2017 Nineteenth International Middle East Power Systems Conference (MEPCON), Menoufia University, Egypt, 19-21 December 2017

Evaluation of Factors affecting Wind Turbine Output

Power

M. H. El-Ahmar Abou-Hashema M. El-Sayed A. M. Hemeida

Ministry of Electricity & Energy Electrical Engineering Dept. Electrical Engineering Dept.
Electric Transmission Co. Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Energy Engineering
Red-Sea, Egypt Minia University, Egypt Aswan University, Egypt

Abstract— This paper presents the most important factors that turbine and air density can change with altitude and
influence the energy output of the wind system. Also, a temperature [8-10].
mathematical model is presented for wind power & investigates Many climate factors must be taking intor consideration
the influence of such parameters on the electrical power while designing the wind turbine such as wind speed, turbine
generated by the wind turbine. The considered factors are wind
swept area, air density, site temperature and height of tower.
speed, turbine swept area, air density, weather temperature, and
height of tower. Power coefficient as a function of pitch angle and Selection of wind turbine should be based on the climate
blade tip speed is also studied. This study can be used in the conditions of the particular site [11], [12]. The power output is
selection of wind turbine with optimal parameters, which yield directly proportional to such factors. So, this paper presents
the highest amount of energy can be captured from wind. some simulation evaluation of the effect of such factors in
Simulation MATLAB program is implemented for this study and producing energy from the wind-turbine.
wind turbine sample parameters have been used in this
simulation.
II. WIND TURBINE MODELLING
Key Words: Wind Turbine, Power coefficient, wind speed, air
density, rotor-swept area, tower height. The rotor of the wind turbine component consists of blades
that convert wind energy into rotational energy with an
I. INTRODUCTION
intermediate low speed. An electric generator, control
Renewable energy resources presents the magic solution for electronics, and a gear box make the main parts of the
energy demand by the energy market in the last few generator component. These parts together convert the low-
decades[1]. At present time, the world pays a growing attention speed rotational energy into electrical energy.
to wind energy conversion systems used in generating electric
power as considered among the fastest growing energy- A. Speed and Power relations
industry sectors with an average annual growth rate exceeding
25 percent over the past decade. Although wind energy For a mass m moving at velocity V in air, the kinetic energy
conversion sites are available all over the world, it is very E can be expressed as:
substantial to choose suitable site in order to decrease the ‫ ܧ‬ൌ ͳൗʹ ݉‫ ݒ‬ଶ (1)
overall cost of WECS. Ensuring that the wind energy The relation between the output power produced and wind
conversion system is operating at maximum efficiency entails velocity can be expressed as:
designing wind turbine particularly for the site where it is to be ܲ‫ ݀݊݅ݓ‬ൌ ݀‫ܧ‬Τ݀‫ ݐ‬ൌ  ͳൗʹ ݉ሶ ‫ʹݒ‬ (2)
installed [2-4].
The wind is characterized by its velocity, and orientation, where: ݉ሶ symbolizes mass stream per second. During the
that influenced by many operators, such as geographic passing of air flow through the area A, The power produced
position, rite property [5-7]. by the air can be determined by[13]:
A wind turbine can generate power which is a function of
many site-specific factors and aerodynamic performance of ܲ‫ ݀݊݅ݓ‬ൌ ͳൗʹ  ሺߩ‫ݒܣ‬ሻ‫ ʹݒ‬ൌ  ͳൗʹ ߩ‫͵ݒܣ‬ (3)
blade. Most important are the average annual wind speed, pre-
twist, pitch, angle of attach and rotor swept area; however, air where: ߩ is the air density.
density also affects power generation of performance wind

