Wind
Wind Power
Page 2: Installation
Sites
Wind generators are installed at sites with frequently continuous high wind speed, such as the western interior United States and Atlantic coast of Northern Africa:
Figure 2.1 Proposed wind farm site on Northern African coast, to provide 5 to 10 GW of electricity to Europe. Trade winds provide suitable wind power sites on the coast of Northern Africa. Phosphate deposits indicate the trade winds have existed for millions of years. [
NATO]
Figure 2.2 Layout of the above wind power site. [World Bank]
Figure 2.3 Suitable wind power sites in the United States are shown in purple, dark red, and blue.
New Mexico
Portions of New Mexico are suitable for wind power, illustrated by purple areas on the preceding map. This section shows installation of a wind turbine in New Mexico in 2003. Newer wind turbines are even taller than this one.
Figure 2.4 Large cranes are used to install a wind turbine tower in sections. The bottom section of tower is almost in place. Notice door/hatch in bottom section, to be used to enter the tower which has ladder built into the sections to climb to the top of the tower from within the tower. Section on the ground (right) shows ladder attached to the inside of tower. Vertical cables are later strung inside (to help hold sections together) in notches shown at far end of section on the ground.
Figure 2.5 Generator (nacelle) is installed on top of the tower.
Figure 2.6 Rotor with 3 blades is lifted (flown) to attach to the generator.
Wind Speed
To determine wind speed for various heights above ground, a meteorological tower (“met tower”) may be installed at a wind farm.
Taller met towers are very expensive to build. To measure wind speed at greater heights, Sound Detection and Ranging (SODAR) may be used. SODAR is like the doppler sonar on ship hulls that measure water currents underneath, but pointing upward instead of downward.
“interference occurs when side-lobe energy radiating from a SODAR antenna on transmit is reflected back to the antenna by nearby fixed objects such as buildings, trees, mountains, or towers.”
—
Laura Bianco, “Introduction to SODAR and RASS-Wind Profiler Radar Systems” in Cimini et al., eds., Integrated Ground-Based Observing Systems, p. 104
The shapes of trees may sometimes be indicative of wind characteristics at a site:
Figure 2.10 Flagging.
Land topography affects wind flow. Higher wind speeds may be found above ridges (slightly after), and in gaps between ridges.
Wake
A wind vane on the wind turbine determines the wind direction and controls a motor that changes the direction of the turbine rotor axis to make sure it points straight into the wind.
The wind passing generally perpendicular through the rotor area forms a tube that widens after the rotor plane because the rotor has converted some of the wind speed to electricity, causing that tube of wind to slow down (bunch up) thus widening the stream tube downwind.
That widened air tube after the rotor is called the wake and eventually disappears (is overtaken by the atmosphere downstream). After the wake disappears, another turbine can be positioned to extract kinetic energy from the wind again. It must be far enough away to not be in the wake of the turbine in front of it.
The wake starts disappearing from the outer part of the air tube first. Thus, positioning a downstream turbine between upstream turbines (instead of directly behind another turbine) allows it to be less far downstream. This is possible if the wind direction is usually in only one direction.
Figure 2.11 Alternating positioning of wind turbines.
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Wind Power
Overview
Installation (this page)
Scaling
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