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User Guide for Version 2.01c March 2011

(www.wind-power-program.com)
























Copyright 2008 PelaFlow Consulting
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CONTENTS

Page
1.0 Introduction. 3

2.0 Entering data and calculating mean power outputs. 3
2.1 The Turbine Data and Power Curve Input pane. 4
2.1.1 Turbine name. 4
2.1.2 The rotor diameter. 4
2.1.3 The cut-in speed. 4
2.1.4 The cut-out speed. 4
2.1.5 The power curve input table. 4
2.2 The Mean Power Output versus Mean Wind Speed Results pane. 6
2.3 The Wind Standard Deviation Input pane. 6
2.4 The comment box 7
2.5 Saving, loading and printing the mean power results. 7
2.5.1 Save Options. 7
2.5.1.1 Save turbine power data only. 7
2.5.1.2 Export power curve and mean power data as a csv file. 7
2.5.2 Load turbine data. 8
2.5.3 Print options. 8
3.0 Finance options. 8
3.1 Total returns to total cost ratio. 9
3.1.1 Print the returns ratio. 11
3.1.2 Export returns ratio and mean power as a csv file. 11
3.2 Calculating the payback time. 11
3.2.1 Print payback periods. 12
3.2.2 Export payback periods and mean power as a csv file. 13
3.3 Calculating the cost per kilowatt-hour. 13
3.3.1 Print prices. 14
3.2.1 Export prices and mean power as a csv files. 14
4.0 The wind turbine power profile. 14
4.1 Print. 16
5.0 Ratio of local energy used to the total energy produced. 16
6.0 Other features of the program. 17
7.0 Vertical axis wind turbines. ` 17

Appendix A. Two tutorial examples of wind turbine data. 18
Appendix B. Obtaining a .pow file from PelaFlow Consulting. 19
Appendix C. Calculating the total cost of a loan. 20
Appendix D. Using the WindPower Program with 21
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs)
Appendix E. UK feed-in tariffs for wind power 22
Appendix F. Estimating the ratio of local energy used to total
energy production. 23
Appendix G. Modification to power curves in the calculation of
local power usage. 26
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The User Guide.
1.0 Introduction.

This manual goes step-by-step through the use of the WindPower program. In order to
become familiar with using the program, appendix A contains two examples of wind turbine
data you need in order to use the program. One of the examples is a large commercial 2.5-
megawatt turbine and the other a small domestic turbine with a rated out of 1.9 kilowatts. In
both cases, the data comprises the rotor diameter, the cut-in and cut-out speeds, a table of
the steady power output curve, an installation cost and an expected turbine lifetime. It is
recommended that you work through the manual using one or the other of these two
examples as data sources. The WindPower program is not difficult to use and, after one
example, further use should be straightforward.

As far as running the program is concerned, it should only be necessary to check that your
screen size is a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels with a screen font size of not more that 96 dpi.

2.0 Entering data and calculating mean power outputs.

The figure 1 below shows the opening form of the WindPower program. It consists of three
panes, namely, (i) the Wind Turbine Data and Power Curve Input pane where the basic
turbine data and its power curve are entered, (ii) the output pane Mean Power or Annual
Energy Output versus Mean Wind Speed Results where the final mean output power results
are displayed and (iii) the Wind Standard Deviation Input pane where the magnitude of the
unsteady component of the wind speed (i.e. its standard deviation) can be adjusted.


Figure 1. The opening form.


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2.1 The Turbine Data and Power Curve Input pane.

This pane is where the basic turbine data are entered. The first data to be entered are (i) the
manufacturers name for the wind turbine (ii) the rotor diameter in metres (iii) the cut-in wind
speed in metres per second and (iv) the cut-out speed in metres per second. All of these
inputs will be found in the manufacturers description of a turbine.

2.1.1 Turbine name.
The name of the turbine can be up to 50 characters long and, for identification purposes, it is
good practice to include in the name the rotor diameter and rated output of the turbine as well
as the manufacturers name. The practice of many manufactures is to give this information in
their turbine names so that, for example, the Vestas V90-3.0MW has a rotor diameter of 90m
metres and a rated output of 3 megawatts. Manufacturers of smaller turbines are often less
informative in their names. For example, the Iskra AT5.1 does not obviously contain the basic
information about the turbine and a name to enter might be Iskra AT5.1 5.4m 5kw showing
that the rotor diameter is 5.4 metres and the rated generator output is 5 kilowatts.

2.1.2 The rotor diameter.
The next piece of information to be entered is the rotor diameter in metres. This is adjusted
using two scroll bars one for the whole number or integer part of the diameter and the other
for the decimal part of the diameter. The default diameter at start-up is 20.0 metres and this
can be scrolled over a range from the smallest turbine of 1.0 metre rotor diameter up to 150.9
metres. No turbine of this size yet exists!

2.1.3 The cut-in speed.
The cut-in speed in metres per second is next to be entered by a single scroll bar. The cut-in
speed is the lowest wind speed at which the turbine begins to rotate and the default value is
set to 3.5 metres per second. However, this can be adjusted over a range from 1 metre per
second to 5 metres per second in steps of 0.5 metres per second.

2.1.4 The cut-out speed.
The final basic piece of information is the cut-out speed in metres per second. The cut-out
speed is the high wind speed point at which the turbine is effectively shut down to avoid
damage. The default value is set to 25 metres per second and can be adjusted via a scroll bar
to cover the range from 10 metres per second up to 30 metres per second.