978-1-5386-0990-3/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

1471
B. Mechanical Power Extracted from the Wind ultimate Cp is obtained when the tip speed ratio is very
Extracting all the kinetic energy of the wind is beyond the suitable. Recall (7), for a known wind velocity (v), to develop
bounds of possibility because air would not static right behind the ultimate Cp, then the rotor speed (Ȧ)will be still close to
the wind turbine. This cannot obstruct air from flowing a the suitable velocity.
direction from the wind turbine and in turn this would not
expressed a physical steady-state condition. The wind speed
0.5
is reduced by wind turbine; therefore a fraction of the power is Pitch=0

extracted from the wind. The power efficiency coefficient Pitch=2

‫ ܲܥ‬of the wind turbine denominates this friction. Therefore the 0.4 ɴ=0° Pitch=5

Power Coefficient - Cp
Pitch=10
mechanical power ܲ of the wind turbine – by the definition of
Pitch=15
‫ – ܲܥ‬is given by the total energy in the wind ܲ‫ ݀݊݅ݓ‬, which can 0.3
ɴ=2° Pitch=20
be determined as[14-15]: ɴ=5° Pitch=25
ܲ ൌ  ‫ܥ‬௉ ܲ௪௜௡ௗ (4) 0.2
ɴ=10°
That means:
ܲ ൌ ͳൗʹ ‫ܥ‬௉ ߩ‫ ݒܣ‬ଷ (5) 0.1 ɴ=15°
ɴ=20°
The notional maximum limit of ‫ ܲܥ‬equals 16/27, i.e. it can ɴ=25°
be expressed in theory- to extract nearly 59% of wind's kinetic 0
0 4 8 12 16 20
energy. This is Called Betz's limit.
Tip-Speed Ratio - Ȝ
Fig. 1. Power coefficient versus tip-speed ratio for varying pitch angles.
It follows that ‫ ܲܥ‬can be expressed as function of ߣ and ߚ:

‫ ܲܥ‬ൌ݂‫ ܥ‬ሺߣǡ ߚሻ (6) In case the wind velocity changed, the rotor velocity and
ܲ
where: ߣ is the tip-speed ratio and ߚ is the pitch angle. the energy produced by the wind turbine will also varied.
According to (5), (7), and (9), for a certain wind speed, the
The tip-speed ratio is given by: power will vary relatively to the rotor speed (Ȧ). Fig. 2 depicts
the relation between energy produced by the wind turbine and
ఠோ the rotor velocity (Ȧ) for the several wind velocity.
ߣ ൌ ௩
(7)
where: ߱ symbolizes the turbine angular velocity, and R is 8
the radius of the turbine. Wind Speed =10m/s

Wind Speed=13m/s
Wind Speed=16m/s
Then, the torque of the wind turbine could be expressed as: 6
Power (MW)

ܶ ൌ  ͳൗʹ ‫ܥ‬௧ ߩ‫ ݒܴܣ‬ଶ (8) V= 16 m/s

4
where: ‫ ݐܥ‬ሺߣǡ ߚሻ ൌ ‫ ܲܥ‬ሺߣǡ ߚሻȀߣ represents the torque
coefficient of the wind turbine. V=13 m/s

2
Power coefficient of the turbine ‫ ܲܥ‬ሺߣǡ ߚሻcan be calculated V=10 m/s
from below equations structure which originates from [16]:
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
‫ʹܥ‬ ‫ܥ‬͹
‫ ܲܥ‬ሺߣǡ ߚሻ ൌ  ‫  ͳܥ‬ቀ െ  ‫ ߚ ͵ܥ‬െ  ‫ܥ‬Ͷ ߚ‫ܥ‬ͷ െ  ‫ܥ‬͸ ቁ ‡š’ ቀെ ቁ Rotor Speed - ʘ
ߣ݅ ߣ݅
(9) Fig. 2. Wind Turbine Power versus Rotor-Speed at different wind speeds.
where:
ͳ ‫ܥ‬ͻ
െͳ As shown in the above figure, it is obvious from several
ߣ݅ ൌ  ቂቀ
ߣ൅‫ܥ‬ͺ ߚ
ቁ െ ቀߚ͵ ൅ͳ ቁቃ (10) energy characteristics that the ultimate energies are developed
in case of several rotor velocity. So that, the rotor velocity must
However, the values of the constants ‫ ͳܥ‬to ‫ ͻܥ‬available in be run at the most suitable velocity. This strategy is known as
Appendix Tab. I. MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) technique [17].

