WWEA Bulletin Issue 2-2016: Small Wind Special

Wind Bulletin ISSUE 2 September 2016

Wi n d E n e r g y A r o u n d t h e Wo rl d

P04 2016 Small Wind World Report Summary

P06

The Development of Chinese Small Wind Generators

P20

SMALL WIND TECHNOLOGY: Developing Bankable Proposals Supported by a Quality Infrastructure

From The Editor Dear friends of WWEA, With this Bulletin, we have the pleasure to present you with a special edition dedicated to small wind turbines, a growing segment within the family of renewable energy technologies.

For many years now, WWEA has been supporting this technology, which calls for different approaches than the “large” wind turbines. Small wind applications are often found in offgrid areas and hybrid systems, and also in household or “behind the meter” consumption.

The articles in this Bulletin are based on the presentations given during the World Wind Summit for Small Wind 2016. They give us a snapshot of where small wind stands today: readers will find country specific information and case studies from Austria, China and St. Helena Island, as well as articles about how to make small wind projects feasible and bankable.

One important focus of WWEA’s work on small wind has always been on quality and reliability of small wind turbines. Without doubt, it is still difficult for consumers today to understand the small wind market and to choose the right products. Hence I am especially pleased about IRENA’s contribution on how to create a quality infrastructure, including standards and certification, to support healthy markets for small wind.

With best wishes,

Stefan Gsänger Secretary General World Wind Energy Association

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Wind Bulletin ISSUE 2 September 2016

Published by World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) Produced by Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA)

Editorial Committee Editor-in-Chief: Stefan Gsänger Associate Editor-in-Chief: Shi Pengfei Paul Gipe Jami Hossain Editors: Martina Bachvarova Shane Mulligan Yu Guiyong Visual Design: Liu Zhan

Contact Martina Bachvarova mb@wwindea.org Tel. +49-228-369 40-80 Fax +49-228-369 40-84 WWEA Head Office Charles-de-Gaulle-Str. 5, 53113 Bonn, Germany A detailed supplier listing and other information can be found at www.wwindea.org Yu Guiyong yugy@cwea.org.cn Tel. +86-10-5979 6665 Fax +86-10-6422 8215 CWEA Secretariat 28 N. 3rd Ring Road E., Beijing, P. R. China A detailed supplier listing and other information can be found at www.cwea.org.cn

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01 From the Editor

Report 04 2016 Small Wind World Report Summary

Regional Focus 06 The Development of Chinese Small Wind Generators

08 Small Wind Power in Austria

12 Hybrid Energy on St. Helena Island – Results and Lessons Learned

Optimizing Small Wind 16 Methodology for a Bankable Wind Measurement Program for Small Wind Projects

20 SMALL WIND TECHNOLOGY: Developing Bankable Proposals Supported by a Quality Infrastructure

24 Parametric Study of Influencing Parameters for Micro Urban Wind Turbines

26 QiLOAD, a Load Profile Assessment and Forecast Tool for Microgrid Design and Optimization

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Report

ISSUE 2 September 2016

2016

SMALL WIND WORLD REPORT SUMMARY - World market for small wind turbines reaches 830 MW, a growth rate of 10,9 %, after 10,4 % in the previous year.

- FITs in UK and Italy boost markets, under 15kW segment adversely effected.

As of the end of 2014, the

recorded small wind capacity installed worldwide has reached more than

830MW. This represents a growth rate of 10,9 % over 2013, when 749 MW

were registered. The 2013 gure was 10,3% higher than the 2012 total of

678 MW installed. China accounts for

41 % of the global capacity, the USA for 30 % and UK for 15%.

As of the end of 2014, a

cumulative total of at least 945’000

small wind turbines were installed all

over the world.

This is an increase of 8,3 %

(7,4 % in 2013) compared with the previous year, when 872’000 units were registered.

The increased rate in units

installed in 2014 was especially notable in China, UK and Italy.

China continues clearly to be the

market leader in terms of installed units: 64’000 units were added in 2014, 9’000 more than in 2013, reaching 689’000 units installed by the end of 2014.