In the case of small turbines, there may not be a well-defined cut-out speed. In these cases,
set the cut-out speed to the speed step above the last data point for which an output power is
available.

2.1.5 The power curve input table.
After the above data are entered, the green Initialise data input table button can be clicked to
set up the power curve table for data entry. It is important to double-check the accuracy of
the above data before doing this because, apart from the turbine name, these inputs
cannot then be adjusted without resetting the whole data input process. After clicking
the Initialise data input table button, the data input scroll bars will be disabled along with the
button itself - which will now become grey.

At start-up, all the data cells in the power curve input table are grey. However, on clicking the
Initialise data input table button, the cells into which power data can be entered are turned
white. The power data cells below the cut-in wind speed and above the cut-out wind speed
have zero entries automatically put into them and these cells remain grey and disabled from
entry. The steady wind power values can now be entered into the white cells for each of the
steady wind speeds. When these have all been entered, the green Update power coefficient
and mean power calculations button can be clicked.
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The Update power coefficient and mean power calculations button can be clicked at any
time so that, if you wish, you can check each data point as it is entered. Of course, the output
graphs and output results wont be correct until all the data points are entered.
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The maximum theoretical efficiency (or power coefficient as it is usually referred to) of a wind
turbine can be shown to be 59% (see, for example, the WindPower website www.wind-
power-program.com/betz.htm - and, if any of the power input values result in a power
coefficient, cp, that is greater than this, a message box will appear giving the upper limit on
the power input value for the particular data point. This data point can then be corrected and
the green Update power coefficient and mean power calculations button clicked again to
update the data. It is not possible to enter power data that results in an efficiency greater than
the Betz limit. Also, there is an upper limit of 9,999 megawatts as the maximum allowable
power.

If all the power data are correctly entered, the column of power coefficient cells will contain
the turbine efficiency values as percentages and the graph at the bottom of the Wind Turbine
Data and Power Curve Input pane will show graphs of both the steady power and the power
coefficients plotted against steady wind speed. Any incorrect entries can be corrected and the
output data updated by clicking on the Update power coefficient and mean power calculations
button.

The maximum power coefficient of large modern wind turbines is typically in the range from
40% to 50% whereas smaller turbines usually have lower peak values in the range from 20%
to 35%. If you find the power coefficients are higher than these ranges, the accuracy of the
data should be checked. It should be mentioned that the power curves and power coefficients
for smaller domestic turbines are the subject of greater variability than those of very large
turbines. This is simply a reflection of the fact that these smaller turbines are not generally
designed with the same precision as the large turbines and, for reasons of cost, their power
control mechanisms at the higher wind speeds may be a lot less sophisticated than those of
larger turbines. There are exceptions to this and some of the small turbines have very efficient
blade designs. Nevertheless, a manufacturers power claims should be treated with caution if
they lead to very high efficiencies particularly if they go above 50%!

Figure 2 shows an example of a completed opening screen for a small modern 5.5 metre
diameter turbine producing a peak power of about 5 kilowatts - the UK Evance R9000
turbine.


Figure 2. A completed opening screen.
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2.2 The Mean Power Output versus Mean Wind Speed Results pane.

When the Update power coefficient and mean power calculations button is clicked, the mean
power results are computed for the particular wind speed standard deviation shown in the
Wind Standard Deviation Input pane. The results are displayed both in tabular and graphical
form. The results are calculated for a range of mean wind speeds from 5 metres per second
to 10 metres per second in 0.2 metre per second increments. This range will cover the vast
majority of sites for which wind power might be considered. If a site has a mean wind speed
of less than 5 metres per second, it is not really a viable site for generating wind power.
In the graphical presentation, the mean power results are shown along with the turbine data
from the power curve table in a steady wind. In general, the comparison shows that the mean
power output is greater than the steady wind output at the lower mean wind speeds but less
at the higher wind speeds (i.e. above about 8 metres per second).

If your local wind conditions have a different standard deviation from the reference case, use
the scroll bars in the Wind Standard Deviation Input pane to adjust the value. As the value is
changed, the mean power results will alter to reflect the change in standard deviation see
next section.

The mean power results are the most significant data to be produced by the program because
they set the benchmark for assessing both the operational and economic benefit of an
installation. In this context, it should be noted that the annual energy produced by the turbine
is simply the mean power in kilowatts multiplied by the number of hours in a year 8,760.
Thus, a turbine producing a mean power of 2 kilowatt will produce 17,520 kilowatt-hours of
energy per year. For convenience, there is a check box that when selected or deselected will
toggle the results between annual energy output and mean power output.

2.3 The Wind Standard Deviation Input pane.

The mean power from a wind turbine is affected by the extent of the unsteady component of
the wind. The quantitative measure of this unsteadiness is the standard deviation, , which is
a measure of the size of these fluctuations. For a natural wind, the histogram of the wind
fluctuations is not symmetrical but is skewed and the graph in the Wind Standard Deviation
Input pane shows the shape of this distribution based on the Weibull equation.

From UK meteorological data, the value of the standard deviation of wind speed variations
relative to the mean speed seems to be about 0.62 (corresponding to a Weibull shape factor,
k, of 1.67) but it seems to be industry practice to calculate mean powers and energy outputs
on the basis of a value of k = 2. This is called the Rayleigh distribution and corresponds to a
standard deviation that is 0.52 of the mean wind speed. This has been set as the default
value but it can easily be altered using the standard deviation scroll bars in the Wind Standard
Deviation Input pane. The allowed range is from 0.2 to 1.0, which comfortably exceeds any
practical values that will be encountered.