The above modeling equations have been implemented by The same is shown in Fig. 3 for the relation between
MATLAB program in order to simulate the relationship Torque of the wind turbine and rotor velocity at several wind
between different parameters as shown in below figures. velocities.

Fig.1 shows the ‫ܥ‬௉ -ߣ features for the various different rate of
ߚ. In the Figure, we conclude that for constant pitch angle, an

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 60
Wind Speed =10 m/s The relationship of the wind velocity and energy is expressed
Wind Speed =13 m/s according to the following [19]:
50 Wind Speed =16 m/s

Ͳ‫ ݒ‬൏ ‫ݒ‬௖௜ ‫ ݒݎ݋‬൐  ‫ݒ‬௖௢

40
ܲ ൌ  ൝ ܲ௩ ‫ݒ‬௖௜ ൑ ‫ ݒ‬൏  ‫ݒ‬௥ (11)
Torque (KN)

ܲ௥ ‫ݒ‬௥  ൑ ‫ ݒ‬൑  ‫ݒ‬௖௢

30
V= 16 m/s

where ܲ is the electric power in W, ‫ ݅ܿݒ‬is the cut-in wind

20
V=13 m/s velocity in m/s, ‫ ݋ܿݒ‬is the cut-out wind velocity in m/s, ‫ ݎݒ‬is
the rated wind speed in m/s, ܲ‫ ݎ‬is the rated power in W and ܲ‫ݒ‬
10 V=10 m/s
is the non-linear relationship among power and wind velocity.
Fig. 5 shows this relationship between the extracted power
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 from wind turbine and wind speed as implemented on the used
Rotor Speed - ʘ simulated wind turbine model (SIEMENS SWT-3.2-113),
Fig. 3. Wind Turbine Torque versus Rotor-Speed at different wind speeds. model parameters is available in Appendix Tab. II [20].

3.5
3.2
III. FACTORS AFFECTING WIND TURBINE OUTPUT POWER 2.9
2.6

There are many aerodynamic factors that affect the wind 2.3

Power (MW)
2
turbine power generation such as wind speed, air density, 1.7
temperature, air pressure, area swept, and height, etc. The 1.4
influence of these factors will be discussed as the following: 1.1
0.8
0.5
A. Wind Speed
0.2
-0.1
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
The Pwind and mechanical power extracted from wind P
Wind Speed (m/s)
curves of a wind turbine, with respect to the wind speed, are
plotted in Fig. 4. The value of P is always lower than the Pwind Fig. 5. Relationship between Wind Turbine Output Power and Wind Speed.
value because of aerodynamic power losses. The typical cut-
in, rated, and cut-out wind-speed values are in the range of 3– It can be noticed from the above simulated curve that the
5 m/s, 10–15 m/s, and 25–30 m/s, respectively. For the wind turbine rated power reach (3.2-MW) at rated wind speed 13
speed below the cut-in value, Wind Turbines will produce m/s and cut-in velocity is 4 m/s and cut-out velocity is 32 m/s
negligible power; thus, such turbines are usually kept in which matched with manufacturer data sheet.
parking mode. In addition, to ensure safety, the turbine is shut
down and kept in parking mode when wind speed is above the From the previous equation (5), it states that the power in
cut-out value or during emergency conditions. For wind-speed wind is commensurate to v3. Therefore, it is concluded in Fig.
values between cut-in and rated, the power P curve maintains 5, that the energy produced of the rotor blade is not linearly
a cubic relationship with respect to wind speed. When wind proportional to the wind velocity. as given in that equation. It
speed is between the rated and cut-out value, the turbine output also can be shown from Fig. 5, that the produced power
power P is regulated to its highest threshold (rated) value by obtained by the upper third of wind speed is almost double the
the aerodynamic power control [18]. produced power by the lower 2/3 of wind speed curve.
So that, it can be noticed that it is more profitable to locate
Pwind & P (W) Pwind Curve P Curve a wind energy conversion system in a position with usually
ultimate wind velocity than in a position of low wind velocity.
Rated

Parking B. Air Density

Parking Mode
Mode

The wind turbine characteristics is usually relate to the

degree of air density. The energy produced by the wind is
Minimum Vw (m/s) directly commensurate to the degree of air density. This
Cut-in Rated Cut-out characteristics is depicted in Fig. 6[8].

