and adapted it for draining lakes and marshes in the Rhine River Delta.

19th century - New World began using windmills to pump water for farms and ranches, and later, to generate electricity for homes and industry. 1940s - the largest wind turbine of the time began operating on a Vermont hilltop known as Grandpa's Knob. Knob 1970s -The wind turbine technology R&D followed the oil embargoes

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OR Engineers Meeting - Lateral Loads

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In 2005, the United States installed more new wind energy capacity than any other country in the world. The new capacity, totaling 2,431 megawatts (MW), was worth more than $3 billion in generating equipment Brought the total national wind energy capacity MW. Th Thats it to t 9,149 9 149 MW t enough h electricity to power 2.3 million average American households. In 2006, an additional 2,454 MW was installed Wind Power Additions in 2009 ~roughly 10 GW of New Capacity

At the end of 2009, cumulative wind power capacity in the United States stood at more than 35,000 MW, ahead of Chinas 25,853 MW and Germanys 25,813 MW. End of 2009 electricity demand
Denmark 20% Spain and Portugal 14% Ireland 11% Germany 8% United States 2.5%

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The United States has enough wind resources to generate electricity for every home and business in the nation. But not all areas are suitable for wind energy development.

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Wind energy is fueled by the wind, so it's a clean fuel source. Wind energy is a domestic source of energy Wind energy relies on the renewable power of the wind. Wind energy is one of the lowest-priced lowest priced renewable energy technologies, costing between 4 and 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Wind turbines can be built on farms or ranches.

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Wind power must compete with conventional generation sources on a cost basis Good wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed. needed Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city. Environmental concerns Wind is not constant, it fluctuates. High initial investment

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The high cost of energy storage. Using energy storage to provide flexibility typically costs at least several cents per kWh for the capital costs alone (without factoring in operating costs, the value of energy lost in the conversion process, and other costs),

A small wind energy system can provide you with a practical and economical source of electricity if:

your property has a good wind resource you have at least one acre of land in a rural area your local zoning codes or covenants allow wind turbines you have high electric costs your property is in a remote location that does not have easy access to utility lines you are comfortable with long-term investments

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Make Your Farm Buildings as Energy-Efficient as Possible Before choosing a wind system for your farm or ranch, you should reduce your energy consumption as much as possible. possible Energy conservation is almost always more cost-effective than renewable energy systems, and could reduce the size of your wind energy system

Assess the area's wind resources and estimate the available energy. Correct estimation of the energy available in the wind can make or break the economics of a project

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You must have a good idea of your wind resource. For residential sites, the highest average wind speed is about 14 mph. An average wind speed is not your casual observation of it always blows 20 mph or I saw it blow 55 mph once.

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Its not an instantaneous wind speed, but an average of all the winds the site gets. Not something that can be observed. It needs to be measured The average wind speed needs to be measured at the proposed wind generators hub height. g Its crucial to get an accurate number, because the relationship of energy potential to wind speed is cubed Normally have only a 3 to 6 mph average wind speed just above your rooftop The difference in energy potential between 10 mph and 5 mph is eight to one.

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The best strategy is to measure the wind speed at hub height for a year or more. The drawbacks are cost and time: The cost of setting up an anemometer run between $1 000 and $1,000 d $2 $2,000, 000 d depending di on th the t tower height needed. A professional setup will likely cost three to five times that (or more).

Use local data. Sources include other wind energy users, weather bureaus, airports, newspaper historical weather data, and local weather enthusiasts who have their own monitoring stations and keep tabs on other l local ld data. Professional wind mapping is used by wind farm developers. This method is based on existing data and modeling generally developed for much taller towers (60 to 100 meters), and must be scaled down to homescale system heights

Without access to objective data, using more subjective resources becomes better than nothing.
Gauging wind speed by the deformation of coniferous trees, as quantified by the GriggsPutnam wind energy index. Interviewing longtime locals for anecdotal comments about the winds - not entirely useless, since it may deter you from trying to capture wind energy at a poor site.

In the end, its best to use all available methods, take an average of the results, and then round down.

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Modern wind turbines fall into two basic groups: the horizontal-axis variety and the vertical-axis design, like the eggbeater-style

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Horizontal-axis wind turbines typically either have two or three blades. These three-bladed wind turbines are operated "upwind," with the blades facing into the wind.