The small wind market in the

UK saw an increase in the number

of installations in 2014 despite the unfortunate changes in the feed-

in scheme introduced in the UK in

November 2012. 2’237 SWTs were installed in 2014, a substantial

increase compared with only 500 units

installed during 2013, but still far from the numbers reached in 2012.

The booming market of the recent

years, Italy, grew by 71% reaching 1’610 units by the end of 2014.

Want to know more? find the complete summary report at: small-wind.org

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ISSUE 2 September 2016

Report

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Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

The Development of Chinese Small Wind Generators

By Chinese Wind Energy Equipment Association (CWEEA)

According to the statistics, there are

still some households have not got electricity supplement in remote areas of China now. In

the windy remote areas, the electricity supply of households can be solved by using wind

generators and PV power systems. And it is the

most effective method in remote areas. And it is an act of constructing harmonious society with

Fig.1 the application of Chinese small wind turbiners

frontier defense and promoting economic

in mass quantity in China ；10kW 、15kW are

deep significance, it also has deep significance

for strengthening national unite, consolidating development of remote areas.

The Situation of Manufacturers and Product There are about 60 manufacturers of

small-size wind generators in China.

About 10 of them are main manufacturers

with production capacity between 5000kW and 10000kW per year each ；About 20 of them

are manufacturers with production capacity

over 1000kW per year each ；Others are small manufacturers with production capacity less than 1000kW per year each.

300W、（400W）、500W、（800W）、1kW

、1.5kW 、2kW and 5kW are very popular used

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used in a small quantity ；20kW、30kW are

used in a very small quantity in China. They are mainly exported to other developed countries.

Products of 50 kW - 100kW are also exported

to developed countries and Prototype of 200kW is available.

The Application of Small-size Windphotovoltaic Generating System in Rural Areas Compensating between solar energy and

wind energy, power supply can be ensured

more safely. There are rich wind energy and

Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Fig.2 The application of small-size wind-PV generating system in rural areas

solar energy in rural areas. The technology of

Fig.3 Chinese 60kW wind turbines work in Italian market

In 2015, total capacity was about

small-size wind-photovoltaic generating system

31,500kW, and the key manufacturers were

families and they are affordable to purchase the

total numbers and 32% of capacities.

is mature, and their performances are reliable.

There are demands from rich fishermen’s

system. It is a best combination of resources, technologies, demands and environment

protection. More and more wind-photovoltaic

generating systems have been used in the rural areas. It is a most attractive model of energy application in rural areas now.

The Market of Small WTGS in China There are still good market in China, and

each year about 60,000 sets of small WTGS were sold out in Chinese mainland.

The Sales Situation in 2015

In 2015, total capacity was about

69,878kW, and the key manufacturers were sold out about 58,600 sets of small wind

generators in China, which occupied 82% of total numbers and 68% of capacities.

exported around 12,800 sets of small wind

generators abroad, which occupied 180% of In 2015, the statistics of small and

medium-sized wind power equipment industry is not comprehensive in Chinese mainland, but after a comprehensive comparative analysis, it

is found that the number of sales products was down about 11.3%, and a 22% increasing in power capacity of sales products.

The exported number was increased by

4%, and the exported power capacity was

increased by 18.6%, but above information

showed a trend of decline for the numbers of small wind turbines in the domestic market.

In 2015, Shanghai Ghrepower Green

Energy Co., Ltd had made a new progress in international business development. It has

signed a FD21-60 permanent magnet direct-

drive wind turbine supply agreement with its

Italian customer. For the first phase of supply, 54 sets of wind tuibines have been installed

and debugging. The follow-up orders are being carried out in accordance with the plan.