Fig. 4. Wind Turbine characteristics curves with respect to wind speed.

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 4 In addition, the scale of the pressure and temperature
ʌ = 1.0 kg/m3 ʌ = 1.225 kg/m3 ʌ = 1.4 kg/m3
3.6 decrease when increasing elevation. Hence, the variation in
3.2 elevation results on changes the amount of energy produced
2.8 as a result of varying the values of the air density. Both
Power (MW)

2.4 temperature and pressure effects on the air density, which can
2 be more clear through the following equation, which is works
1.6 well up to 6,000 m (20,000 ft) of site elevation above sea level
1.2 [13]:
0.8 ߩ ൌ  ߩఖ െ ሺͳǤͳͻͶ ൈ ͳͲିସ ‫ܪ‬௠ ሻ (13)
0.4
where ‫ ݉ܪ‬is the site elevation in meters and ߩఖ is the reference
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 air density value (1.225 kg/m3 ) at sea level.
Wind Speed (m/s)
Fig. 6. Air density effect on Wind Turbine output Power. C. Rotor Swept Area

The air density ȡ changes related to the value of pressure It is concluded from equation(5), that the produced power
and temperature due to the gas law [6]: is directly proportional to the rotor-swept area (A). Rotor-
ߩ ൌ
௉
(12) swept area is equal [13]:
ோ்
where గ
‫ ܣ‬ൌ  ‫ܦ‬ଶ (14)
p : air pressure, ସ
T : temperature on the absolute scale, and D : represent the diameter of the rotor.
R : gas constant.
The air density at sea level at 1 atm (14.7 psi) and 60°F is 1.225 With reference to above equation, since swept area is
kg/m3. proportional to the rotor diameter square, an incremental
From above equation, it proves that air pressure and excess in blade length produced high raise in the energy
temperature effects on the air density. There is a directly obtainable to the turbine as shown in Fig. 9.
proportional to the pressure, and inversely proportional to the
3.6
temperature. Below figures (Fig. 7 and Fig. 8) will show the D = 50 m D = 80 m D = 113 m
3.2
effect of varying Air Pressure and Temperature on output
Power. 2.8
Power (MW)

2.4
4
P =80 KPa P =100 KPa P =120 KPa 2
3.5
1.6
3
Power (MW)

1.2
2.5
0.8
2
0.4
1.5
0
1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
0.5 Wind Speed (m/s)
0 Fig. 9. Swept-Area effect on Wind Turbine output Power.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Wind Speed (m/s) When the swept area and the diameter of the rotor are large, an
Fig. 7. Air Pressure effect on Wind Turbine output Power. increase in energy produced will be earned from the wind.
4
T = 50 °C T = 25 °C T = -15 °C
3.5 D. Effect of Tower Height
3 It is well known that power available in the wind is
commensurate to the cube of the velocity of the wind, so any
Power (MW)

2.5

2
small increase in wind velocity will result in a significant
impact on the economic factor. One efficient method to get
1.5
turbine into stronger winds is to mount them on higher towers.
1
Above the ground's surface within the first few meters wind
0.5 velocity considerably influenced by the friction that the air
0 causes as it flows across the surface of the earth. Frictionless
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
surfaces, like a quiet sea, offer small amount of resistance, and
Wind Speed (m/s) the difference of velocity relative to height from the surface is
Fig. 8. Temperature effect on Wind Turbine output Power. only limited. On the other hands, winds is linger greatly by
irregular surfaces like forests and buildings [21].