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Utility-scale turbines range in size from 100 kilowatts to as large as several megawatts. Larger turbines are grouped together into wind farms, which provide bulk power to the electrical grid. grid Single small turbines, below 100 kilowatts, are used for homes, telecommunications dishes, or water pumping.

C:\Documents and Settings\clarence.prestwich\My Documents\My Projects\2011 Projects\Training session and assistance\Utah Alternative Energy\Wind\wind_story.swf

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Mechanical power is a combination of speed and torque. Wind-electric generators need to spin at relatively high rpm and at low torque, unlike water pumping wind machines, which need low rpm and high torque torque.

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Braking, as distinct from governing, is the ability to stop the turbine when you choose to. Manual braking is ideal, since it stops the machine in all conditions. Drum disc brakes been used in a few u and a dd sc b a es have a e bee e turbine designs Most turbines use dynamic, or electrical, braking, Another method of control is manual furlingthe ability to manually crank the tail over to furl the machine out of the wind

Wind generators yaw to face the wind, but the transmission wiring is fixed to the ground. Most modern turbines use copper alloy slip rings to connect the turbine wiring to the fixed wiring..

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High winds seem like a bonus. But once the wind turbine is already going flat out, stronger winds become a cause for concern. Doubling the wind speed makes eight times as much power available, and also increases the thrust force on the turbine and tower by a factor of four. A turbine should be able to shed excess force, or it will over speed, d b burn out, or self-destruct lf d i in some way. Protection from strong winds, called governing, can be accomplished either by furling or by blade pitch-control. The most common governing system is a furling tail that steers the rotor out of the wind. Some machines twist the angle (pitch) of their blades toward stalling, which decreases their efficiency and prevents overload.

Most turbine manufacturers provide wind energy system packages that include towers. There are three basic types of towers suitable for farmsized turbines:
Monopole Guyed lattice Lattice

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There are also tilt-down versions of the guyed and monopole towers. Most home wind power systems use a guyed tower Aluminum towers are prone to cracking and should be avoided

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This type of tower is generally the least expensive. The tower is a tilt-up style tower. Monopoles generally have four guy wires for support. support The height of this type of tower is limited by the weight of the Turbine Tilt-up towers require space for guy wires and for tipping up and down of the tower

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Guyed lattice towers are generally more expensive than monopole designs but can support larger turbines at higher heights. Guyed lattice towers can either ith be b tipped ti dd down or easily climbed for regular maintenance. Guyed lattice towers require space for tipping up and down of tower and guy wires.

Lattice towers, in most cases, are required for machines larger than 20 kW in size. The installation of these towers is generally more complicated because a crane is needed to lift the tower and turbine into place. Maintenance is performed by climbing the tower. If major work is required on a machine a crane may be required to remove the turbine from the tower.

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Stand alone Grid Hybrid

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Stand-alone systems(not connected to an electric distribution system or grid) may be practical in the following conditions
You live in an area with average annual wind speed per hour ( (4.0 m/s). / ) of at least 9 miles p A grid connection is not available or can only be made through an expensive extension. (The cost of You would like to gain energy independence from the utility. You would like to generate clean power.

running a power line to a remote site can range from $15,000 to more than $50,000 per mile, depending on terrain.)

Can be connected to the electricity distribution system. A grid-connected wind turbine can reduce the consumption of utility-supplied electricity. If the gy turbine cannot deliver the amount of energy needed, the utility makes up the difference. When the wind system produces more electricity than the household requires, the excess is sent or sold to the utility. During power outages, the wind turbine is required to shut down due to safety concerns.

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May be practical if the following conditions exist:

You live in an area with average annual wind speed of at least 10 miles per hour (4.5 m/s). electricity in y your area Utility-supplied y pp y is expensive p (about 1015 cents per kilowatt-hour). The utility's requirements for connecting the system to its grid are not prohibitively expensive. There are good incentives for the sale of excess electricity or for the purchase of wind turbines.

Hybrid combines to or more types of renewable energy. The most common are solar and wind. In much of the United States, wind speeds are low in the summer when the sun shines brightest and longest. The wind is strong in the winter when less sunlight is available. Because the peak operating times for wind and solar systems occur at different times of the day and year, hybrid systems are more likely to produce power when you need it.

