A new semi-empirical wind turbine capacity factor for maximizing annual electricity and hydrogen production

The capacity factor is an important wind turbine parameter which is ratio of average output electrical power to rated electrical power of the wind turbine. Another main factor, the AEP, the annual energy production, can be determined using wind characteristics and wind turbine performance. Lower rated power may lead to higher capacity factor but will reduce the AEP. Therefore, it is important to consider simultaneously both the capacity factor and the AEP in design or selecting a wind turbine. In this work, a new semi-empirical secondary capacity factor is introduced for determining a rated wind speed at which yearly energy and hydrogen production obtain a maximum value. This capacity factor is expressed as ratio of the AEP for wind turbine to yearly wind energy delivered by mean wind speed at the rotor swept area. The methodology is demonstrated using the empirical efficiency curve of Vestas-80 2 MW turbine and the Weibull probability density function. Simultaneous use of the primary and the secondary capacity factors are discussed for maximizing electrical energy and hence hydrogen production for different wind classes and economic feasibility are scrutinized in several wind stations in Kuwait.     

Planning and operation of a hydrogen supply chain network based on the off-grid wind-hydrogen coupling system

Although hydrogen is identified to be the first choice of the energy industry in the future society, the severe shortage of hydrogen infrastructure hinders the development of the hydrogen economy. Therefore, by simultaneously integrating the planning and operation issues of a hydrogen supply chain network (HSCN) and taking the hydrogen demand of hydrogen fuel vehicles into account, this paper proposes a general optimization design model for a HSCN based on the off-grid wind-hydrogen coupling system to realize the scientific layout of hydrogen infrastructure and stimulate the transition of hydrogen energy. The uncertainties on both sides of the source and load of a HSCN are well-considered. Therein, the uncertainty of wind power is handled with chance constrained programming, while the uncertainty of hydrogen demand is addressed by a density-based clustering approach. The analysis focuses on a HSCN of Fujian Province, China and case study is conducted. Results show that the estimated hydrogen demand in Fujian Province over the course of a year is 0.197 million tons. The hydrogen production is located in Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen and the daily hydrogen production in Fuzhou is 309.11 ton/day, accounting for 57.48% of the total hydrogen production in Fujian Province. Since the revenue of the energy storage batteries cannot offset its high investment cost, the abnegation of the energy storage batteries in the HSCN is obtained. Compared with the deterministic HSCN, the total cost of the HSCN considering the uncertainties of wind power and hydrogen demand is reduced by 1.35%. The Levelized cost of hydrogen is 3.073–3.155$/kg and hydrogen production shows a significant scale effect. These results could provide information and direction to stakeholders, investors and policymakers for the planning of the future HSCN in Fujian Province to promote the tremendous development of the hydrogen industry.     

Load control of a wind-hydrogen stand-alone power system

A new generation of load controllers enable stand-alone power systems (SAPS) to use one or many standard (grid connected) wind turbines. The controllers use fuzzy logic software algorithms. The strategy is to use the control loads to balance the flow of active power in the system and hence control system frequency. The dynamic supply of reactive power by a synchronous compensator maintains the system voltage within the limits specified in EN50160. The resistive controller loads produce a certain amount of heat that is exchanged down to the end user (hot water). It was decided to investigate the implementation of a hydrogen subsystem into the SAPS that can work in parallel with the Distributed Intelligent Load Controller (DILC). The hydrogen subsystem can then function as energy storage on long-term basis and an active load controller on short-term basis.     

Comparative study on the performance of control systems for doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines operating with power regulation

As a result of the increasing wind power penetration on power systems, the wind farms are today required to participate actively in grid operation by an appropriate generation control. This paper presents a comparative study on the performance of three control strategies for DFIG wind turbines. The study focuses on the regulation of the active and reactive power to a set point ordered by the wind farm control system. Two of them (control systems 1 and 2) are based on existing strategies, whereas the third control system (control system 3) presents a novel control strategy, which is actually a variation of the control system 2. The control strategies are evaluated through simulations of DFIG wind turbines, under normal operating conditions, integrated in a wind farm with centralized control system controlling the wind farm generation at the connection point and computing the power reference for each wind turbine according to a proportional distribution of the available power. The three control systems present similar performance when they operate with power optimization and power limitation strategies. However, the control system 3 with down power regulation presents a better response with respect to the reactive power production, achieving a higher available reactive power as compared with the other two. This is a very important aspect to maintain an appropriate voltage control at the wind farm bus.     

