A heuristic evaluation of the energy performance of a Vestas V52 wind turbine in a peri-urban environment

Abstract

As wind energy continues to expand, new markets for distributed wind applications are expected, including behind-the-meter applications at industrial consumer sites in peri-urban areas. The presence of buildings in these areas can give rise to complex wind regimes that have not been widely studied in the context of medium and large-scale wind turbine deployment in these environments. This PhD examines the impacts of building obstacles on the wind resource and the subsequent impact on the energy performance of a large-scale Vestas V52 wind turbine operating in a peri-urban wind environment. The research is informed by long-term real-world turbine performance data, multilevel onsite LiDAR wind measurements and measurements from a dedicated local offsite met mast. A novel wind turbine electrical energy rose is developed to evaluate the energy predictions of a national mesoscale wind atlas as well as four widely used industry microscale wind flow model approaches. Wind shear, turbulence and gust characteristics are assessed against current wind turbine international design standards and in relation to the site morphological characteristics. A new low-cost morphological site pre-screening framework is developed, recommending wind measurement heights and flow model configurations to improve peri-urban wind turbine micro-siting. The research suggests that this framework could lead to a 10% increase in annual energy output compared to current IEA micro-siting recommendations. The addition of a peri-urban turbulence intensity design reference value of 25% to current IEC design standards is also suggested.

Date of Award	Jan 2023
Original language	English
Supervisor	Philip Griffiths (Supervisor) & Neil Hewitt (Supervisor)