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When neither the wind nor the solar system are producing, most hybrid systems provide power through batteries and/or an engine generator powered by conventional fuels. If the batteries run low, the engine generator id power and d recharge h th b tt i can provide the batteries. Storage capacity must be large enough to supply electrical needs during non-charging periods. Battery banks are typically sized to supply the electric load for one to three days.

Mechanical windmills still provide a sensible, low-cost option for pumping water, Although a small wind electric systems can pump twice the water volume for the same initial investment investment. Mechanical windmills must be placed directly above the well, wind-electric pumping systems can be placed where the wind resource is the best.

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Site your wind turbine on the top of or on the windy side of a hill, Avoid gullies or the leeward (sheltered) side of a hill, Consider existing obstacles the turbine needs to of buildings be sited upwind p g and trees, and it f needs to be 30 feet above anything within 300 feet. Need to plan for future obstructions such as new buildings or trees that have not reached their full height. Need enough room to raise and lower the tower for maintenance

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Length of the wire run between the turbine and the load (house, batteries, water pumps, etc.) also needs to be considered. Lost results from wire resistancethe longer the wire run, the more electricity y is lost. More or larger wire will increase installation cost. Wire run losses are greater when you have direct current (DC) instead of alternating current (AC). For long wire run, it is advisable to invert DC to AC.

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Size ranges form 20watts to 1.5 Mw A typical home uses approximately 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year (about 830 kWh per month).

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Determine your energy need (kilowatt-hours; kWh) per day, week, or year) and try to reduce it via energy efficiency and conservation. Decide on your tower height using the 30-foot rule and estimated mature tree height. Estimate your resourcethe average wind speed at proposed machine height. Determine rotor diameter, based on predicted kWh at your sites average wind speed. Compare all C ll of f the th products d t in i the th rotor t diameter di t range you have selected. Consider a larger turbine if your needs will grow, or a small turbine if you will be downsizing your consumption. Choose a specific wind generator. If an off-grid system, choose balance-of-system (BOS) componentsinverter, batteries, etc. Grid-tied systems without battery backup are usually package systems: turbine, controller, and inverter are matched and specified by the manufacturer.

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An estimate of the annual energy output from a wind turbine (in kilowatt-hours per year) is the best way to determine whether it and the tower will produce enough electricity to meet your needs. A wind turbine manufacturer can help you estimate the energy production you can expect.

These factors:

Particular wind turbine power curve Average annual wind speed at your site Height of the tower that you plan to use Frequency distribution of the windan estimate of the number of hours that the wind will blow at each speed during an average year.

Power = k Cp 1/2 A V3
Where: P = Power output, kilowatts Cp = Maximum power coefficient, ranging from 0.25 to 0.45 = Air density, lb/ft3(.0761lb/ft3 @ 59 and sea level) A = Rotor swept area, ft2 V = Wind speed, mph k = 0.000133 A constant to yield power in kilowatts.

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Where:

AEO= 0.01328 D2 V3

Note: the difference between power and energy is that power (kilowatts [kW]) is the rate at which electricity is consumed, while energy (kilowatthours [kWh]) is the quantity consumed.

AEO = Annual energy output (kilowatt-hours [kWh]/year) D = Rotor diameter, diameter feet V = Annual average wind speed, miles-per hour (mph), at your site

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The land owner has a 20 acre drip plot that requires a 15hp pump The average growing season runs for 6 months. The average wind speed in the area during the growing season is 14mph. 14mph What size of turbine and how much power output would he need.
1 AV 3 2 AEO = 0.01328D 2V 3 power = K C p

15hp *0.746 kw/hp*26weeks/season*7days/week*24hrs/day= 48878 kw-hr

AEO = 0.01328D 2V 3 2* 48878 = 0.01328D 2143 D2 = 97756 = 2682.63 D ~ 52 ft 0.01328*143

1 AV 3 2 D2 522 A= = = 2123.72 4 4 power = .000133*.35*.5*.0761* 2123.72*143 = 10.3kw power = K C p

A small turbine can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000 installed. The American Wind Energy Association [AWEA] says a typical home wind system costs approximately $32,000 $32 000 (10 kW); A general rule of thumb for estimating the cost of a residential turbine is $1,000 to $5,000 per kilowatt. Payback varies

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