For those sites in open but undulating terrain, there will rarely be any need to change much
from the default value but, for small-scale turbines in an urban environment, the wind speed
standard deviation might be as high as 80%-90% corresponding to a Weibull shape factor in
the range from about 1.25 to 1.1. At the other end of the scale, there are sites in desert areas
or island sites in the trade winds like Cape Verde where the wind variations are smaller at
around 40% - 45% corresponding to shape factors from around 2.7 to 2.4.

In order to gain some idea about the sensitivity of the results to standard deviation variations,
it is interesting to scroll over a range of values to see the effect this has on the mean power
output. As the standard deviation is reduced (i.e. the wind becomes steadier), the mean
power output will approach nearer to the steady wind power output. As the unsteadiness
increases, the overall differences will increase. Figure 3 below shows the effect on the mean
power output of the Evance R9000 turbine of changing the standard deviation from 52% to
80% of the mean wind speed. This would correspond to a turbine in a very turbulent urban
environment where the mean wind speed would, in any case, be quite low probably less
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than 5 metres/second. As discussed on our website, small turbines in an urban environment
are almost never a worthwhile proposition.


Figure 3. The effect on the mean power of changing the wind standard deviation.

For those interested, the Weibull shape parameter, k, and the Gamma function for (1+1/k) are
shown in the Wind Standard Deviation Input pane.

2.4 The comment box.
In the centre of the opening form is a scrollable text box into which details about a turbine and
its associated data can be entered. Such comments might include the manufactures website
and important mechanical features of the turbine. Comments on the origin of the power curve
and its likely reliability can also be useful. Any comments are saved with the Save command

2.5 Saving, loading and printing the mean power results.

2.5.1 Save Options.

If you click on the menu item Save Options, you will be offered the two choices described
below

2.5.1.1 Save turbine power data only.

Having manually entered the wind turbine power curve data, this can then be saved for later
use. From the Save Options, select Save turbine power data only. A standard dialog box
opens and you can select a file name and location to store the data. The data is stored as a
simple text file (see Appendix B) with the extension .pow so that it can be recognised as a
data file for the WindPower program. The mean power data is not stored in this file.

2.5.1.2 Export power curve and mean power data as a csv file.

A user of WindPower might wish to carry out further analysis of the data or to plot the data in
different ways using spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel. In order to do this, the data (both the
steady and mean power data can be saved as a comma-separated-variable file (a csv file).
Such a file can be opened directly in Excel where its format will be obvious although the
spreadsheet column widths will have to be adjusted to see all the data clearly. However,
having done this, the data can be saved in Excel format and all the facilities of Excel are then
available for further analysis or data presentation.
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2.5.2 Load turbine data.

Having saved a power curve file, it can then be reloaded with the Load turbine data option on
the menu bar. A standard dialog box opens and files with the .pow extension listed in the
directory where the original files were saved. Additionally, the WindPower website contains a
database of turbine power curves and these are downloadable from the site.
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2.5.3 Print options.

For hard copies of the wind turbine data, two options are available from the Print options item
on the menu bar. The first is a printout of the turbine power curve with its power coefficient
data and the second is a hardcopy of the mean power results.

3.0 Finance options.

The main menu contains a Finance option with three sub-options, namely
(i) calculation of the ratio of the total returns from electricity produced by a wind
turbine to the total costs of the turbine.
(ii) calculation of the payback period
(iii) cost per kilowatt-hour of the electricity produced by the turbine

The first two of these are the more important from the point-of-view of an investor wishing to
make a decision about the financial viability of an installation. In both cases, they require an
input of the price received and/or money saved from the production of electrical energy.
Because of the wide variety of incentive schemes in operation in different countries and
states, it is impossible to include all of them in a single program. Instead, the effective price of
the electricity produced by a turbine is represented by a single figure. For large turbines, this
reference price would be simply the amount that the generator received from the power
company for electricity exported to the grid plus any incentive payments received from the
government or state. For the smaller turbine, the incentive schemes might be more
complicated. Most schemes give a payment for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated but,
beyond this, there might be additional payments for electricity exported to the grid. On the
other hand, if the electricity is used locally, no additional payment is received but, of course,
the generator saves the price of the electricity that would otherwise be imported from the
utility company. Thus, the reference price could be the price paid for each unit generated plus
either the export tariff or the utility supply tariff. By using both values, the results would give
upper and lower limits on the financial viability of a scheme. Appendix F describes a simple
basis on which the ratio of locally used energy to total energy produced can be estimated.

The other pieces of information needed are the cost of the turbine including installation costs
and annual maintenance costs. The website www.wind-power-program.com gives general
guidance about turbine costs but for a more accurate assessment of the financial viability of a
scheme, it would be necessary to get up-to-date estimates from a turbine supplier.


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If a wind turbine is not in the database, any purchaser of the WindPower program can have
a pow file put together for them as part of the purchase arrangement. Details of how to go
about this are given in appendix B.
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3.1 Total returns to total cost ratio.

The total return on the investment option is selected from the menu bar select Finance and
then Total return/Total cost. The form shown in figure 4 opens.



Figure 4 The returns to cost ratio form (blank)

The name of the turbine and the standard deviation of the wind speed are automatically
brought forward from the basic data entry page along with the mean power results.