Influence of wind turbine flexibility on loads and power production

Most aeroelastic codes used today assume small blade deflections and application of loads on the undeflected structure. However, with the design of lighter and more flexible wind turbines, this assumption is not obvious. By scaling the system mass and stiffness properties equally, it is possible to compare wind turbines of different degrees of slenderness and at the same time keep system frequencies the same in an undeformed state. The developed model uses the commercial finite element system MSC. Marc, focused on non‐linear design and analysis, to predict the structural response. The aerodynamic model AERFORCE, used to transform the wind to loads on the blades, is a blade element momentum model. A comparison is made between different slenderness ratios in three wind conditions below rated wind speed. The results show that large blade deflections have a major influence on power production and the resulting structural loads and must be considered in the design of very slender turbines. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Power curve control in micro wind turbine design

In this work, a micro wind turbine will be designed and built for a series of wind tunnel tests (rotor dynamics and Wind Turbine (WT) start-up velocity). Its design stems from an original numerical code, developed by the authors, based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) Theory.     

Investigation on wind power potential on Hong Kong islands—an analysis of wind power and wind turbine characteristics

This paper discusses the potential for electricity generation on Hong Kong islands through an analysis of the local weather data and typical wind turbine characteristics. An optimum wind speed, u_op, is proposed to choose an optimal type of wind turbine for different weather conditions. A simulation model has been established to describe the characteristics of a particular wind turbine. A case study investigation allows wind speed and wind power density to be obtained using different hub heights, and the annual power generated by the wind turbine to be simulated. The wind turbine's capacity factor, being the ratio of actual annual power generation to the rated annual power generation, is shown to be 0.353, with the capacity factor in October as high as 0.50. The simulation shows the potential for wind power generation on the islands surrounding Hong Kong.     

System modelling and performance assessment of green hydrogen production by integrating proton exchange membrane electrolyser with wind turbine

This investigation delves into the production of green hydrogen with the aid of a polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer with its source of energy harnessed from wind using a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The integrated numerical approach was adopted in the simulation environment of MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape™ to develop the comprehensive mathematical model of the system. The component-level models are linked to the electrolyser, and wind turbines are modelled distinctively considering their efficiencies. The study first explores current types of electrolysers, from their operational characteristics to their merits and demerits. The Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolysers were recommended as the best electrolysis alternative due to their fast start-up time, and the technology being matured. Various power electronics required in connecting the energy from the wind turbine to the electrolyser was equally discussed. Some of these notable power electronics include the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators (PMSG), Full Bridge Diode Rectifier, as well as DC–DC Buck Boost Converter. The study was conducted at Warwickshire area as the location for the installation of the Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyser System. It was however deduced that the performance of the electrolyser was predominant at higher temperatures but lower pressures. The intensity of wind also had a direct correlation to the overall performance of the electrolyser. In summary, for the wind turbine under investigation, at 1 bar pressure and operating temperature of 20 °C, 65,770 L of hydrogen was produced and this is equivalent to 4656.3 kg of hydrogen or 156.4 kWh of energy.     

Thermodynamic analysis of a novel integrated system operating with gas turbine,s-CO2 and t-CO2 power systems for hydrogen production and storage

In this paper, a proposal for a novel integrated Brayton cycle, supercritical plant, trans critical plant and organic Rankine cycle-based power systems for multi-generation applications are presented and analyzed thermodynamically. The plant can generate power, heating-cooling for residential applications, and hydrogen simultaneously from a single energy source. Both energetic and exergetic analyses are conducted on this multi-generation plant and its subsystems in order to evaluate and compare them thermodynamically, in terms of their useful product capabilities. The energetic and exergetic effectiveness of the multi-generation system are computed as 44.69% and 42.03%, respectively. After that, a parametric study on each of the subsystems of the proposed combined system is given in order to provide a deeper understanding of the working of these subsystems under different states. Lastly, environmental impact assessments are provided to raise environmental concerns for several operating conditions. For the base working condition, the results illustrate that the proposed plant has 0.5961, 0.0442, 0.6265 and 1.678 of exergo-environmental impact factor, exergy sustainability index, exergy stability factor and sustainability index, respectively.     

