Wind Energy

Assistant Professor Mazen Abualtayef

Environmental Engineering Department
Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine

Adapted from a presentation by

S. Lawrence
Leeds School of Business, Environmental Studies
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
1
Ancient Resource Meets 21st Century

2
Wind Turbines
Power for a House or City

3
Wind Energy Outline
 History and Context
 Advantages
 Design
 Siting
 Disadvantages
 Economics
 Project Development
 Policy
 Future
4
History and Context

5
Wind Energy History
 1 A.D.
 Hero of Alexandria uses a wind machine to power an organ
 ~ 400 A.D.
 Wind driven prayer wheels in Tibet
 600 to 800
 The first practical windmills were in use in Iran
 1200 to 1850
 Golden era of windmills in western Europe – 50,000
 9,000 in Holland; 10,000 in England; 18,000 in Germany
 1850’s
 Multiblade turbines for water pumping made and marketed in U.S.
 1882
 Thomas Edison commissions first commercial electric generating stations in
NYC and London
 1900
 Competition from alternative energy sources reduces windmill population
to fewer than 10,000
 2000 ~
 The world's first operational offshore large-capacity floating wind turbine,
Hywind, became operational in the North Sea off Norway in late 2009.
 By late 2011, Japan announced plans to build a multiple-unit floating wind
farm, with six 2-megawatt turbines, off the Fukushima coast of northeast 6
Japan
Increasingly Significant Power Source

coal
Wind could
petroleum
natural gas generate
nuclear
hydro 6% of
nation’s
other renewables
wind

electricity
Wind currently produces less than
1% of the nation’s power.
by 2020
Source: Energy Information Agency

7
8
Manufacturing Market Share

9
Source: American Wind Energy Association
US Wind Energy
U.S. Capacity
Wind Energy Capacity

10000

8000

6000
MW
4000

2000

0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

10
 Wind Energy Projects in AC
The Arab Countries (AC) had installed wind energy:

Egypt: 550 MW
Tunisia: 750 GWh annually
Morocco: 289 MW

Algeria and Lybia too are planning on smaller wind farms

to be implemented in the coming years, such as a 10MW
wind farm in Algeria in 2012 and a 61.75MW wind farm in
Lybia.

Source: http://www.renewablesb2b.com/ahk_egypt/en/portal/index/news/show/592e52e2b91fb7a9

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Zafarana farm, Egypt – 550MW

• Operate with wind speeds

between 7-10 m/s
• Total of 710 turbines
• 600-850 KW of electricity
each turbine
• Construction began 2001
• Ended by 2010
• Hub height – 47m

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Wind Atlas for Egypt

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Wind Power Advantages

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Advantages of Wind Power
 Environmental
 Economic Development
 Fuel Diversity & Conservation
 Cost Stability

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Environmental Benefits
 No air pollution
 No greenhouse gasses
 Does not pollute water with mercury
 No water needed for operations

Wind energy system operations do not generate air or water emissions and
do not produce hazardous waste. Nor do they deplete natural resources
such as coal, oil, or gas, or cause environmental damage through resource
extraction and transportation. Wind's pollution-free electricity can help
reduce the environmental damage caused by power generation.

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Pollution from Electric Power

Sulfur Dioxide 70%

Carbon Dioxide 34%
Nitrous Oxides 33%
Particulate Matter 28%
Toxic Heavy Metals 23%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Percentage of U.S. Emissions

Source: Northwest Foundation, 12/97

Electric power is a primary source of industrial air pollution

17
Economic Development Benefits
 Expanding Wind Power development
brings jobs to rural communities
 Increased tax revenue
 Purchase of goods & services

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 Economic Development Benefits
Wind farms can revitalize the economy of rural communities, providing steady income through lease or royalty
payments to farmers and other landowners.