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Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Small Wind Power in Austria

By Kurt Leonhartsberger, Mauro Peppoloni, MSc., University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, Department of Renewable Energy

In recent years small wind power has

been more and more popular in Austria. At the end of 2015 about 330 small wind turbines

(SWT) with a total capacity of more than 1,500 kW were installed in Austria. About 40% of

the installed turbines are smaller than 1 kW, about 5 % bigger than 10 kW. The rest of

the installed SWT (55 %) has a rated output

between 1kW and 10kW. In terms of installed

capacity, these turbines account for 77 % of the total installed capacity in Austria. The average

size of small wind turbines in Austria is 4.7 kW. (Leonhartsberger, Renz 2016)

So far, mainly farmers and industrial/

commercial enterprises were interested in SWT. Because of several reasons though –

especially the desire for energy self-sufficiency - SWT also become more and more popular

for private households. However, safety and

security issues become of great importance,

if SWT are installed near or within populated

areas, especially close to buildings or directly on buildings (e.g. on the roof).

Within the national research project

“Small Wind Power Systems� quality, safety and performance of several SWT were tested. To

process these tests under practical conditions, the Energy Research Park Lichtenegg, a small wind park and test centre for SWT, has been established and successfully operated. In

the following numerous measurements and analyses on 13 SWT were carried out over

more than 24 month. The main conclusion after

Figure 1: Number and total power of installed small wind turbines in Austria at the End of 2015 (Source: Leonhartsberger, Renz 2016)

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Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

testing and evaluating SWT in Lichtenegg was

Energy” aims at improving the understanding

stability” and “energy yield”. Furthermore the

Therefore, two representative small wind

that only six out of thirteen turbines performed good or excellent in regards to “operational cooperation with several manufacturers in

this project led to remarkable improvements

and optimisations of the installed small wind turbines. (Warmuth 2014)

These results show that independent

testing and certification of small wind

turbines as well as a professional support for manufacturers are really important topics

to improve quality, safety and performance of SWT. Hence the operation of the Energy

Research Park Lichtenegg was continued after the project, offering services like long term evaluation, power curve measurement or

measurement of vibrations. Furthermore the Energy Research Park becomes the central

contact point for small wind interested persons in Austria, with more than 1,000 visitors every year. More information about the Energy

Research Park is available online at http:// energieforschungspark.at.

Beside photovoltaics, small wind power

is one of a few options to generate electricity within densely-built or urban areas in an environmentally friendly manner and to

reach the goals concerning nearly zero energy buildings stated within the European energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD).

However, in many cases the impact of the

environment on the performance of SWT -

especially the turbulent wind flow conditions has been neglected due to a lack of experience in this regards. A poor energy yield and

frequent faults and failures are the result of

these planning and design errors. On top of this, safety aspects as well as the repercussions on

the building and the people living in it need to

be considered in order not to affect the quality of life.

In order to keep these aspects in focus,

the Austrian research project “Urban Wind

of turbulent wind conditions and the impact of turbulences on the performance of SWT. technologies - a vertical axis SWT and a

horizontal axis SWT – will be mounted on the roof of the ENERGYbase in Vienna – an urban site with high turbulence intensity - and at the rural site in the Energy Research Park

Lichtenegg. On each site, both turbines will be tested and investigated for at least 12 month.

Furthermore, the local-scale wind flow

structure close to the ENERGYbase and in the near surroundings is simulated with

the software packages ANSYS Fluent and

MISKAM taking into account the impact of the

complex building structures in this urban area.

Inflow wind profiles representative for the

boundaries of the model domain are derived from meteorological station observations and remote sensing data. Stationary flow

simulations are conducted for the main wind directions in order to investigate the average

wind conditions at this site with special focus

on the highly turbulent conditions at roof level.

Ultrasonic anemometer measurements at two masts on top of the building will be used to evaluate the model simulations.

Figure 2 shows the first results of the

simulation with ANSYS Fluent for the wind

direction 300°. Compared to the wind speed at

the boundaries with 4.3 m/s, the wind speed at the small wind turbine – marked with the red circle – decreases to 2.2 m/s. The reason for

that loss of wind speed is that flow separates at the north-eastern edge of the neighbour building and forms a bubble with lower

wind speed inside, where the SWT is located.

