Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
remote locations. Electrical energy is obtained by connecting wind turbine
with the electricity generator.
The performance of the wind power plant depends on the wind kinetic
energy. It depends on the number of design parameter of the wind turbine. For
the wind power plant the wind kinetic energy conversion depends on the
average wind velocity, mechanical energy conversion into electricity and
electricity transmission.
Resilience of the wind power plant is the capacity of the system to
withstand changes of the following parameters: wind velocity, mechanical
energy conversion into electricity, electricity transmission efficiency and
electricity cost. Resilience index comprise following indicators: change in
wind velocity, change in mechanical energy conversion efficiency, change in
conversion factor, and change in transmission efficiency end change in
electricity cost.
The demonstration of the resilience index monitoring is presented by
using following indicators, namely: average wind velocity, power production,
efficiency of electricity production, and power-frequency change in evaluation
of the resilience index of wind power plant special attention is devoted to the
determination of the resilience index for situation with priority given to
individual indicators.
State-of-the-art wind power plants use large spinning blades to capture the
kinetic energy in moving wind, which then is transferred to rotors that produce
electricity [1]. At the best wind sites, wind plants today are nearly competitive
with the conventional natural gas-fired combined-cycle plants -- even when
natural gas prices have recently been at historically low levels. Regions where
average wind speeds exceed 12 miles per hour are currently the best wind
power plant sites [2].
Current costs of wind-generated electricity at prime sites approach the
costs of a new coal-fired power plant. Wind power is the lowest-cost
renewable energy technology available on the market today. Costs of wind
power are projected to continue to fall and may rank the cheapest electricity
source of all options by 2020.
The strength of wind varies, and an average value for a given location
does not alone indicate the amount of energy a wind turbine could produce
there. To assess the frequency of wind speeds at a particular location, a
probability distribution function is often fit to the observed data. Different
locations will have different wind speed distributions. The Rayleigh model
closely mirrors the actual distribution of hourly wind speeds at many locations
[3].