Turbine and installation costs are entered into the appropriate text boxes. Any grants can be
deducted from the turbine costs if so desired. Annual recurrent costs such as maintenance
charges can also be entered. For a small turbine, the maintenance costs are usually small
compared with the fixed costs but the option to include them is there. It is one of the features
of wind power that the main costs are committed at the start and, unlike fossil fuel or nuclear
power stations, subsequent running costs are relatively small. It is important to exercise
care in entering the installation and other costs because these numbers will be large
(in the thousands for smaller turbines and millions for the largest ones) and it is very
easy to enter a digit too many or too few! It should be noted that only numeric
characters can be entered. Anything else will cause a warning message box to be
displayed.

After entering the turbine costs, the Calculate (Total Return)/(Total cost) button should be
clicked to calculate the returns ratio.

The total return on the investment divided by the total cost is given by

m m
365 24 Lifetime(years) P (U ) T Total return
=
Total cost Turbine and other fixed costs+(Annual recurrent costs Lifetime)
ref


where P
m
(U
m
) is the mean power in kilowatts at the mean velocity U
m
and T
ref
is the reference
price per kilowatt-hour in the units of the installation and maintenance costs. This ratio is
displayed both in tabular and graphical form as a function of the mean wind speed.

The scroll bars can be used to alter both the turbine lifetime and the reference price of a
kilowatt-hour of electricity. The default value of the turbine lifetime is 20 years but it can be
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changed from anything between 5 and 50 years. The default value for the reference price of
the generated electricity is 10 monetary units per kilowatt-hour but this can be varied between
1.0 and 99.9. This should cover incentive schemes in the common currencies of US/euro
cents or UK pence and many other currencies as well. It is important to note that the
monetary units of the price per kilowatt-hour are 1/100
th
of the units used for the
turbine, installation and annual recurrent costs i.e. if turbine costs are in dollars, the
reference price per kilowatt-hour for generated electricity will be in US cents.

If the returns ratio is less than one then the investment would result in an overall loss.

Below in figure 5 is an example of the display for the Evance R9000 metre turbine. The
turbine cost is taken as 25,000, installation costs as 2,000 and annual maintenance costs
as 250. These figures should be treated as approximate. The turbine lifetime has been left at
its default value of 20 years but the reference price has been adjusted to 33.3p per kilowatt-
hour. This is based on the feed-in tariff in the UK that pays of 26.7p per kilowatt-hour for every
kilowatt-hour generated for turbines between 1.5 and 15 kilowatts. In addition, a further 3p per
kilowatt-hour is paid for all electricity exported to the grid but, if the electricity is used locally,
this results in an additional saving of about 13p per kilowatt-hour for displacing utility company
electricity by that generated by the turbine. The balance between electricity exported and that
used locally is discussed in appendix A where an example is given in which 26% of the
electricity is used locally and it is shown that this is equivalent to an overall tariff of 33.3p per
kilowatt-hour.


Figure 5 The returns to cost ratio form (completed)

Apart from maintenance, the investment in a wind turbine is essentially an initial up-front
investment. It can be compared with making the investment in a straightforward compound
interest savings account for which the returns to cost ratio is simply
(1 )
N
p +
where p is the interest rate and N is the number of years that the investment is held. The
equivalent percentage interest rates corresponding to the returns to cost ratios are also
shown in the table. This gives a good indication of the financial merit of the investment.

As with the other finance options, the returns ratio is a basic calculation that takes no inbuilt
account of interest payments that would be incurred if the turbine installation were financed
with, say, a bank loan. In such cases, it would necessary to carry out a more careful cash flow
analysis than is possible in a generalised program like WindPower. Nonetheless, if the
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equivalent interest rates in the table were somewhat greater than the bank interest rate, it
would indicate that a scheme was financially viable whereas, if they were less, then it is most
likely that the scheme was not a financially viable one.
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The form can be cleared for new data by clicking the Reset button.

3.1.1 Print the returns ratio.

If a hard copy of the returns ratio results is required then this can be printed by clicking on the
Print (Total Returns)/(Total Cost) item on the menu bar.

3.1.2 Export returns ratios and mean power as a csv file.

The returns ratio data and mean power data can be exported as a csv file for use in
spreadsheet programs like Excel. The spreadsheet column widths will have to be adjusted in
order to see the table contents. The format of the data can be adjusted and the file can then
be saved as an Excel file.

3.2 Calculating the payback time.

The WindPower program also provides an option to estimate how long it will take to recover
the cost of an investment in a wind turbine. The expression used for payback period is
(

(


m m ref
m m ref
Turbine and other fixed costs
Payback period (years)=
Annual recurrent costs
365 24 P (U ) T 1
365 24 P (U ) T

where, as before, P
m
(U
m
) is the mean power in kilowatts at the mean velocity U
m
and T
ref
is
the reference price per kilowatt-hour in the units of the installation and maintenance costs. It
is important to stress that the installation and other fixed costs are treated as upfront costs
whereas, for example, if the installation costs were funded through a bank loan, the
repayments would be spread over a period and a proper cash flow forecast would have to be
produced to determine the economics of an installation. However, by treating all the
installation costs as upfront costs gives the most pessimistic estimate of payback period.

By clicking on the menu item Payback period, a new form opens as shown in figure 6 below.


Figure 6. The payback period form (blank).

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The turbine and installation costs could be replaced by their basic cost plus interest
payments. However, treating the interest payments as an upfront cost will give a pessimistic
impression of the financial viability of a scheme.
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As with the return on investment form, the name of the turbine and the standard deviation of
the wind speed are automatically brought forward from the basic data entry page along with
the mean power results.

