A report on

Development of the PMD Wind Turbine Power Calculator

Prepared by MUHAMMAD YOUSAF Assistant Meteorologist Renewable Energy Research Cell Wind Mapping Project on January 20, 2004

Submitted to: Mr. Abdul Hameed Director Maintenance Division, Pakistan Meteorological Department, University Road, Karachi-75270

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Introduction
The essence of the Wind Mapping Project was to calculate the Wind Power Potential present at different sites along the Sindh-Mekran Coast and the Power Output of the Wind Turbines if installed at these sites. In this regard a Wind Turbine Power Calculator was developed indigenously in October 2003. It was approved by the Director-General Pakistan Meteorological Department in December 2003 and was named as the PMD Wind Turbine Power Calculator.

Background Problems
As there was no prior training of the employees of the Pakistan Meteorological Department in the field of Wind Energy therefore the team of Wind Mapping Project has to make their start from the very scratch. The team accessed every possible source of the knowledge including information present on the Internet, books on this topic, the experts from the Pakistan Meteorological Department and some other sources. All these proved very helpful in understanding the concepts of the wind energy. It is worth-mentioning that in the early stages of the Project a Danish website http://www.windpower.org proved very helpful. Besides other information this site also contains a Wind Turbine Power Calculator. In that early period the team has been using this Danish Wind Turbine Power Calculator. But with the passage of time the team of Wind Mapping Project encountered some drawbacks and limitations of this Danish Calculator. For example the technique for extrapolating the wind speed is not adequate. Also it only accepts the value of Weibull shape parameter in the range from 1 to 3, which is in blatant contrast with the conditions found in our part of the world.

Solutions for the Problems

Confronting these inadequacies and limitation, it was decided that first we must use more sophisticated extrapolation technique for better estimation of wind speed at 50 meters and secondly to endeavor to develop the same kind of Wind Turbine Power Calculator as the Danish Wind Turbine Power Calculator is, to overcome the limitation of the Weibull shape parameter. In this way it became a two-step process. We separated these two steps from each other. In the first step we applied the extrapolation technique using both Log Law and Power Law separately for estimating the wind speed at the higher altitude i.e. 50 meters on each of our one minute observation. Hence we got the one-minute average wind speed at 50 meters. By using this method we also overcome the problem of having different Surface Roughness Zo in different directions. Then the Weibull shape and scale parameters were calculated using these one-minute averages of 50 meters.

Towards the PMD Wind Turbine Power Calculator

Now we have the Weibull shape and scale parameters of the altitude for which we want to estimate the Wind Power Potential and the Wind Turbine Power Output. We also have Page 2 of 8

the temperature observations from our automatic Data Loggers. From open source, the Power Curves of the Wind Turbines, for which we aspire to calculate the Power Output, were obtained. We also know that of what powers Turbine we are using and what is the rotor diameter of the Turbine. Now the stage is set for the development of the Wind Turbine Power Calculator. Above-mentioned parameters serve as the input for our Calculator. For the sake of brevity we enumerate them as below:

Input to the Calculator:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Air temperature Weibull shape & scale parameters Power Curve of the turbine Power of the turbine Rotor Diameter of the turbine

The term Input to the Calculator should not be confused with the term Input to the Turbine as these are two different things. Using above Inputs to Calculator we will be able to calculate the following items. These can be termed as the Output of the Calculator. Again this Output of the Calculator should not be confused with the term Output of the Turbine.

Output of the Calculator:

1. 2. 3. 4. Wind Power Potential at the site (Input to the turbine) Output of the turbine Capacity Factor of the turbine Output of the whole specific period i.e. monthly or yearly

Now we will discuss the relations used in the Wind Turbine Power Calculator.

Wind Power Potential at the site (Input to the turbine)

Wind Power Potential at the site is the potential possessed by the Wind due to its kinetic energy. As Turbine itself causes some roughness and also some part of the airflow is diverted outside the rotor area due to the high pressure area in front of the rotor, thus decreasing the potential therefore it is essential to calculate the Wind Power Potential in the absence of the Turbine. The relation for the Wind Power Potential is as under: Wind Power Potential = F(Vi) * P(Vi)

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Where = Summation sign. Normally in Wind Industry the Binning of Wind is taken up to 25m/s. But it was observed that for the smaller values of the Weibull shape parameter the Weibull curve extends towards the higher wind speeds therefore the area under the curve up to 25m/s is not 100% as shown in the figure-1 the area under the curve for K=1.1 is only 91% whereas in figure-2 it is almost 100% for K=2.9.
Weibull pdf for K=1.1 & C=9 m/s
0.14 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00

