Wind Farm Developers Research Articles

The Learning Process and Technological Change in Wind Power: Evidence from China's CDM Wind Projects

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a project-based carbon trade mechanism that subsidizes the users of climate-friendly technologies and encourages technology transfer. The CDM has provided financial support for a large share of Chinese wind projects since 2002. Using pooled cross-sectional data of 486 registered CDM wind projects in China from 2002 to 2009, we examine the determinants of technological change in wind power from a learning perspective. We estimate the effects of different channels of learning — learning through R&D in wind turbine manufacturing, learning from previous experience of installation, and learning through the network interaction between project developer and turbine manufacturer — on technological change, measured as reductions in projected costs or as increased capacity factor across CDM wind projects. While we find that a manufacturer’s R&D and previous installation experience matter, interactions between wind turbine manufacturers and wind project developer lead to the largest cost reductions. Whereas existing literature suggests that wind power firms can learn from the experience of other wind farm developers, our results indicate that wind power firms mainly learn from their own experience and that knowledge spillovers mostly occur within certain partnerships between wind project developer and foreign turbine manufacturers in China’s wind power industry.

The discourse of "social licence to operate": case study of the Australian wind industry

Social Licence to Operate is a concept from the mining industry that reflects the ongoing acceptance or approval for a development granted by local stakeholders. It is now being applied by wind farm developers. Using the Australian wind industry as a case study, this discourse analysis examined how Social Licence to Operate is perceived and operationalised, and the key themes in this conceptual and applied discourse. Discourse analysis acknowledges that language choices are not accidental and discourse reflects power relationships. The wind industry representatives interviewed considered power over the Social Licence to Operate was shared with community stakeholders. They recognised the stakeholders' power to delay or prevent projects, but rejected the notion that every stakeholder group should have veto power. Social Licence to Operate is seen by the wind industry through a business-oriented perspective, with an emphasis on business risk, and they describe the opposition to wind farms by invoking a metaphor of battle. The industry respondents described Social Licence to Operate as incorporating the values of trust, transparency and participation—which all contribute to creating authentic relationships. These findings can inform Social Licence to Operate research, engagement practices, and also encourage reflection by industry representatives on their implicit intentions for stakeholder engagement.

Ensuring Grid Code Harmonic Compliance of Wind Farms

The prevalence of cabled infrastructure associated with wind farms, combined with the increase in power-electronic interfaces in wind turbines and reactive power plant, has highlighted the pervasive nature of harmonics on electricity networks. Insufficient consideration is given to the effects of harmonics through the low prioritisation of power quality in the Front-End Engineering and Design stage and a lack of awareness of the obligations of the respective parties involved. The resulting designs are incompatible with the requirements of the relevant Grid Codes. This can lead to delays, commercial exposure, restricted network access and subsequent loss of revenue. The obligations of the Transmission Owner (TO), System Operator (SO) and wind farm developer are discussed with respect to Grid Code requirements and the responsibilities of each party in ensuring compliance. The technical aspects of assessing harmonic compliance are described in the context of the design considerations which are made at the various stages of the project development. These include the shift in resonances within the host network, the modification of existing harmonic distortion and the propagation of injected harmonics into the network and through to the extra high voltage, high voltage and medium voltage substations. The ensuing challenges associated with ensuring compliance through filter design are discussed in the context of relevant international standards, including UK ER G5/4-1, IEEE 519, EN 50160 and IEC 61000-3-6. The results indicate that shifts in resonances are more problematic to resolve, compared to the propagation of injected harmonics: injected harmonics are readily absorbed through local filtering and thus the emissions are typically low; in contrast, the effects of shifts in resonances must be transferred back to the point of common coupling, resulting in complex local filtering. Early selection by the developer of appropriate transmission infrastructure and technology can lower the filtering requirement necessary to meet the harmonic specification issued by the host TO.

Specifying Harmonic Emissions for the Connection of Offshore Wind Generation

Offshore wind generation is likely to affect power quality, specifically harmonics, within the transmission or distribution system to which it connects. The system owner/operator undertakes a harmonic assessment study to check that their network subsequent to the connection will operate within permissible harmonic distortion criteria. Based on the results of the assessment subsequent to the connection, they may specify allowable emission levels which may inherently imply that mitigation measures, possibly in the form of harmonic filters, are necessary. This article discusses the assessment methodologies, the likely form of a specification and an iterative compliance review process. A case study is presented which demonstrates the importance of communication between the system owner/operator and offshore wind farm developer.

