Effects of Wind Turbine Starting Capability on Energy Yield

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of turbine starting capability on overall energy-production capacity. The investigation was performed through the development and validation of matlab/Simulink models of turbines. A novel aspect of this paper is that the effects of load types, namely resistive heating, battery charging, and grid connection were also investigated. It was shown that major contributors to improved starting performance are aerodynamic improvements, reduction of inertia, and simply changing the pitch angle of the blades. The first two contributors can be attained from an exploitation of a “mixed-airfoil” blade.The results indicate that starting ability has a direct effect on the duration that the turbine can operate and consequently its overall energy output. The overall behavior of the wind turbine system depends on the load type, these impose different torque characteristics for the turbine to overcome and lead to different power production characteristics.When a “mixed-airfoil” blade is used the annual energy production of the wind systems increases with the exception of resistive heating loads. Net changes in annual energy production were range of −4% to 40% depending on the load types and sites considered. The significant improvement in energy production strongly suggests that both the starting performance and load types should be considered together in the design process.