Although leasing arrangements can vary widely, a reasonable estimate for income to a landowner from a single utility-
scale turbine is about $3,000 a year. For a 250-acre farm, with income from wind at about $55 an acre, the annual
income from a wind lease would be $14,000, with no more than 2-3 acres removed from production. Such a sum can
significantly increase the net income from farming. Farmers can grow crops or raise cattle next to the towers.

Farmers are not the only ones in rural communities to find that wind power can bring in income. In Spirit Lake, Iowa,
the local school is earning savings and income from the electricity generated by a turbine. In the district of Forest City,
Iowa, a turbine recently erected as a school project is expected to save $1.6 million in electricity costs over its
lifetime.

Additional income is generated from one-time payments to construction contractors and suppliers during installation,
and from payments to turbine maintenance personnel on a long-term basis. Wind farms also expand the local tax
base, and keep energy dollars in the local community instead of spending them to pay for coal or gas produced
elsewhere.

Finally, wind also benefits the economy by reducing "hidden costs" resulting from air pollution and health care.
Several studies have estimated that 50,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of air pollution.

•Each MW of wind power development provides 2.5-3 jobs years of employment.

•Wind provides 1 skilled operations and management job for every 10 turbines installed.
•Wind plants can be a valuable source of property tax income for local governments. 19
Fuel Diversity Benefits
 Domestic energy source
 Inexhaustible supply ‫ال ينضب‬
 Small, dispersed design

US winds could generate more electricity in 15 years than all of

Saudi Arabia’s oil—without being depleted.
Wind facilities consist of small generators that cannot be easily be
damaged at the same time and are easy to replace. If a wind
facility is damaged, there is no secondary risk to the public, such as
in the release of radioactivity, explosions, or the breaching of a dam.
Wind plants can be built quickly to respond to electricity supply
shortages.

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Cost Stability Benefits
 Flat-rate pricing
 Hedge ‫ التحوط‬against fuel price volatility risk
 Wind electricity is inflation-proof ‫واقية من التضخم‬

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Wind Power Design

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Power in the Wind (Watts)
 A V3
= ½ × air density × swept rotor area × (wind speed)3

Air density Area =  r2 Instantaneous Speed

(not mean speed)
kg/m3 m2 m/s

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Wind Energy Natural Characteristics
 Wind Speed
 Wind energy increases with the cube of the wind speed
 10% increase in wind speed translates into 30% more
electricity
 2X the wind speed translates into 8X the electricity

 Height
 Wind energy increases with height to the 1/7 power
1
vh2  h2  7
  
vh1  h1 
 2X the height translates into 10.4% more electricity
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Wind Energy Natural Characteristics
 Air density
 Wind energy increases proportionally with air density
 Humid climates have greater air density than dry climates
 Lower elevations have greater air density than higher
elevations

 Blade swept area

 Wind energy increases proportionally with swept area of the
blades
 Blades are shaped like airplane wings
 10% increase in swept diameter translates into 21% greater
swept area
 Longest blades up to 126 m in diameter
 Resulting in 182 m total height

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Betz Limit
 Theoretical maximum energy extraction from
wind = 16/27 = 59.3%
 Undisturbed wind velocity
reduced by 1/3
 Albert Betz (1928)
 Betz Limit with values of
0.35-0.45
 Only 10-30% of the power of
the wind is actually
converted into usable
electricity 26
Example of Wind Power
 Largest wind turbines with a rotor blade
diameter of 126 m
 Air density = 1.225 kg/m3
 Wind speed = 14 m/s
 Rotors sweep area = π x r2 = 12,470 m2
 Wind Power = 0.5 x 12,470 x 1.225 x (14)3
= 21,000,000 Watts (21MW)
 The turbine is rated at 5MW due to Betz Limit
 Total wind power = 5MW x 8,760 hours =
= 44GWh/year 27
How Big is a 2.0 MW Wind Turbine?