A Lesson from Cape Wind: Implementation of Offshore Wind Energy in the Great Lakes Should Occur through Multi-State Cooperation

The aftermath of the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico has caused the United States to reevaluate its energy production. In the wake of the tragic oil spill, now known to be the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history, a new source of energy has gained momentum; offshore wind technology is taking hold. On October 6, 2010, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior issued the first offshore renewable energy lease in United States history to Cape Wind Associates, signaling the beginning of a new era in domestic electricity production. While this first lease has sparked a race among states to be the first to implement offshore wind technology, the legal framework that enabled the issuance of the lease remains problematic in one key respect: it applies only to federal bottomlands and therefore fails to provide prospective offshore wind farm developers with access to bottomlands under state control. While this may prove to be only a minor speed bump in an otherwise streamlined process for states on the coasts, it leaves states in the Great Lakes region at a severe disadvantage. Because all land within the Great Lakes is controlled by the surrounding states, the leasing process that allows offshore wind development on the coasts does not apply within the Great Lakes, leaving a gray area in the law. While the Great Lakes region is home to enormous wind resources and political drive for renewable energy, the implementation of offshore wind technology in the region will likely be hampered or significantly delayed due to the regulatory confusion that remains in the absence of an established permitting process.In light of this shortcoming in the federal statute, this Comment analyzes the potential for successful implementation of offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes given the current state-level regulatory framework, and proposes that the Great Lakes states join in multi-state action to establish a streamlined permitting process and attract offshore wind development to the region. In order to provide adequate perspective on the matter, Part II provides a broad overview of the state and federal regulatory incentives established to encourage development of renewable energy and examines the legal claims that have operated as disincentives to the implementation of offshore wind technology. Part III then discusses the federal procedures for issuing offshore renewable energy leases, and describes the geographic and regulatory limitations that confine these procedures to the coasts. Next, Part IV uses Illinois as an example to analyze the extent and causes of the regulatory uncertainty that remains at the state level, and specifically in the Great Lakes region, concluding that, when faced with the threat of costly and time-consuming litigation, prospective developers will avoid siting projects in the Great Lakes. Finally, Part V proposes that the states in the Great Lakes region join together in multi-state action to remedy the shortcoming in the federal law by establishing a permitting process applicable to the state-controlled bottomlands in the Great Lakes.

An Investigation of the Low Performance of the First Wind Farm in Thailand: A Case of Poor Wind Turbine-Site Matching

This research investigates causes of the low performance of the first commercial wind farm in Thailand. The measured data suggests that this wind farm is uncompetitive. We found that this is due to poor turbine-site matching. In contrary to a traditionally held belief, the hub-height and turbine capacity are not the contributing factors. Key performance indicators are obtained for use as benchmarks in future wind farm appraisal. Then a turbine selection method is proposed to increase the capacity factor (CF) of the wind farm. CF is used as the main performance indicator, which can be compared to other wind farms. The real capacity factor (CFR) determined using measured data is 14.90%. This CFR is considerably lower than the estimated capacity factor (CFE) of 21.53%. The low CFR is due to grid instability. In addition, the CFR is lower than the CFE by a factor of 0.69. This information is valuable to investors and wind farm developers in a wind farm feasibility study. A graphical wind turbine-site matching is proposed. Wind turbine-site matching is achieved by using normalised power output plots and power density plots on a probability density graph of the wind site. This process consumes a short period of time. An improved turbine-site matching is achieved.

Territorial intelligence modelling for energy development (TIMED) - a case study for the Baie-des-Sables (Canada) wind farm

This paper presents the application of a new approach, territorial intelligence modelling for energy development (TIMED), developed in response to growing concerns about the social acceptance of wind farms. Project development is based on procedure transparency and involvement of all stakeholders. To do this, the TIMED approach involves two multi-criteria methods: multi-criteria decision aid (MCDA) and participatory and collaborative geographic information systems (GIS). The model was tested in the Baie-des-Sables wind farm plan located in Quebec, Canada. This was done as an academic research and did not impact the current operation of the farm, which started back in November 2006. If this approach requires more efforts from the wind farm developer at the preparation stage it has the advantages of reducing the risks and overall duration of the infrastructure launching.

A method for optimizing the location of wind farms

The optimal location and configuration of wind farms in a large region is important information for policy makers, electricity system planners and wind farm developers. The model developed in this paper uses wind resource data, population data and transmission line locations to find the configuration that produces electricity at minimum cost. Several economic and regulatory scenarios were used to demonstrate the importance of each factor in siting optimally siting wind farms. We demonstrate how gradient based optimization could be applied to discover optimal wind farm location and size. Although the use of gradient based optimization makes the model sensitive to local minima, numerical smoothing is used to reduce this sensitivity.

Large scale technical and economical assessment of wind energy potential with a GIS tool: Case study Iowa

The development of new wind energy projects requires a thorough analysis of land use issues and constraints. At ETH Zurich, an analytical approach has been developed using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to define the location of suitable sites for wind projects and to predict their economic exploitable energy production. The purpose is to estimate the average Annual Energy Production (AEP), with a GIS customized tool, based on physical factors (environmental and anthropological constraints), the wind resource distribution and the technical specifications of the large-scale wind turbines currently present in the US market. Economics data and regulatory parameters are also included. The wind energy potential of the state of Iowa has been estimated: the resulting average AEP of Iowa is 914TWh and the potential total installed capacity is 302GW. A sensitivity analysis of the influence of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) shows that a PPA of 6.5c$/kWh would enable to exploit the 85% of the buildable land with an IRR greater than 15%. This approach is applicable to both larger and more limited regions in order to support energy planners and wind farm developers to set energy strategies and to scout new profitable lands.