A review and design study of blade testing systems for utility-scale wind turbines

Since the blades are one of the most critical components of a wind turbine, representative samples must be experimentally tested in order to ensure that the actual performance of the blades is consistent with their specifications. In particular, it must be demonstrated that the blade can withstand both the ultimate loads and the fatigue loads to which the blade is expected to be subjected during its design service life. In general, there are basically two types of blade testing: static testing and fatigue (or dynamic) testing. This paper includes a summary review of different utility-scale wind turbine blade testing methods and the initial design study of a novel concept for tri-axial testing of large wind turbine blades. This new design is based on a blade testing method that excites the blade in flap-wise and edgewise direction simultaneously. The flap motion of the blade is caused by a dual-axis blade resonance excitation system (BREX). Edgewise motion is delivered by the use of two inclined hydraulic actuators and linear guide rail system is used to move the inclined actuators in the flap-wise direction along the blade motion. The hydraulic system and linear guide rail requirements are analyzed and an initial cost estimate of the proposed system is presented. Recommendations for future work on this proposed system are given in the final section of this work.     

Control design for an autonomous wind based hydrogen production system

This paper presents a complete control scheme to efficiently manage the operation of an autonomous wind based hydrogen production system. This system comprises a wind energy generation module based on a multipolar permanent magnet synchronous generator, a lead-acid battery bank as short term energy storage and an alkaline von Hoerner electrolyzer. The control is developed in two hierarchical levels. The higher control level or supervisor control determines the general operation strategy for the whole system according to the wind conditions and the state of charge of the battery bank. On the other hand, the lower control level includes the individual controllers that regulate the respective module operation assuming the set-points determined by the supervisor control. These last controllers are approached using second-order super-twisting sliding mode techniques. The performance of the closed-loop system is assessed through representative computer simulations.     

Opportunities for hydrogen production in connection with wind power in weak grids

This paper gives an overview of the opportunities that exist for combining wind power and hydrogen (H₂) production in weak grids. It is described how H₂ storage can be applied in both isolated and grid-connected systems, and how the produced H₂ can be utilized for stationary energy supply and/or as a fuel for transportation. The paper discusses the benefits and limitations of the different H₂ storage applications, and presents a logistic simulation model for performance evaluation of wind-H₂ plants. A case study simulating the use of excess wind power in a weak distribution grid to produce H₂ for vehicles has been presented. It is shown that the penetration of wind power can be significantly increased by introducing electrolytic H₂ production as a controllable load. The results also indicate that there are large benefits of using the grid as backup for H₂ production in periods with low wind speed, regarding the H₂ storage sizing and the electrolyser operating conditions.     

Integration of wind turbine with heliostat based CSP/CPVT system for hydrogen production and polygeneration: A thermodynamic comparison

In this study, two wind-solar-based polygeneration systems namely CES-1 and CES-2 are developed, modeled, and analyzed thermodynamically. CES-1 hybridizes a heliostat based CSP system with wind turbines while CES-2 integrates heliostat-based CPVT with wind turbines. This study aims to compare the production and thermodynamics performance of two heliostat based concentrated solar power technologies when hybridized with wind turbines. The systems have been modeled to produce, freshwater, hot water, electricity, hydrogen, and cooling with different cycles/subsystems. While the overall objective of the study is to model two polygeneration systems with improved energy and exergy performances, the performances of two solar technologies are compared. The wind turbine system integrated with the comprehensive energy systems will produce 1.14 MW of electricity and it has 72.2% energy and exergy efficiency. Also, based on the same solar energy input, the performance of the heliostat integrated CPVT system (CES-2) is found to be better than that of the CSP based system (CES-1). The polygeneration thermal and exergy efficiencies for the two systems respectively are 48.08% and 31.67% for CES-1; 59.7% and 43.91% for CES-2. Also, the electric power produced by CES-2 is 280 kW higher in comparison to CES-1.     

Estimation of wind energy production in various sites in Australia for different wind turbine classes: A comparative technical and economic assessment

This study examines the effect of different wind turbine classes on the electricity production of wind farms in three areas of Australia, which present low, low to medium, and medium to high wind potential: Gingin, Armidale, and Gold Coast Seaway. Wind turbine classes determine the suitability of installing a wind turbine in a particulate site. Wind turbine data from six different manufacturers have been used. For each manufacturer, at lest two wind turbines with identical rated power (in the range of 1.5 MW–3 MW) and different wind turbine classes (IEC I, IEC II and/or IEC III) are compared. The results show the superiority of wind turbines that are designed for lower wind speeds (higher IEC class) in all three locations, in terms of energy production. This improvement is higher for the locations with lower and medium wind potential (Gingin and Armidale), and varies from 5% to 55%. Moreover, this study investigates the economical feasibility of a 30 MW wind farm, for all combinations of site locations and wind turbine models.     

