Small-scale 5.1 kW wind turbine on-grid connected for outdoor illumination of a small residential district

Abstract

In this paper a power supply system based on 5.1 kW wind turbine on-grid connected used for outdoor illumination of a small residential district is analysed. The wind resource for the proposed site is obtained mainly from NASA Surface meteorology and Solar Energy database. The load demand curve is obtained analysing the cadastral map of the residential district, the illumination requirements for road lighting, the road luminaire arrangement, the technical specification of the luminaire and the number of operating hours per year. The illumination system design is performed using DIALux software. The on-grid power supply system is analysed using HOMER software. Three sensitive parameters are considered: the annual average wind velocity, the hub height, and the carbon dioxide penalties, for which 150 different power supply systems are computed and analysed with the HOMER software. Considering the net present cost as the objective function, an optimal curve is obtained which allows to decide which power supply systems are prohibitive and which are feasible. The security of electric power supply of the system analysed in this paper is provided by the grid itself, the renewable power source being responsible for decreasing the CO2 emissions produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.