According to these results there are several

better locations on the roof of the ENERGYbase than the current one. (Auer 2015)

Beside several research activities a

national working group for small wind

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Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Figure 2: Wind speed (left) and turbulence intensity (right) for urban site ENERGYbase for wind direction 300°, horizontal cut at 30 m (Source: Auer 2015)

power was founded in Austria to support the

take place on 15th and 16th September 2016 in

organisations. One of the key actions of these

including programme and registration is

development of small wind power in Austria, with than 25 participating companies and working groups is the organisation of the

“Austrian Small Wind Conference”, which will

Vienna for the second time. More information about the “Austrian Small Wind Conference” available online at http://www.technikumwien.at/kleinwindkraft2016.

Bibliography Auer, M. (2015) Numerische Luftströmungssimulation eines urbanen KleinwindkraftStandorts Warmuth, H., Leonhartsberger, K., et. al. (2014) Kleinwindkraftanlagen Qualitätssicherung, Netzeinbindung, Geschäftsmodelle und Information, Publizierbarer Endbericht. Wien.

Leonhartsberger, K., Renz, K. (2016) Kleinwindkraftreport Österreich 2015

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ISSUE 2 September 2016

Regional Focus

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Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Hybrid Energy on St. Helena Island – Results and Lessons Learned

By Wind Energy Solutions( WES ), the Netherlands

The Location and Situation Saint Helena is a remote island in the

middle of the South Atlantic Ocean and is part of the British Overseas Territory. The island

has a population of 4,255 people and measures 2

about 420 km .

In the past the only sources of energy

were diesel engines. The diesel is supplied by

ship and this entails risks (piracy / unreliable suppliers).

Due to these risks, the high costs and the

wish to be a “green island”, the government

decided to replace diesel and start using wind

energy. In 1998 three Lagerwey 18/80 turbines were installed on the island.

Because of the use of more electronic

devices and internet, the demand of electricity

on the island grew to nearly double the amount needed before! The government asked WES for advice. What would be the logical next step?

The Next Step: Our Advise and the Solution

WES did a study on demand and supply

patterns and determined the potential of

“renewable energy”. It became clear that due to the good wind location the wind turbines

should be able to provide almost 40% of the energy demand on the island.

Based on this study, the decision was

made to increase the number of turbines in 12

Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

2009 to a total of six by adding three WES80 80kW wind turbines.

To meet the growing demand, another six

turbines were installed in 2014, doubling the wind capacity on the island of St. Helena.

The Energy Supply Nowadays At this moment the energy supply

is produced by 12x WES80 80kW Hybrid

Turbines. As a back up energy supply, there are 6 diesel generators.

Goal is maximum use of wind energy. WES

is monitoring the energy demand and supply on Saint Helena. Results are online and realtime available.

The Results In the image above information is 13

Regional Focus

ISSUE 2 September 2016

presented over the period 2009 – 2015. In 2009 3 turbines were installed and in 2014 another 6 turbines. The yearly production is 290,000 kWh per year per turbine. The average wind speed on the island is 8.2 m/s.

A rough estimate of the savings during the

period 2009 – 2015:

Production of green electricity by wind:

7,028,805 kWh

Price per kWh produced by diesel:

€ 0,40

Price per kWh produced by wind:

€ 0,11

Savings during period 2009 till 2015:

2,000,000 Euros

In the future the production will be about

3,500,000 kWh/year (based on 12 WES80

wind turbines). The savings will then be about 1,000,000 Euros per year.

Key Success Factors Act Local Cooperation with a strong local company

is crucial for success. The high availability of

the turbines of 98% is possible due to advanced digital monitoring, first line maintenance by

trained local engineers and second line support from WES.

Logistics

Preparation of the logistics is a key

process and the turbine should be suitable for

the transportation. A boat trip of 5 day brought the WES installation team and the containers

(turbines are designed to fit into a container) to the island. On the island the team had to “manoeuvre” the material to the location.

Operational Excellence

This type of project can only be carried

out successfully with top project management and a very experienced team of engineers

within the company. Every detail counts can have a great impact on the result!

