Planning A Small Scale Wind Electric System In East Central Iowa

The success of a wind-electric generating system depends on several factors. These would include: the available sites, choice of a site from those possibilities, well defined goals, efforts to make it work, adequate planning, matching the right equipment to each other and to the site and its’ own unique characteristics, and an execution plan. A project concerning a small-scale windelectric system is no different in those respects. This paper describes detailed steps taken in determining if a given site is appropriate for further development and the subsequent planning of a small-scale wind-electric system in East-Central Iowa. The wind is characterized and quantified. Equipment is described, but not analyzed. Electrical demand for the site is evaluated. The wind, the equipment and the demand are considered together to create a rough plan for a system that will satisfy a significant proportion of the sites’ total demand. From these pieces, the proportion of each month’s demand is estimated. This work constitutes a feasible case study for wind energy resource management in four-year institutions.