scholarly journals Estimating the potential yield of small wind turbines in urban areas: A case study for Greater London, UK

2013 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 104-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.R. Drew ◽  
J.F. Barlow ◽  
T.T. Cockerill
Machines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Castellani ◽  
Davide Astolfi ◽  
Mauro Peppoloni ◽  
Francesco Natili ◽  
Daniele Buttà ◽  
...  

In the recent years, distributed energy production has been one of the main research topics about renewable energies. The decentralization of electric production from wind resources raises the issues of reducing the size of generators, from the MW scale of industrial wind farm turbines to the kW scale, and possibly employing them in urban areas, where the wind flow is complex and extremely turbulent because of the presence of buildings and obstacles. On these grounds, the use of small-scale vertical axis small wind turbines (VASWT) is a valid choice for on-site generation (OSG), considering their low sensitivity with respect to turbulent flow and that there is no need to align the turbine with wind direction, as occurs with horizontal axis small wind turbines (HASWT). In addition, VASWTs have a minor acoustic impact with respect to HASWTs. The aim of this paper is to study the interactions that take place between a 1.2 kW, vertical axis, Darrieus VASWT turbine and a small, experimental building, in order to analyze the noise and the vibrations transmitted to the structure. One method to damp the vibrations is then assessed through spectral analysis of data acquired through accelerometers located both in the mast of the wind turbine and at the building walls. The results confirm the usefulness of dampers to increase the building comfort regarding vibrations.


Author(s):  
K. Vafiadis ◽  
H. Fintikakis ◽  
I. Zaproudis ◽  
A. Tourlidakis

In urban areas, it is preferable to use small wind turbines which may be integrated to a building in order to supply the local grid with green energy. The main drawback of using wind turbines in urban areas is that the air flow is affected by the existence of nearby buildings, which in conjunction with the variation of wind speed, wind direction and turbulence may adversely affect wind energy extraction. Moreover, the efficiency of a wind turbine is limited by the Betz limit. One of the methods developed to increase the efficiency of small wind turbines and to overcome the Betz limit is the introduction of a converging – diverging shroud around the turbine. Several researchers have studied the effect of shrouds on Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines, but relatively little research has been carried out on shroud augmented Vertical Axis Wind Turbines. This paper presents the numerical study of a shrouded Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. A wide range of test cases, were examined in order to predict the flow characteristics around the rotor, through the shroud and through the rotor – shroud arrangement using 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. The power output of the shrouded rotor has been improved by a factor greater than 2.0. The detailed flow analysis results showed that there is a significant improvement in the performance of the wind turbine.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5874
Author(s):  
Navid Goudarzi ◽  
Kasra Mohammadi ◽  
Alexandra St. St. Pé ◽  
Ruben Delgado ◽  
Weidong Zhu

Annual mean wind speed distribution models for power generation based on regional wind resource maps are limited by spatial and temporal resolutions. These models, in general, do not consider the impact of local terrain and atmospheric circulations. In this study, long-term five-year wind data at three sites on the North, East, and West of the Baltimore metropolitan area, Maryland, USA are statistically analyzed. The Weibull probability density function was defined based on the observatory data. Despite seasonal and spatial variability in the wind resource, the annual mean wind speed for all sites is around 3 m/s, suggesting the region is not suitable for large-scale power generation. However, it does display a wind power capacity that might allow for non-grid connected small-scale wind turbine applications. Technical and economic performance evaluations of more than 150 conventional small-scale wind turbines showed that an annual capacity factor and electricity production of 11% and 1990 kWh, respectively, are achievable. It results in a payback period of 13 years. Government incentives can improve the economic feasibility and attractiveness of investments in small wind turbines. To reduce the payback period lower than 10 years, modern/unconventional wind harvesting technologies are found to be an appealing option in this region. Key contributions of this work are (1) highlighting the need for studying the urban physics rather than just the regional wind resource maps for wind development projects in the build-environment, (2) illustrating the implementation of this approach in a real case study of Maryland, and (3) utilizing techno-economic data to determine suitable wind harnessing solutions for the studied sites.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 5523
Author(s):  
Alina Wilke ◽  
Zhiwei Shen ◽  
Matthias Ritter

In light of the global effort to limit the temperature rise, many cities have undertaken initiatives to become climate-neutral, making decentralized urban energy production more relevant. This paper addresses the potential of urban wind energy production with small wind turbines, using Berlin as an example. A complete framework from data selection to economic feasibility is constructed to enable the empirical assessment of wind energy for individual buildings and Berlin as a whole. Based on a detailed dataset of all buildings and hourly wind speed on a 1 km² grid, the results show that multiple turbines on suitable buildings can significantly contribute to households’ energy consumption but fall short of covering the full demand. For individual households, our economic evaluation strongly recommends the self-consumption of the produced electricity. The findings suggest that while the use of small wind turbines should be continuously encouraged, exploring other renewable resources or combination of wind and photovoltaic energy in the urban environment remains important.


Author(s):  
M. Brennenstuhl ◽  
M. von der Gruen ◽  
S. Harbola ◽  
A. Koukofikis ◽  
R. Padsala ◽  
...  

Abstract. In the face of climate change and the energy transition that the German federal government is aiming for, all renewable energy potentials need to be tapped. Unfortunately, small wind turbines play a niche role in Germany and most other countries despite the fact, that although they offer advantages as e.g. almost seasonal independent energy production in close proximity to the consumer on the same low-voltage grid level. One reason beside the lower wind speeds that can be expected closer to the ground is, that in comparison to PV (photovoltaic), for which good yield forecasts can be made using global radiation measurements from nearby weather stations or online databases, the yield of small wind turbines, especially in urban areas, can only be forecasted using on-site measurements due to the influence of the surrounding buildings and topography. This method is time-consuming and costly. To address this, within this work a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation based visualization framework for the investigation of the small wind turbine potential is presented. In this specific case the energy supply company EnBW is planning to refurbish the “Neuer Stöckach” urban quarter on the former “Stöckach” company site. As part of the redevelopment, a comprehensive energy concept is planned to integrate renewable energies. In this context the integration of small wind turbines into the energy concept is examined according to this new methodology.


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