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ISSUE 2 September 2016

Regional Focus

Project details This particular project consists of: ● 12x WES80 80kW wind turbines ● 6x Caterpillar diesel generators ● 11kV distribution network Project budget and final cost: ● 1998: 3x Lagerwey 18/80 turbines : financial information not available ● 2009: 3x WES80 including improvements on the first 3x LW turbines: € 426.375,● 2014: 6x WES80 including improvements on the first 6x turbines: € 1.851.572,-

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Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Methodology for a Bankable Wind Measurement Program for Small Wind Projects

By Martina Dabo, Chief Technology Officer, QiDo Energy Development GmbH

When it comes to small and medium-sized

This procedure is not adapted to small

wind projects, often the methodology to assess

wind projects and should be revised as

one from utility scale projects. Though projects

Wind Resource Assessment, Problems of Cost, Time and Bankability

the wind potential of a project site and to conduct testing and commissioning is derived from the can be similar in kind, they are not identical in

nature and this cut and paste approach from big to small puts a significant burden on the project

developers as it requires an extended time and a significant amount of funding.

described in this article.

Project developers are relying on wind

measurement data from on-site-installed meteorological masts.

Table 1 1 2 3 4

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Includes installation, calibrated and IEC standard equipment and layout, and bankable installation report Assumesonly 1 met mast needed for entire project area Includes daily/weekly data check and monthly wind report Bankable wind study according to IEC/FGW standards

Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Table 2 1 Wind campaign can only be partially conducted in parallel with feasibilty studies

Figure 1 1 http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/42032/guidelines-wind-resourceassessment.pdf

As shown in Table 1, the cost of a full

measuring campaign represents an important

fraction of the total project cost when it comes to small wind projects, especially considering it happening during a project phase where funding is harder to obtain.

The project development cycle for small

wind projects can also be shorter than bigger projects, as described in the chart below,

and a full measuring mast campaign could significantly delay the process(Table 2).

When it comes to bankability of the wind

assessment, there is no standard definition

for what the “bankability� of a wind resource assessment is exactly. Typically financing

institutions rely on international standards, and those standards are rather conservative and

usually do not take small wind intricacies into

account, to a point where they outright dismiss small wind projects if they do not follow large wind guidelines.

For instance, the Asian Development

Bank is willing to apply the same standards and

methodology of measurement for small projects 17

Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

and for utility-scale projects1(Figure 1).

applied in Germany and Europe. Currently

The most commonly used standards for

performing and evaluating wind measurement are the following ones:

Europe and World •

IEC 61400-1 (Design requirements for

wind turbines) •

IEC 61400-12 (Power Performance

Measurements of electricity producing wind

is involved, onsite wind measurement is not economically viable.

There is a need for developing and

This methodology would compromise

Germany and Europe - TG 6

time and budget for resource assessment of

(Determination of wind potential and energy

small wind projects, providing the required

yields)

accuracy and reduction of uncertainties for the confidence of project sponsors.

The IEC international standards that

are in most cases referenced by financing

institutions are not dedicated regulations just

for wind resource assessment. They are relying on “borrowed” sections from wind turbine

design standards and power curve performance (MEASNET) and Germany (FGW) are publishing assessments. The FGW standards are mostly

(and microgrid projects), where wind energy

(Measure Correlate Predict) method.

site specific wind conditions)

recommended guidelines for wind resource

But when it comes to small / mid size

projects that would still follow the MCP

US and World - MEASNET (Evaluation of

Wind industry interest groups in the US

TC 88 scope.

alternative methodology for small wind

turbines)

testing standards.

small wind standards are discussed under the

The most common approach is to replace

the actual met mast with a “virtual” met mast.

Companies all over the world offer those

virtual met mast solutions (or similar) to assess small wind project resources and have already successfully applied their method (eg: United

Wind – USA, Meteolien – France, Vortex – Spain, 3Tier &AWS Truepower – USA, MeteoPole – France/China/India), ..)

similar to the one for utility scale projects as

Figure 2

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The rest of the MCP methodology is

Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

can be seen in Figure 2.

airports, national weather stations, LIDAR

of the results for bankability purpose. Wind

computation of the turbulence and long-term

Using a virtual met mast would reduce

cost and time while maintaining a high quality assessment is carried out with a non-specific

CFD model that represents the wind resource at any given site in a 3D environment.

This methodology would streamline

and standardize the analysis process from

the input data (commercially available high

quality mesoscale wind data) that are validated during the process with meteorological data

from sources such as NOAA weather stations,

measurements, and similar.