Once again, turbine and installation costs are entered into the appropriate text boxes along
with annual recurrent costs. From the above expression, it should be noted that if an annual
recurrent cost is entered that is greater than the cost of the electricity produced in a year, the
payback period becomes infinite! No commercial turbine is going to have recurrent costs of
this size but, if an incorrect figure is entered by mistake that leads to this error, the program
will label the payback period as Never! and colour the label pink. If the maintenance costs
are 70% of the production costs, the payback labels will be coloured pink to warn the user
that there is probably an error in the recurrent cost. Finally, if the payback period is greater
than 50 years, a label will be shown >50 years. An upper limit of 50 years is set both on the
plotting and printing displays. Generally speaking with realistic data, none of these limits or
conditions should be invoked. A turbine that had a payback period for 50 years would
certainly not be a viable proposition.

As far as the reference cost per kilowatt-hour is concerned, this can be adjusted with the
scroll bars. The default value is 10.0 monetary units but, as already mentioned, it can be
scrolled over a range from 1.0 to 99.9 monetary units. This should cover all reasonable costs
per kilowatt-hour in the common currencies of US/euro cents or UK pence.

Figure 7 shows an example of a completed payback form after clicking on the Calculate
payback period (years) button. In addition to the payback period, the table also lists the
annual income plus savings generated by the turbine. This is simply the reference price per
kilowatt-hour times the annual energy production in kilowatt-hours.


Figure 7. The payback period form (completed).

3.2.1 Print payback periods.

If a hard copy of the payback period results is required then this can be printed by clicking on
the Print payback periods item on the menu bar.
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3.2.2 Export payback periods and mean power as a csv file.

As with the other forms, the payback periods and mean power data can be exported as a csv
file for use in spreadsheet programs like Excel.

3.3 Calculating the cost per kilowatt-hour.

The returns ratio and payback period are the important financial calculations for anyone
interested in investing in wind energy. However, some may also be interested in the intrinsic
cost per kilowatt-hour of wind turbine generated electricity. Accountants have various
methods for making such calculations but the estimate in the present case is obtained simply
from the total cost of installing and running the turbine divided by the number of kilowatt-hours
generated over the turbine lifetime, namely

m m
Turbine and other fixed costs costs+(Annual recurrent costs Lifetime)
Cost per kilowatt-hour =
365 24 Lifetime(years) P (U )


where P
m
(U
m
) is the mean power in kilowatts produced at a mean wind U
m
. The factor
(365x24) just converts the lifetime in years into the lifetime in hours. Once again, if interest
charges are ignored, this will lead to a low estimate of the cost per kilowatt-hour and, in most
analyses of costs from various power sources, it is usual to include interest payments in some
way. A simple approach is to assume that a loan is taken out for the turbine and its installation
and then calculate the overall cost of repaying this sum with interest payments over the
lifetime of the turbine. Appendix C describes how this calculation can be done.

By clicking on the menu item Cost per kilowatt-hour, a new form opens as in figure 8 shown
below.


Figure 8. The cost per kilowatt-hour form (blank)

The name of the turbine and the standard deviation of the wind speed are automatically
brought forward from the basic data entry page along with the mean power results.

After turbine, installation and recurrent costs are entered, the Calculate costs per kilowatt-
hour button is clicked. Figure 9 below shows the costs per kilowatt-hour based on these basic
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costs. Of course, if other costs like interest payments for, say, financing the purchase of the
turbine were included, the costs per kilowatt-hour would be higher still. Appendix C contains
formulae and a graph of the interest paid on a reducing loan and, if the turbine and installation
costs were financed by a bank loan with an annual interest charge of 5%, the total amount
paid over twenty years would be 40,000 for an initial loan of 25,000. Although this is only
an example, it demonstrates why small turbines only become a worthwhile investment if there
are fairly generous feed-in tariffs to support them. Very larger turbines of the sort used in
commercial wind farms produce electricity at a far more competitive rate.


Figure 9. The cost per kilowatt-hour form (without interest payments).


3.3.1 Print prices.

If a hard copy of the costs per kilowatt-hour form is required then this can be printed by
clicking on the Print prices item on the menu bar.


3.3.2 Export prices and mean power as a csv file.

Once again, the cost per kilowatt-hour and mean power data can be exported as a csv file
for use in spreadsheet programs like Excel. As already mentioned, the spreadsheet column
widths will have to be adjusted in order to see the table contents. The format of the data can
be adjusted and the file can then be saved as an Excel file.


4.0 The wind turbine power profile.

Unlike conventional power stations, wind turbines have a power output that is not under the
control of the operator. It is therefore of some interest to know what proportion of time the
wind turbine produces different levels of power. This information can be obtained by clicking
on the menu item Power-output profile when the following form will appear.

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Figure 10. The opening power profile form.

This form displays the percentage of time that the wind speed lies between two selectable
values. This is a function only of the two speeds and the standard deviation of the unsteady
component of the wind. However, by displaying the steady power curve for the particular
turbine, it is possible to select wind speed ranges that correspond to a specific range of power
values.

In the opening default form, the speed range is set from zero to the cut-in speed of the
particular turbine. The graph on the right displays the percentage time for which the turbine
produces no power at all as a function of mean wind speed. As can be seen from the example
in figure 10, this Evance turbine would produce no power at all for about 25% of the time if the
mean wind speed were 5 metres per second. However, at 8 metres per second, this has
fallen to around 10% of the time.

