Small wind turbines: Sustainability criteria related to the local built environment

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the enhancement of the development of small wind energy considering sustainable energy harvesting criteria. As known, the exploitation of wind energy as an environmental friendly energy source is carried out by wind turbine systems. In order to satisfy local energy needs, low power small scale wind turbines could be used. Their use, contributes to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the local atmosphere, as well as to the consumption of electricity on site where power is produced. In the present work a comparative analysis has been performed taking into consideration two different application sites located in Crete Island, Greece. This analysis is based on actual recordings of the characteristics of the wind and followed by the selection of the optimum installation height, as well as the estimation of the construction cost. This analysis includes two different design cases using two different construction materials for the support tower, in particular steel and aluminium, taking into account the results of the respective advanced finite element analysis models. This way the proposed analysis leads to an enhanced evaluation of the sustainability of the small wind energy systems in the local built environment.

Reaching the Heights: A Desk Study on Exploring Opportunities and Challenges for Lithuania’s Tallest Wind Turbine

“…Additionally, waste management issues need to be addressed as soon as turbine construction begins. Creating an effective waste management plan requires accurately categorising and disposing of construction debris [92]. Priority should be given to recycling and reusing resources, with an emphasis on reducing total environmental impact.…”

Determination of orientation parameters and automatic wind wheel speed control

“…Then according to GOST 13765-86 for springs from steel of round section and design forces on the spring at given wind speeds we choose the parameters of the spring. The following calculations will be performed using the data [11].…”

“…As part of the research work, the team of authors developed the design of WPWLU. Its twelve-bladed WW, as the main unit of the installation, is of maximum all-welded construction with sheet steel blades with variable concavity along the length of the helical shape, ensuring the constancy of the angle of attack of the airflow along the entire length of the blade [11]. Auxiliary base surfaces of WW welded body of flange type, allowing to install blades with initial nominal angle of jamming (setting) equal to 15 0 , accepted based on experience of operation of similar installations.…”

Recent Advances in Vibration Control Methods for Wind Turbine Towers

“…A wind turbine consists of the rotor hub, the nacelle, and the blades, supported by wind turbine towers. The evaluation of a wind turbine is based on two basic parameters, the height of the tower and the wind potential of the location [7]. It is more likely that the wind turbine is more efficient at higher heights due to the increased wind speeds.…”

“…The stiff-stiff tower is less vulnerable to the external dynamic loads; however, cost increases significantly since stiffer design configurations mean larger crosssections and thus greater material consumption. Finally, the soft-stiff design leads to an economical and secure structure with an acceptable trade-off between construction cost and reliability [7]. Offshore wind turbines are mainly designed as soft-stiff structures, typically in a range of 0.3 Hz and 1 Hz for the rotor rotation and blade passing, respectively [105].…”