This methodology would allow a better

correlation to reduce uncertainties.

With an increasing amount of small wind

projects being developing around the world,

establishing this methodology as an accepted

practice by financiers and making it bankable would serve the purpose of a quickest and

more efficient dissemination of wind energy wherever it is needed.

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Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

SMALL WIND TECHNOLOGY: Developing Bankable Proposals Supported by a Quality Infrastructure

By Roland RĂśsch, Francisco Boshell, Alessandra Salgado, IRENA Innovation and Technology Center

Small Wind Energy Technology The global renewable energy (RE) uptake

continues to increase as 2015 recorded

the highest rate ever in renewable power generation capacity through a growth of

8.3% and triggering significant investments totaling to around $286 million. In 2014,

the global installed capacity of small wind

technologies increased by 10.9% compared to 2013, reaching 830 MW (WWEA, 2016). Even within this upsurge, the potential for small

wind power, serving rural and remote areas,

as well as small communities, continues to be untapped. Additionally, significant challenges

take place in the small wind installed capacity

With the objective to facilitate the global

transition to a sustainable energy future,

the International Renewable Energy Agency

(IRENA) has developed user-friendly guidelines to aid the development of bankable projects and the implementation of a quality infrastructure

(QI) for renewable energy systems. This article showcases two of IRENA’s online interactive

platforms: the Project Navigator and INSPIRE.

IRENA Project Navigator: Developing Bankable Project Proposals

The IRENA Project Navigator, displayed

expansion such as cost competitiveness,

in Figure 1, is an online platform that provides

of systems that ensure minimum quality

real case studies, industry best practices

capacity of project developers to develop

bankable project proposals and deployment

requirements. Therefore, this rises the need to

provide assistance on project development and

facilitate knowledge sharing on how to build an effective quality infrastructure in the markets.

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These projects are being implemented.

assistance to project developers through

technical guidelines, practical tools, templates, and potential funding options. The aim is to

increase the bankability of renewable energy based projects.

Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Figure 1 Project Navigator Platform

IRENA Project Navigator introduces

technology-specific information, covering

the complete lifecycle of a RE project, which

includes: identification, screening, assessment,

Building Quality Infrastructure in Small Wind Markets Implementing a quality infrastructure–

selection, pre-development, development,

standards, testing and certification–for

guidelines for several RETs, including onshore

investors and consumers to fund RE projects.

execution, operation and decommissioning.

The platform comprises technical concept

wind technology projects. These guidelines

renewable energy systems, mitigate technical risks, resulting in higher confidence from IRENA’s recent report on Quality

together with project development tools and

Infrastructure for Renewable Energy Technologies:

projects.

guidance on how to build a strong quality

case studies provide a private interactive workspace for the development of wind

The Project Navigator facilitates the

identification of funding opportunities with the Financial Navigator. An integrated and

regularly updated online database on financial institutions where project developers can find

multiple funding options for wind and other RE projects is based on technology and location requirements.

To find out more about the IRENA Project

Navigator, visit www.irena.org/navigator.

Small Wind Turbines provides detailed

infrastructure, which supports healthy markets for small wind. According to IRENA’s report,

QI encompasses standards, metrology, testing, certifications, inspections, accreditation and

quality management systems, and all of these must be developed progressively in order to

increase the quality assurance in small wind

markets(IRENA,2015). One of the key highlights

of the report is that QI for small wind is dependent on each country’s context and the market status of

small wind technology, which can be broken down in five stages detailed below:

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Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Figure 2 Small Wind Turbine Market and Quality Infrastructure Stages

Figure 3 INSPIRE Platform

The report demonstrates with the use of

case studies, that QI has been developed only

partially in small wind markets worldwide. This opens the opportunity for countries to learn

from current best practices and set an efficient QI system that can contribute as an important

enabler in achieving renewable energy targets.