This picture shows a

Vestas V-80 2.0MW wind
turbine superimposed on a
Boeing 747 JUMBO JET

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Wind Turbine Power Curve
2500

Vestas V80 2.0MW Wind Turbine

2000
Power, KW

1500

1000

500

0
10 20 30 40 50
29
Mile per Hour, MPH
Recent Capacity Enhancements
2006
5 MW
182m

2003
1.8 MW
2000 106m
850 kW
80m

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Nacelle Components 10

16
17
12
12
1. Hub controller 11. Blade bearing
2. Pitch cylinder 12. Blade
3. Main shaft 13. Rotor lock system
4. Oil cooler 14. Hydraulic unit
5. Gearbox 15. Machine foundation
6. Top Controller 16. Yaw gears
7. Parking Break 17. Generator
8. Service crane 18. Ultra-sonic sensors
9. Transformer 19. Meteorological gauges 31

10. Blade Hub

Turbines Constantly Improving
 Larger turbines produce
exponentially more power,
which reduces unit cost of
electricity
 Specialized blade design for
wind turbines
 Power electronics improve
turbine operations and
maintenance
 Computer modeling
 produces more efficient design
 Manufacturing improvements
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Improving Reliability
 The ―availability‖ of a wind turbine measures the
percentage of the time that a plant is ready to
generate (that is, not out of service for
maintenance or repairs). Modern wind turbines
have an availability of more than 98%
100
% Available

80
60
40
20
0
1981 '83 '85 '90 '98 Year
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Wind Project Siting

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Wind Power Classes
10 m (33 ft) 50 m (164 ft)
Wind Speed Speed
Power m/s m/s
Class (mph) (mph)
0 0
1
4.4 (9.8) 5.6 (12.5)
2
5.1 (11.5) 6.4 (14.3)
3
5.6 (12.5) 7.0 (15.7)
4
6.0 (13.4) 7.5 (16.8)
5
6.4 (14.3) 8.0 (17.9)
6
7.0 (15.7) 8.8 (19.7)
7
9.4 (21.1) 11.9 (26.6)

Wind speed is for standard sea-level conditions.

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Average wind power

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Siting a Wind Farm
 Winds
 Minimum class 4 desired for utility-scale wind farm (>7
m/s at hub height)
 Transmission
 Distance, voltage excess capacity
 Permit approval
 Land-use compatibility
 Public acceptance
 Visual, noise, and bird impacts are biggest concern
 Land area
 Economies of scale in construction
 Number of landowners

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Wind Disadvantages

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Market Barriers
 Siting
 Avian = birds
 Noise
 Aesthetics
 Intermittent source of power ‫مصدرمتقطع‬
 Transmission constraints
 Operational characteristics different from
conventional fuel sources
 Financing

39
Wind Energy and the Grid
 Pros
 Small project size
 Short/flexible development time
 Dispatchability
 Cons
 Generally remote location
 Grid connectivity -- lack of transmission capability
 Intermittent output
 Only When the wind blows (night? Day?)
 Low capacity factor
 Predicting the wind -- we’re getting better 40
Birds - A Serious Obstacle

Birds of Prey (hawks, owls, golden eagles)

in jeopardy
‫الطيور الجارحة (الصقور والبوم والنسور الذهبية) في خطر‬
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Wind – Characteristics & Consequences
 Remote location and low capacity factor
 Higher transmission investment per unit output
 Small project size and quick development
time
 Planning mismatch with transmission investment
 Intermittent output
 Higher system operating costs if systems are not
designed properly

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Wind Economics

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Wind Farm Design Economics
 Key Design Parameters
 Mean wind speed at hub height
 Capacity factor
 Start with 100%
 Subtract time when wind speed less than optimum
 Subtract time due to scheduled maintenance
 Subtract time due to unscheduled maintenance
 Subtract production losses
 Dirty blades, shut down due to high winds
 Typically 33% at a Class 4 wind site

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Wind Farm Financing
 Financing Terms
 Interest rate
 Loan term
 Up to 15 years

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Cost of Energy Components
 Cost (¢/kWh) =
(Capital Recovery Cost + O&M) / kWh/year
 Capital Recovery = Debt and Equity Cost
 O&M Cost = Turbine design, operating
environment
 kWh/year = Wind Resource

It is helpful to look at the cost of the energy produced by a wind turbine over the life of
turbine, in order to compare to other technologies, although many people acknowledge that
there are costs associated with pollution and the use of conventional fuel that are not
incorporated in the cost of energy.