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 The following equation is frequently used to represent the E. Obstacles to Wind Flow
impact of earth's surface roughness on wind speed: Obstacles like structures, and other nature palms and trees
could affect wind speed adversely. Furthermore they result in
୪୬ቀ௓ൗ௓ ቁ turbulence in their neighborhood frequently. In case of flowing
‫ ݒ‬ൌ  ‫ݒ‬௥௘௙ ‫ כ‬ቆ ௓
೚
ቇ (15)
୪୬ሺ ೝ೐೑൘௓ ሻ the winds through an obstacle, the turbulence area can reach
೚
where: about three times the height of the obstacle. The turbulence is
V : wind velocity at height Z over sea level. clearly notable behind the obstacle than in front of it.
Vref : reference velocity, i.e. a wind velocity at height Zref . Consequently, it is a good thing avoiding major obstacles close
Z : height above ground grade for the coveted speed V. to wind turbines, especially in case they are upwind in the
Zref : reference height, i.e. height at which wind speed is Vref. prevailing wind direction, i.e. "in front of" the turbine. In order
Zo : grossness length of the direction of the wind. to overcome this effect on wind, the below recommendations
should be considered [22]:
20 a) Increasing the turbine hub height than obstacles.
Zo = 0.1 Zo = 0.4 Zo = 1.6
18
The higher a turbine is above the top of the obstacle, the
less wind shade will be produced.
16 b) Distance between obstacle and turbine.
Wind Speed (m/s)

14
If the turbine is closer to the obstacle than five times the
obstacle height, the results will be more uncertain, because
12
they will depend on the exact geometry of the obstacle.
10

8 IV. CONCLUSIONS
6
This paper presents study on the wind turbine performance
due to varying of aerodynamic factors and showing such
4 effects on the output power of wind turbine. These factors are
10 30 50 70 90 110
very important to keep in consideration while selecting the
Tower Height (m)
wind turbine parameters and allocate the turbine in the optimal
Fig. 10. Tower Height effect on Wind Speed. place in order to capture the maximum power can be extracted
200
from wind. As well as it will result in saving of the construction
180
Zo = 0.1 Zo = 0.4 Zo = 1.6
costs against output power.
160

140 V. APPENDIX
Power (KW)

120
TABLE I. POWER COEFFICIENT CONSTANTS
100

80 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
60
0.5 116 0.4 0 -- 5 21 0.08 0.035
40

20
TABLE II. WIND TURBINE SWT-3.2-113 DATA SHEET
0
10 30 50 70 90 110
3-bladed,
Tower Height (m) Type horizontal axis Nominal Power 3,200 kW
Fig. 11. Tower Height effect on Wind Turbine output Power. Diameter 113 m Frequency 50 Hz or 60 Hz
Swept area 10,000 m² Hub height 83.5 – 115 m
The grossness characteristics can be found as in Tab. II in Speed range 4-16.5 rpm Cut-in wind speed 3-5 m/s
Appendix. Blade length 55 m Nominal power at 12-13 m/s
Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 show the impact of tower height on Voltage 690 V Cut-out wind speed 32 m/s
wind speed and output power with different roughness lengths
(0.1, 0.4, and 1.6), The grossness characteristics is given in TABLE III. ROUGHNESS CLASSIFICATIONS
details in Tab. III in Appendix. 10 meter high is considered to Roughness Roughness
be a reference, when the wind velocity is 8 m/s. Description
Class Length (Zo)
As shown in Fig. 10, for “a farm land with some 0 Water Surface 0.0002
windbreaks more than 1 km apart” (Zo = 0.1), When the high 1 Open areas with a few windbreaks 0.03
is about 100 m, produced 50% greater than when the high is 10 Farm land with some windbreaks more than
2 0.1
1 km apart
m, while for a site in a “Dense urban or forest” (Zo = 1.6), the
Urban districts and farm land with many
high of 100 m, provide a wind evaluated to exceed double 3
windbreaks
0.4
speed at 10 m. 4 Dense urban or forest 1.6
As shown in Fig. 11, the effect of the height on generated
energy more clearly.

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