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INSPIRE: Supporting Quality Infrastructure The International Standards and Patents

in Renewable Energy (INSPIRE) platform,

strengthens the quality infrastructure building process. INSPIRE hosts over 400 regularly

Optimizing Small Wind

ISSUE 2 September 2016

updated international technical standards and

standards, facilitates product benchmarking

last 5 years are wind technology related. This

collaborative channel, connecting innovators,

two million patents and of which, 32 standards and over 17000 patent applications from the

provides a concrete overview to stake holders and policy makers in this field.

The platform makes available information

on how to use technical standards in quality assurance frameworks. Additionally, the

Reference

knowledge shared through the available

and establishes a common point for high

quality assurance. By this, INSPIRE enables a policy makers, technology manufactures and

end users in a space that supports RE quality infrastructure.

To find out more about RE standardization

and patents,visit http://inspire.irena.org/.

â?ś IRENA, 2015. Quality Infrastructure for Renewable Energy Technologies Small Wind Turbines, Bonn: International Renewable Energy Agency. â?ˇ WWEA, 2016. Small Wind World Report 2016, Bonn: WWEA.

Photo: Feng Kerui

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Research

ISSUE 2 September 2016

Parametric Study of Influencing Parameters for Micro Urban Wind Turbines

By Dr. Matthias Haase, SINTEF Building and Infrastructure, Trondheim, Norway

Introduction In order to get a better

understanding of the parameters that influence the effectiveness of urban

wind turbines, a parametric analysis was undertaken. The aim was to be

able to compare those parameters that

will influence wind energy production.

The results should not be used for

exact energy prediction but rather be understood as estimation that allows wind energy potential comparisons.

Based on wind data for three

different locations (Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø), a parametric study

was conducted that considered the

influence of the following parameters: •

Wind turbine type

•

Surrounding topography

• • •

Axis height

Turbine area

Wind channeling effect

Methodology

Three parameters influence the 24

wind velocities while two parameters

installed are not available. For three

1 specifies the parameter.

measurement stations (MET) and

influence the wind power and

electricity production potential. Table Wind data is taken from weather

location, Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø measured wind data was taken from transformed using equations (1-12).

data measurements. These are

Results

The transformation of measured

seen the influence of all the analyzed

literature, often specific data about

for different turbine types, sizes,

measured for specific locations, often airports, with specific topography.

data to specific sites is not straight

forward. In wind projects and relevant the surrounding topography of the

measurement devices is not available.

In addition, PAD and roughness of

the surrounding areas of the building

where a wind turbine is planned to be

From figures 1 and 2 can be

parameter on the wind energy

production potential in kWh per year locations and different wind profiles.

It can be seen that wind energy

production varies between 100kWh and 1348kWh for different wind for Oslo. In order to be able to evaluate

Table 1: Characterization of influencing parameters Parameter

Influence on wind velocity

Wind turbine type Axis height

Influence on wind power Power coefficient cp

Rotor axis height hb

Turbine area

Turbine's active area A

Surrounding topography

Roughness R, α

Wind channelling effect

Wind velocity factor fw

Location

Wind data file

Research

ISSUE 2 September 2016

the energy calculations that power

coefficient is assumed to be constant.

Important is also the location.

Wind profiles in Trondheim have

higher velocities as Oslo, and Tromsø higher velocities than Trondheim.

Wind energy potential is accordingly Figure 1 Effect of influencing parameters axis height, surface roughness and wind factor for Oslo, Trondheim and Troms

higher in Trondheim than in Oslo and higher in Tromsø than in Trondheim.

Conclusions

This could be useful information

for designers and planners of small urban wind turbines. The effect of

location is very important, together

with turbine type and size. Different turbine types have different power coefficients which influence the

potential wind energy production for Figure 2 Effect of influencing parameters turbine type and area for Oslo, Trondheim and Troms

same wind profiles. Turbine size is of course beneficial but larger turbines

become more difficult to integrate into the built environment.

the influence of each parameter on

with values between 25 and 330%.

weather file for each location. Figure

roughness. For wind factor the values

wind energy production it was divided by the wind energy production of the 1 shows the influence of parameters axis height, surface roughness and

wind factor for Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø in percent compared with

energy production from the reference weather data file (v_meteo). It can be seen that axis height varies between 25 and 59%. Surrounding surface

roughness has a much higher influence

Here, country roughness is much

more favorable than urban and city vary between 25 and 210%.