To calculate the cost of energy, one should add the cost of financing the project for a year
(debt and equity costs) to the cost of operating the project for a year, and divide that by
the amount of electricity produced in the year. 46
Costs Nosedive  Wind’s Success
38 cents/kWh
$0.40

$0.30

$0.20

$0.10 3.5-5.0 cents/kWh

$0.00
1980 1984 1988 1991 1995 2000 2005

The cost of producing electricity from wind energy has declined more than 80%, from
about 38 cents per kilowatt-hour in the early 80s to a current range of 3 to 6 cents per
kilowatt-hour (KWh) levelized over a plant's lifetime.
In the not-too-distant future, analysts predict, wind energy costs could fall even lower
than most conventional fossil fuel generators, reaching a cost of 2.5 cents per kWh.
This dramatic reduction in the cost of energy from wind plants can be attributed
largely to technological improvements and economies of scale achieved by
manufacturing more and larger wind turbines. 47
Construction Cost Elements
Design &
Financing & Legal Engineering
Fees 2%
3% Land
Development Transportation
Activity 2%
4%
Interconnect/
Subsation Turbines, FOB
4% USA
49%
Interest During
Construction
4%
Towers
(tubular steel)
10%
Construction
22%

The industry benchmark is $1 million per megawatt of 48

installed capacity
Wind Farm Cost
Wind Components
Farm Component Costs

100%

80%
Balance of System
Transportation
60%
Foundations
Tower
40% Control System
Drive Train Nacelle
20% Blades and Rotor

0%
750 kW 1500 kW 3000 kW
49
Wind Farm Economics
 Capacity factor
 Start with 100%
 Subtract time when wind speed < optimum
 Subtract time due to scheduled maintenance
 Subtract time due to unscheduled maintenance
 Subtract production losses
 Dirty blades, shut down due to high winds
 Typically 33% at a Class 4 wind site

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Improved Capacity Factor
 Performance Improvements due to:
 Better siting
 Larger turbines/energy capture
 Technology Advances
 Higher reliability
 Capacity factors > 35% at good sites

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Wind Farm Economics
 Key parameter
 Distance from grid interconnect
 ≈ $350,000/mile for overhead transmission lines in
USA

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Wind Farm Economics
 Example
 200 MW wind farm
 Fixed costs - $1.23M/MW
 Class 4 wind site
 33% capacity factor
 10 miles to grid
 6%/15 year financing
 100% finance
 20 year project life
 Determine Cost of Energy - COE
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Wind Farm Economics
 Total Capital Costs
 $246M + (10 x $350K) = $249.5M
 Total Annual Energy Production
 200 MW x 1000 x 365 x 24 x 0.33 = 578,160,000 kWh
 Total Energy Production
 578,160,000 x 20 = 11,563,200,000 kWh
 Capital Costs/kWh
 3.3¢/kWh
 Operating Costs/kWh
 1.6¢/kWh
 Cost of Energy – New Facilities
 Wind – 4.9¢/kWh
 Coal – 3.7¢/kWh
 Natural gas – 7.0¢/kWh

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Wind Farm Development

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Wind Farm Development
 Key parameters
 Wind resource
 Zoning/Public Approval/Land Lease
 Power purchase agreements
 Connectivity to the grid
 Financing
 Tax incentives