By contrast, it might be of interest also to know what proportion of time the turbine produces
some higher output level say 4 kilowatts in this case. In this case, the upper scroll bar in the
right hand pane is adjusted to the power output of 4 kilowatts. The second scroll bar controls
the extent of the speed range and is adjusted so that the upper speed limit is equal to the cut-
out speed or, as in this case when there is no cut-out speed, 30 metres/second. Figure 11
shows the results of these adjustments. It should be noted that the scroll bars change their
speed values in steps of 0.1 metre/second.

In this example, the right hand graph shows that at a mean wind speed of 5 metres per
second, the percentage of time that the turbine produces 4kW to 5kW is only about 4% of the
time whereas at 8 metres per second, this percentage has risen to around 30% of the time.

Installers particularly of these smaller domestic turbines might find it helpful to explain to a
potential customer these proportions of time so that the client fully understands the
intermittent character of the power generated and is not therefore surprised or disappointed
by, say, the proportion of time that the turbine is stationary.

16

Figure 11. The power profile form set for the rated power speed range.

4.1 Print.

A hard copy of any of the percentage time data can be obtained by clicking on the menu item
Print.

5.0 Ratio of local energy used to total energy produced.

When the Local energy usage menu item is selected, the following form is displayed figure
12.


Figure 12. The power cumulative probability and the level of local energy usage.


17
The graph on the left is the cumulative power probability distribution and shows the proportion
of time that the wind turbine spends delivering power below some reference power level, P,
as a function of the mean wind speed. As discussed in appendix F, it is possible from this
cumulative probability distribution to calculate the ratio of the energy used locally to the total
energy produced as a function of the local power usage and the mean wind speed. The graph
on the right shows this relationship.

As a simple example, if the turbine was connected to, say, a house using one kilowatt of
power and where the mean wind speed was 6 metres/second, the graph shows that the ratio
of energy used locally to the total energy produced is 0.41. With this ratio, the reference price
of the electricity to be used in the financial calculations would be

Generation tariff + 0.41 x Utility company tariff + (1- 0.41) x Export tariff

Using a generation tariff of 26.7p per kw-hr, a utility company tariff of 13p per kw-hr and an
export tariff of 3p per kw-hr gives a reference price for the turbine power of 33.8p per kw-hr
compared to the case of 29.7p if all the electricity was exported to the grid. This can have a
significant effect on the financial viability of a scheme and so it is important to obtain some
estimate of local usage.

Of course, a house or business does not use power at a constant rate and, in appendix F, it is
shown how to calculate the local usage rate when the local power consumption is varying.
However, in most cases, a good estimate of the local usage can be obtained by using the
mean local power usage.

6.0 Other features of the program.

The wind speed units throughout the program are in metres per second. However, by clicking
on the menu item Units converter, a simple conversion chart is displayed that gives
conversions from metres per second into knots, mph or positions on the Beaufort scale.

To ensure commonality of the data used in the forms, if any controls or menu items are
clicked on the main form when another form is open, this latter form will be automatically
unloaded. By the same token, the program only allows one of the supplementary forms to be
opened at anytime.

To close any form, just click on the standard Windows close button on the top right hand
side of each form.

When you opt to close the main form, you will be prompted with a reminder to save any data
that you might want to use again before the form finally unloads.

7.0 Vertical axis wind turbines.

The WindPower program is aimed essentially at horizontal axis turbines (HAWTs) and so only
a horizontal axis rotor diameter is available as an input characteristic of the turbine and the
Betz limit -whose derivation assumes a horizontal axis turbine - is used as a check on the
turbine power coefficients. However, vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) power curves can be
inputted into the WindPower program but some equivalent rotor diameter will have to be
calculated. Appendix D outlines some ways of doing this but it is worth noting that the power
claims of many small VAWTs are clearly exaggerated and so need to be treated with caution.
The introduction of certification schemes like the UKs Microgeneration Certificate Scheme
will do much to prevent outlandish claims for turbine performances being made.
18
APPENDIX A.
Examples of wind turbine data needed to use the WindPower program.
(All data is for illustration only)

A domestic wind turbine Skystream 3.7m 1.9kw.
Rotor diameter = 3.7 metres.
Cut-in speed = 3 metres per second : Cut-out speed = 25 metres per second.
Estimated lifetime = 20 years.
Estimated turbine cost (no interest payments or grants) = 7,000
Estimated installation costs (no interest payments or grants) = 1,500
Estimated annual maintenance costs = 200
Reference price of electricity = (Generation) + (Export) = 26.7 + 3 = 29.7p

Skystream 3.7m 1.9kw Power Data
Steady
wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
output
(kilowatts)
Steady
wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
output
(kilowatts)
1 0 16 2.400
2 0 17 2.300
3 0 18 2.265
4 0.084 19 2.203
5 0.203 20 2.203
6 0.391 21 2.203
7 0.643 22 2.203
8 0.968 23 2.203
9 1.333 24 2.203
10 1.748 25 2.203
11 2.106 26 0
12 2.301 27 0
13 2.403 28 0
14 2.425 29 0
15 2.414 30 0

A large commercial wind turbine General Electric 100m 2500kw.
Rotor diameter = 100 metres.
Cut-in speed = 3.5 metres per second : Cut-out speed = 25 metres per second.
Estimated lifetime = 20 to 25 years.
Estimated turbine cost (no interest payments or grants) = 1,500,000
Estimated installation costs (no interest payments or grants) = 500,000
Estimated annual maintenance costs = 25,000
Reference price = 4p(Utility tariff) + 4p (ROC) = 9p
General Electric 100m 2500kw power data
Steady
wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
output
(kilowatts)
Steady
wind
speed
(m/s)
Power
output
(kilowatts)
1 0 16 2500
2 0 17 2500
3 0 18 2500
4 49 19 2500
5 184 20 2500
6 390 21 2500
7 652 22 2500
8 972 23 2500
9 1368 24 2500
10 1865 25 2500
11 2241 26 0
12 2432 27 0
13 2500 28 0
14 2500 29 0
15 2500 30 0

19

APPENDIX B.
Obtaining a .pow file from PelaFlow Consulting.