The other three influencing

parameters turbine type, turbine area and location also have a large impact on wind energy potential. Figure

2 shows that size as well as power

coefficient cp of a turbine has a linear relation with wind energy potential.

This is due to the simplifications in

The wind profiles can also be

influenced by designers and planners by taking urban and building design

in to account and specifically focusing on the parameters axis height,

surrounding topography and wind channeling effect. The axis height is strongly linked to the building

geometry and especially height as a restricting parameter. The wind

channeling effect is most prominent in building augmented projects.

But due to the rough assumptions,

the channeling effect might also be overestimated.

25

Technology

ISSUE 2 September 2016

QiLOAD, a Load Profile Assessment and Forecast Tool for Microgrid Design and Optimization

By Pierre Pesnel Abadia QiDo Energy Development GmbH

As part of the power generation project development

for small wind based microgrids, the optimal design of a

wind diesel hybrid system is mainly conditioned by three factors: • • •

The available renewable resources The economic conditions

The time evolution of the electrical load

often poorly defined, if not neglected, despite the significant duration (15-20 years) of investment’s life cycle.

Assessing the current load and its evolution over time

can be through a combination of evaluations on the present and future behaviors of the user base: Present: •

When it comes to electrical assessment and forecast, be

•

it residential, tertiary or industrial, a load is generally made

•

up of three overlapping variations: • • •

A long-term evolution: over years and decades

The optimal sizing of a micro-grid system, including

the assessment of necessary storage, directly depends on

the correlation of these three variations with the cycles of

renewable resources (solar, wind, etc.) and the evolution of economic factors.

For many projects, the load profile data is difficult to

obtain or not available. Furthermore, when the short and

medium term cycles are identified, long-term evolution is 26

Modeling through data aggregation Adjustment

Future:

A short-term cycle: typically daily

Mid-term cycles: weekly and seasonal

On-site measurements

• etc.)

• •

Dedicated study, planning

Prediction / extrapolation

Adjacent index/ correlation (activity, population,

Most of the existing micro-grid simulation tools today

offer a limited capability when it comes to estimating the

electrical load of a system: They have limited customization capabilities, limited built-in profiles or database, or are just XLS files.

To overcome this shortcoming, QiDo Energy

Development together with SimplX software company has

Technology

ISSUE 2 September 2016

developed a stand alone load profile simulation software allowing the user to synthesize the lifetime evolution of a microgrid load, through bottom-up aggregation of its elementary components and changes( Figure 1).

The simulation follows a three-step process:

1. User defines the project, through choosing a

simulation timeframe and a location by pointing on a

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

map. Temperature profile of the location is automatically populated from the NASA database(Figure 2).

2. Then adjacent indexes such as particular

population evolution over timeframe and connection data and are estimated to define the number of connected residential load(Figure 3).

3. Individual loads are built in the three different

facility environments: Residential, Industrial and

Community, using the Appliances Library(Figure 4 and Figure 5).

Every “unit” in the three categories follows a

different load pattern over time, with its specific cycle of

consumptions, linked with occupational rate for Residential, production shifts for Industrial and usage frequency for Community.

The Appliances Library offers different possibilities to

create individual appliance loads, from built-in appliances

to custom ones built from generic template (constant load, binary program, volumetric component, taylor made load

Figure 6

profile) Generic.

QiLOAD allows then to visualize the simulation over

the life time of the project, by producing an interactive simulation that contains(Figure 6): •

Macro data: min/max load (spot, averages, etc.)

and annual energy curve over lifetime •

Detailed results through interactive graphs (yearly,

monthly, daily profiles) scrollable over Project’s lifetime

It also allows exporting the simulation result raw-data

files in .CSV format to allow further separate analytics and creation of input for other simulation tools.

QiLOAD is a free and community-based web

Figure 1

application, aiming to provide microgrid designers with a collaborative tool where they can develop and share valuable database of load profiles and appliances.

27

Regional Focus

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ISSUE 2 September 2016