Effect of icing roughness on wind turbine power production

The objective of this work is a quantitative analysis of power loss of a representative 1.5‐MW wind turbine subject to various icing conditions. Aerodynamic performance data are measured using a combination of ice accretion experiments and wind tunnel tests. Atmospheric icing conditions varying in static temperature, droplet diameter and liquid water content are generated in an icing facility to simulate a 45‐min icing event on a DU 93‐W‐210 airfoil at flow conditions pertinent to 80% blade span on a 1.5‐MW wind turbine. Iced airfoil shapes are molded for preservation and casted for subsequent wind tunnel testing. In general, ice shapes are similar in 2D profile, but vary in 3D surface roughness elements and in the ice impingement length. Both roughness heights and roughness impingement zones are measured. A 16% loss of airfoil lift at operational angle of attack is observed for freezing fog conditions. Airfoil drag increases by 190% at temperatures near 0° C, 145% near 10° C and 80% near 20° C. For a freezing drizzle icing condition, lift loss and drag rise are more severe at 25% and 220%, respectively. An analysis of the wind turbine aerodynamic loads in Region II leads to power losses ranging from 16% to 22% for freezing fog conditions and 26% for a freezing drizzle condition. Differences in power loss between icing conditions are correlated to variance in temperature, ice surface roughness and ice impingement length. Some potential control strategies are discussed for wind turbine operators attempting to minimize revenue loss in cold‐climate regions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulating offshore hydrogen production via PEM electrolysis using real power production data from a 2.3 MW floating offshore wind turbine

This work presents simulation results from a system where offshore wind power is used to produce hydrogen via electrolysis. Real-world data from a 2.3 MW floating offshore wind turbine and electricity price data from Nord Pool were used as input to a novel electrolyzer model. Data from five 31-day periods were combined with six system designs, and hydrogen production, system efficiency, and production cost were estimated. A comparison of the overall system performance shows that the hydrogen production and cost can vary by up to a factor of three between the cases. This illustrates the uncertainty related to the hydrogen production and profitability of these systems. The highest hydrogen production achieved in a 31-day period was 17 242 kg using a 1.852 MW electrolyzer (i.e., utilization factor of approximately 68%), the lowest hydrogen production cost was 4.53 $/kg H₂, and the system efficiency was in the range 56.1–56.9% in all cases.     

Integration of hydrogen storage system and wind generation in power systems under demand response program: A novel p-robust stochastic programming

Penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) in power systems increase all over the world to overcome current challenges, most importantly environmental issues. Beside advantages of RESs, their integration into the power systems have imposed various challenges considering uncertain and intermitted power output. To cope with these challenges, utilizing energy storage systems with renewable energy sources alongside the demand response (DR) programs are considered as reliable solutions. On the other hand, in an uncertain environment, minimizing worst-case cost or regret is counted as an important criterion to evaluate operation of any system under uncertain parameters. Therefore, in this paper, optimal operation of power systems is solved under penetration of wind turbines, hydrogen storage system, and DR programs in an uncertain environment. To guarantee robust operation of the system under the worst-case scenario, a novel stochastic p-robust optimization method (SPROM) is proposed which combines both stochastic programming and robust optimization approaches where minimizes the worst-case cost or regret level. The performance of the developed model is evaluated considering a six-bus test system under two cases as stochastic optimization (SO) and SPROM. Obtained results show that the maximum regret level is reduced considerably using the proposed SPROM comparing with pure stochastic method.     

Design and economical analysis of hybrid PV–wind systems connected to the grid for the intermittent production of hydrogen

In this paper, several designs of hybrid PV–wind (photovoltaic–wind) systems connected to the electrical grid, including the intermittent production of hydrogen, are shown. The objective considered in the design is economical to maximise the net present value (NPV) of the system.     

Assessment of wind characteristics and wind turbine characteristics in Taiwan

Wind characteristics and wind turbine characteristics in Taiwan have been thoughtfully analyzed based on a long-term measured data source (1961–1999) of hourly mean wind speed at 25 meteorological stations across Taiwan. A two-stage procedure for estimating wind resource is proposed. The yearly wind speed distribution and wind power density for the entire Taiwan is firstly evaluated to provide annually spatial mean information of wind energy potential. A mathematical formulation using a two-parameter Weibull wind speed distribution is further established to estimate the wind energy generated by an ideal turbine and the monthly actual wind energy generated by a wind turbine operated at cubic relation of power between cut-in and rated wind speed and constant power between rated and cut-out wind speed. Three types of wind turbine characteristics (the availability factor, the capacity factor and the wind turbine efficiency) are emphasized. The monthly wind characteristics and monthly wind turbine characteristics for four meteorological stations with high winds are investigated and compared with each other as well. The results show the general availability of wind energy potential across Taiwan.