Open AccessPower Curve of a Wind Generator Suitable for a Low Wind Speed Site to Achieve a High Capacity Factor
Author(s) -
Gihwan Yoon,
Hyewon Lee,
Sang Ho Lee,
Don Hur,
Yong Cheol
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of electrical engineering and technology/journal of electrical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.226
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 2093-7423
pISSN - 1975-0102
DOI - 10.5370/jeet.2014.9.3.820
Subject(s) - wind speed , weibull distribution , wind power , meteorology , environmental science , wind generator , wind profile power law , generator (circuit theory) , renewable energy , marine engineering , power (physics) , engineering , electrical engineering , physics , mathematics , statistics , quantum mechanics
It is well known that energy generated by a wind generator (WG) depends on the wind resources at the installation site. In other words, a WG installed in a high wind speed area can produce more energy than that in a low wind speed area. However, a WG installed at a low wind site can produce a similar amount of energy to that produced by a WG installed at a high wind site if the WG is designed with a rated wind speed corresponding to the mean wind speed of the site. In this paper, we investigated the power curve of a WG suitable for Korea's southwestern coast with a low mean wind speed to achieve a high capacity factor (CF). We collected the power curves of the 11 WGs of the 6 WG manufacturers. The probability density function of the wind speed on Korea's southwestern coast was modeled using the Weibull distribution. The annual energy production by the WG was calculated and then the CFs of all of the WGs were estimated and compared. The results indicated that the WG installed on the Korea's southwestern coast could obtain a CF higher than 40 % if it was designed with the lower rated speed corresponding to the mean wind speed at the installation site.