If a turbine manufacturer or supplier provides power curve details in a tabular form then it is
straightforward to enter the details into the WindPower program. In many instances, the
power curve is given only in a graphical form and it can be a little time-consuming to extract
reasonably accurate numerical values of the power curve from a graph. Pelaflow Consulting
uses a graphics software package to convert graphical data into a numerical file and any
purchaser of the WindPower program is entitled to receive a single conversion from a graph
to a .pow file for a commercial turbine. In order to do this, details of the turbine need to be
submitted to us including website details if available. It should be noted that manufacturers of
small turbines do not always have a power curve for their own product. Nevertheless,
provided some broad details are available, it is possible to construct a power curve that will be
accurate enough to give good estimates of the mean power produced by the turbine.

As many details of the turbine and the purchase order number should be submitted by e-mail
to

windpower@pelaflow.co.uk

It is, of course, impossible for Pelaflow Consulting to provide a power curve data file if certain
basic data cannot be obtained.

Any data file produced will be added to the general database that can then be accessed by
other users.
20
APPENDIX C.
Calculating the total cost of a loan.

If the installation of a turbine is financed through a loan then the total cost of the installation
should include the interest payments in the installation costs. For a straightforward repayment
loan extending over N years and with a fractional annual interest rate of p, the annual
repayment rate is given by

( )
( )
+
=
+
N
N
0
p 1 p
X
Y
1 p 1

where Y
0
is the initial loan.

The total cost of the loan is simply NX and the figure below shows the ratio of the total cost of
the loan to the initial loan as a function of annual interest rate and for a range of repayment
periods from 10 to 25 years.

If you want to know the loan outstanding after n years, this is given by

( )
| |
= + +
|
\
n
n 0
X X
Y 1 p Y
p p









































21
APPENDIX D.
Using the WindPower Program with
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs)

One of the aims of the WindPower program was to provide wind turbine installers, users and
consultants with a means of checking on the plausibility of performance claims made by
turbine manufacturers. The program was essentially aimed at horizontal axis wind turbines
(HAWTs) and one of the important checks on performance figures is the efficiency (often
referred to as the power coefficient c
p
) of the turbine.
p
2
3
Power output(watts)
C
1 D
U
2 4
=
| |

|
\

where is the air density in kg/m
3
, U is the wind speed in m/sec and D is the turbine diameter
in metres.

In the case of HAWTs, there is a well-known upper limit on this efficiency (known as the Betz
limit) of 16/27 or 59%. In practice, very large turbines can achieve peak efficiencies of
between 40 45% but smaller turbines are likely to have much lower peak efficiencies of
between 20 35%. In the WindPower program, any power that a user tries to input into the
program that leads to an efficiency of greater than 59% is blocked and a warning message
box is displayed showing the maximum power that is possible if the Betz limit is not to be
exceeded.

In the case of VAWTs, it is less obvious how to check for the plausibility of the manufacturers
power claims because it is not clear how to apply the Betz limit to them. This is because there
is as yet no clear way of determining the equivalent radius of a VAWT from its cross-sectional
area. The most obvious starting point is simply to calculate the diameter of the circle whose
area is the same as the VAWT cross-section area. Thus,

VAWT
equivalent
4 A
D

=

where
VAWT
A is the cross-sectional area of the vertical axis wind turbine.

If using
equivalent
D as the wind turbine diameter leads to efficiencies that are still greater than
59% then it would be wise to treat the power data with some suspicion as being far too
optimistic. However, if a user still wanted to enter power values into the program without
being blocked by the Betz limit criterion, it would be necessary to increase the equivalent
diameter further, say, to twice the VAWT cross-sectional area i.e.

VAWT
equivalent
8 A
D

=

If, using this diameter, the Betz limit was still exceeded then there is little doubt that the power
curve is wrong and any calculations about mean power, annual energy output and financial
calculations like the payback time would be inaccurate and misleading.

22
APPENDIX E.
UK Feed-In Tariffs for Wind Power.

In order to encourage investment in renewable energy, feed-in tariffs are paid to users of wind
turbines. There are two tariffs, namely, (i) a generation tariff which is a sum paid to the wind
power producer for every kilowatt-hour of energy that is generated (ii) an export tariff which is
a sum paid to the producer for every kilowatt-hour of energy that is exported to the grid. The
tariffs are only guaranteed at the moment up to 31
st
March 2013. However, anyone installing
a wind turbine, say, in 2010/2011 will receive the tariff for that year for the next twenty years.