56
Wind Farm Development
 Wind resource
 Absolutely vital to determine finances
 Wind is the fuel
 Requires historical wind data
 Daily and hourly detail
 Install metrological towers
 Preferably at projected turbine hub height
 Multiple towers across proposed site
 Multiyear data reduces financial risk
 Correlate long term offsite data to support short term
onsite data

57
Wind Farm Development
 Zoning/Public Approval/Land Lease
 Obtain local and governmental approvals
 Often includes Environmental Impact Studies
 Impact to wetlands, birds
 Negotiate lease arrangements with ranchers,
farmers, etc.
 Annual payments per turbine or production based

ranchers: ‫مربي الماشية‬

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Wind Farm Development
 Power Purchase Agreements, PPA
 Must have upfront financial commitment from utility
 15 to 20 year time frames
 Utility agrees to purchase wind energy at a set rate
 e.g. 4.3¢/kWh
 Financial stability/credit rating of utility important aspect
of obtaining wind farm financing
 PPA only as good as the creditworthiness of the uitility
 Utility goes bankrupt – you’re in trouble

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Wind Farm Development
 Connectivity to the grid
 Obtain approvals to tie to the grid
 Obtain from grid operators

 Power fluctuations stress the grid

 Especially since the grid is operating near max
capacity

60
Wind Farm Development
 Financing
 Once all components are settled…
 Wind resource
 Zoning/Public Approval/Land Lease
 Power Purchase Agreements (PPA)
 Connectivity to the grid
 Turbine procurement
 Construction costs
 …Take the deal to get financed

61
 Financing Revenue Components

PTC: Project total cost 62

Source: Hogan & Hartson, LLP

Closing the Deal
 Small developers utilize a ―partnership
flip‖
 Put the deal together
 Sell it to a large wind owner
 Large wind owner assumes ownership and
builds the wind farm

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Future Trends

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Expectations for Future Growth

 20,000 total turbines installed by 2010

 6% of electricity supply by 2020

100,000 MW of wind power

installed by 2020

65
Future Cost Reductions
 Financing Strategies
 Manufacturing
Economy of Scale
 Better Sites and
―Tuning‖ Turbines for
Site Conditions
 Technology
Improvements

66
Future Tech Developments
 Application Specific Turbines
 Offshore
 Limited land/resource areas
 Transportation or construction limitations
 Low wind resource
 Cold climates

67
The Future of Wind - Offshore
•1.5 - 6 MW per turbine
•60-120 m hub height
•5 km from shore, 30 m
deep ideal
•Gravity foundation, pole, or
tripod formation
•Shaft can act as artificial
reef
•Drawbacks- T&D losses
(underground cables lead to
shore) and visual eye sore

68
Wind Energy Storage
 Pumped hydroelectric
 Georgetown facility – Completed 1967
 Two reservoirs separated by 1000 vertical feet
 Pump water uphill at night or when wind energy production exceeds
demand
 Flow water downhill through hydroelectric turbines during the day or
when wind energy production is less than demand
 About 70 - 80% round trip efficiency
 Raises cost of wind energy by 25%
 Difficult to find, obtain government approval and build new facilities
 Compressed Air Energy Storage
 Using wind power to compress air in underground storage caverns
 Salt domes, empty natural gas reservoirs
 Costly, inefficient
 Hydrogen storage
 Use wind power to electrolyze water into hydrogen
 Store hydrogen for use later in fuel cells
 50% losses in energy from wind to hydrogen and hydrogen to electricity
 25% round trip efficiency
 Raises cost of wind energy by 4X 69
U.S. Wind Energy Challenges
 Best wind sites distant from
 population centers
 major grid connections
 Wind variability
 Can mitigate if forecasting improves
 Non-firm power
 Debate on how much backup generation is required
 NIMBY component
 Cape Wind project met with strong resistance by Cape
Cod residents
 Limited offshore sites
 Sea floor drops off rapidly on east and west coasts
 North Sea essentially a large lake
 Intermittent federal tax incentives
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Oceanic Energy
Next Week

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