Weibull pdf for K=2.9 & C=9 m/s

0.14 0.12 0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00

Fig-1

F(Vi)

Fig-2

F(Vi)

pdf = Probability Density Function This is why for better approximation of the Wind Power Potential we took the Binning up to 40m/s. Vi = Middle value of ith Bin (Wind Speed Classes)

F(Vi) = Weibull Probability of each wind speed which is calculated as described below F(Vi) = (K/C) *(Vi/C) K-1 *EXP (-(Vi/C) K) K = Weibull shape parameter C = Weibull scale parameter K = (Standard Deviation / Avg V)-1.086 C = Avg V / (1+1/K) or C 1.13 * Avg V = Gamma Function Standard Deviation = (Variance) 0.5 Variance = Vi 2 * (RF) (Avg V) 2 Avg V = Average Wind Speed = Vi * RF Page 4 of 8

RF RF

= Relative Frequency = No of hours of particular wind speed / Total hours of Observation

P(Vi) = Power of each wind speed P(Vi) = * * (Vi)3 = Air Density

While calculating the Air Density the worth-mentioning thing is that we dont have the Barometers installed at our sites, which means that we dont have the observation of the prevailing Air Pressure. But thanks to the fact that our sites are very close to the Sea as well as they are not at high altitude therefore we managed to use the Standard Mean Sea Level Air Pressure that is 1013.25 hPa. The relation used in calculating the Air Density is as follows: = (P/R*T) * EXP ((-g*H)/(R*T)) Where P = Air Pressure => 101325 pascal R = General Gas Constant => 287 J/Kg*K T = Air Temperature at 10 meters height g = Acceleration due to gravity => 9.8 m/s2 H = Height Power Curve of Bonus 600/44
700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 Fig-3 5 10 15 20 25 30

Power Output of the Wind Turbine

As efficiency of an engine cannot be 100% therefore the Power Output of the Wind Turbine is always less than the Wind Power Potential at the site. For calculating the Page 5 of 8

Power Output of the Wind Turbine we again used the Weibull probabilities along with the Wind Turbines data that is provided by the Wind Turbine manufacturer. A Power Curve is defined for every Wind Turbine at standard temperature of 15 oC with the standard Air Density of 1.225 Kg/m3. The Power Curve of the Wind Turbine Bonus 600/44 MK IV is shown in the figure-3. The Wind Power Output of the Turbine at Standard Air Density is given as under: Power output (Kilowatt-hour) = F(Vi) * PC(i) Where F(Vi) = Probability of each wind speed. PC(i) = Power Curve of the turbine corresponding to the each bin. And the Wind Power Output of the Turbine at the prevailing Air Density is given as under: Power output (Kilowatt-hour) = ( F(Vi) * PC(i) ) * ( p / s) Where p = Prevailing Air Density s = Standard Air Density => 1.225 Kg/m3 Similarly Power output (Watt-hour) = ( F(Vi) * PC(i) ) * ( p / s) * 1000

Power Output of the Turbine per Unit Area

Power output per square metre of rotor area tells us how much of the power input per square metre the machine will convert to electricity. Generally, it is cost effective to build the machine to use about 30 per cent of the power available. Power output(W/m2) = ( F(Vi) * PC(i) * 1000 ) * ( p / s) / Area of the turbine rotor If D is the Rotor Diameter of the Turbine then Radius r = D / 2 And Area of the turbine rotor = * r2

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Capacity Factor of the Turbine

Capacity factor tells us how much the turbine uses the rated capacity of its (main) generator. C.F. = ( F(Vi) * PC(i)) * ( r / s) / Pt

Energy Output of the Specific Period e.g. (KWh/ Year):

Energy Output of the specific period For this purpose we can either use Capacity Factor or the Power Output of the turbine. Energy Output (KWh / Year) = C.F. * Pt * Number of hours in a Year Or Energy Output(KWh/Year) = ( F(Vi) * PC(i) )*( r / s)*Number of hours in a Year

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References: http://www.windpower.org http://www.windpower.org/en/tour/wres/pow/index.htm http://www.weibull.com/ http://www.weibull.com/LifeDataWeb/the_weibull_distribution.htm http://www.wasp.dk/Menu_Support/FAQ/EmergentExample.html Special thanks to: Jack Kline Member - American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) USA Stewart Craine Renewable Energy Engineer Australia

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