UK Generation Feed-In Tariffs (Pence per kilowatt-hour)
Power range
From
1/4/2010 to
31/3/2011
From
1/4/2011 to
31/3/2012
From
1/4/2012 to
31/3/2013
Tariff
lifetine
(years)
Less than or equal to 1.5 kW 34.5 34.5 32.6 20
>1.5 kW to 15 kW 26.7 26.7 25.5 20
>15 kW to 100 kW 24.1 24.1 23.0 20
>100kW to 500 kW 18.8 18.8 18.8 20
>500 kW to 1500 kW 9.4 9.4 9.4 20
>1500 kW to 5000 kW 4.5 4.5 4.5 20
UK Export Feed-In tariff = 3 Pence per kilowatt-hour

23
APPENDIX F.
Estimating the ratio of local energy used to total energy production.

For turbines connected to a house or business, a critical factor in their financial viability is the
proportion of the electricity generated that is used locally compared to that which is exported
to the grid. In the UK, for electricity used locally, the value of each kilowatt-hour of electricity
produced is the generation feed-in tariff (26.7p for turbines under 15kW) plus the amount
saved by not using electricity supplied by a utility company (about 13p per kilowatt-hour in
2011 and likely to rise). By contrast, for electricity exported to the grid, the user receives the
generation tariff plus a further 3p for each unit exported. Thus, the effective value of electricity
used locally is about 39.7p per kw-hr as against 29.7p per kw-hr for exported energy. It is
therefore of some consequence to be able to estimate how much electricity is used locally
and how much is exported. This appendix provides a simple means of doing this.

Using the Local energy usage menu option in the WindPower program, it is possible to plot
the fraction of time that the wind turbine spends producing between zero and some other level
of power, P. As an example, the figure A1 below shows the results for the Evance R9000
turbine for five values of the mean wind speed.


Figure F1 Cumulative power probability function for an Evance R9000

This plot is, in fact, the cumulative probability function for the power output of the turbine so
that the mean power produced by the turbine at different mean wind speeds is simply the
area under these curves.

Let us consider a curve for a single mean wind speed of 6 metres/sec. Suppose now that an
operator is using locally some level of power P
L
= 1 kilowatt as shown in the next figure F2.
The ratio of local to total energy usage is simple the area shown in grey compared to the area
under the whole curve - the grey area plus the pink area. The pink area is the exported
energy proportion.

24

Fig F2 Local power usage at 1 kilowatt and 6 metres/second

The details of the calculation of the areas under these curves is not relevant to the use of the
information so only the results will be shown. The figure F3 below shows the ratio of local
energy usage to total energy production for a range of mean wind speeds and as a function of
the local power usage level. For a local power usage of 1 kilowatt and a mean wind speed of
6 metres/second, the ratio would be 0.41. As already illustrated in section 5, this can be used
to adjust the reference price per kilowatt-hour of the electricity produced by the turbine.


Fig F4 The ratio of local energy usage to total energy

In reality, the variation of local power usage may fluctuate significantly with time and so it is
appropriate to see what effect this has on the overall ratio of local usage to total usage.
25

As an illustration, the figure F5 below show an imaginary breakdown against time of local
power usage in a home over a twenty-four hour period. It consists of 8 hours when there is no
local usage say, during the night. There is then 8 hours of 1 kilowatt usage, 4 hours of 2
kilowatts and 2 hours of 4 kilowatts. The average power usage is still 1 kilowatt.


Fig F5 Pattern of local power usage against time

The pattern of power consumption is listed below along with the ratios of local to total power
usage obtained from figure F4 and a calculation of the average value of the ratio of local
energy usage to total energy production.

Time in a day, T
hours
Local power
usage
(kilowatts)
Ratio of local to
total usage, R
R x T
hours
8 0 0 0
8 1 0.41 3.28
6 2 0.67 4.02
2 4 0.93 1.88
Sum of R x T = 9.18
Average ratio of local to total energy usage = 9.18/24 = 0.382

The calculation of the average ratio of local to total usage turns out to be 0.382 compared
with 0.41 obtained by just using the average local power usage. This demonstrates that using
the average local power usage will generally be of sufficient accuracy for correcting the
reference price of the generated electricity and that there is little to be gained by doing more
elaborate calculations using a detailed pattern of local power usage. However, as has been
demonstrated, the more elaborate estimate is not difficult to obtain either.
26
APPENDIX G.
Modifications to power curves in the calculation of local power usage.


Wind turbine power curves for medium to large turbines are almost always like the one shown
below in figure G1. They are characterised by a power control mechanism that results in a
constant power output beyond the so-called rated wind speed.


Figure G1 Schematic of a wind turbine power curve.

For power curves of this sort, it is straightforward to compute the cumulative power
probability distribution and, from this, to compute the ratio of the local power usage to the total
energy produced as outlined in appendix F.

For small turbines, the power control mechanisms are less sophisticated. A number of small
turbines use a tail fin mechanism to turn the turbine away from the wind direction at high wind
speeds and, as a result, their power curves are more irregular. An example of the effect of a
tail fin furling mechanism on a power curve for a small Bergey turbine can be seen in the
figure G2.


Figure G2 The actual and modified power curves for a Bergey Excel-S

For reasons connected with the numerical integration, it is computationally messy to carry out
the numerical integration in these cases and so the simple expedient has been adopted of
replacing the actual power curves with power curves that have the same maximum power as
27
the actual one but thereafter have a constant power level up to some cut-out speed which is
fixed to produce the same mean power as the original power curve at 10 metres/second. This
equivalent power curve is shown in figure G2. The effect this has on the calculation of the
local energy usage is negligible for all practical purposes but, where this has been done, a
note is added to the left hand graph in Local Energy Use menu option.