Kickoff of Offshore Wind Power in China: Playoffs for China Wind Power Development

Year 2010 is the significant year of offshore wind power development in China. The first national offshore wind power project is connected to the grid, and the first round of concession projects marks the strong support from central government. It is foreseeable that offshore wind power capacity in China will expand rapidly in the future, and the understanding pattern of it is crucial for analyzing the overall wind market in China and global offshore wind power development. This paper firstly provides an overview of global offshore wind power development, then in China, including historical installation, potential of resources, demonstration and concession projects, and target of development. Based on this, analysis on current policies related to offshore wind power and their implementation, current wind farm developers and turbine manufacturers of China's offshore wind industry is done. All the previous analysis generates complete evaluation of current status and some issues and trends of China offshore wind power development, based on which some policy recommendations for sustainable development of offshore wind power are made.

Induced Diffusion of Innovation: A Study on Wind Energy Development in Karnataka

Diffusion of windmill technology is necessary for socio-economic development in the context of acute shortage of energy. This paper attempts to understand the patterns of this diffusion of innovation and its relationship with several independent factors, such as number of wind turbines allotted, installed capacity, rotor hub height, wind energy generation rating, and the number of wind fi rm developers. Methodologies like the augmented Dickey–Fuller test, and the Engle–Granger co-integration and error correction model are used. Empirical results indicate that one Indian state, i.e., Karnataka, has enough potential for wind diffusion with logistic pattern of growth. This potentiality exists because of the cointegration relationship between diffusion of innovation and each of the independent variables with long-run equilibrium adjustments. However, results also indicate that the quality of wind turbines, appropriate sites, and effi ciency of wind farm developers should be a matter of great concern. Therefore, this study will be useful to public policy makers for the realization of effi cient, reliable, and sustainable energy in the economy.

Sensegiving as mise-en-sens—The case of wind power development

In seeking to advance the understanding of the production, diffusion and negotiation of meaning in and between organisations, we introduce below the notion of mise-en-sens. Mise-en-sens refers to the performing art term of mise-en-scène and builds on the French term sens denoting meaning as well as direction. Starting from a qualitative analysis of how Swedish wind farm developers manage the permit-application process for their projects, we suggest in a first-order analysis that the activities of the developers consist in contextualising the project, ontologising it and neutralising criticism addressed to it. In a second-order analysis, we conceptualise these activities as a mise-en-sens. Mise-en-sens spells out the way in which developers, as meaning managers, stage the project and provide it with direction. Having positioned mise-en-sens in relation to the notions of sensemaking and sensegiving, we suggest in conclusion that mise-en-sens could serve to describe not only the activity of wind farm developers but also, for example, that of project managers or entrepreneurs in general since they too are engaged in the management of meaning.

Scaling new heights [offshore wind farm development

This paper discusses the many challenges faced by offshore wind farm developers and how these can be overcome. While costs, finance, construction and connecting the farm to the electricity network are legitimate concerns for developers, they need to realize that the issues of shipping, fishing, birds, and radar for aviation also have to be addressed.

Statistical evaluation of voltages in distribution systems with embedded wind generation

The commercial viability of wind-driven embedded renewable generation (ERG) projects is sensitive to connection costs. These costs vary with the voltage level at which the ERG is connected; generally the higher the voltage, the higher the cost. Windfarm developers of ERG therefore prefer to connect at lower voltages. However, because distribution networks are normally limited by permissible voltage fluctuations rather than by thermal considerations, network operators prefer to connect ERG at higher voltages where their overall impact on voltage profiles is minimal. This conflict of objectives between ERG developers and network operators is usually settled through simple deterministic load flow studies, usually based on one critical case representing conditions of minimum load and maximum ERG output. Such studies only consider extreme events and do not take into account the likelihood of these events occurring. However, new European standards describe voltage characteristics in statistical terms. Although these standards are not intended for use in assessing the level of penetration of ERG, they point to statistical and probabilistic approaches as the way forward in such assessments. This is particularly important for wind generation because of its stochastic output. Two simple wind speed models based on the Markov modelling technique are presented, which may be used to evaluate the impact of windfarms. The models give satisfactory results when applied to the evaluation of voltage profiles in distribution networks. The probability density function of voltage can be obtained and used in assessing the level of ERG that might be accepted on an existing network. A 281-node generic distribution system model based on a real network is used to illustrate the application of the proposed models.

Wind Energy

Abstract Wind energy comes originally from the sun. The sun heats the atmosphere unevenly and creates air movement between hot and cold regions: Approximately 2% of the energy from the sun is transformed into "kinetic" from the air. Some 35% of the kinetic energy is dispersed in an atmospheric layer, one kilometre thick. If only 1O% of the available wind energy is produced on the earth's surface, there is a potential of 1.3 × 1014 W for the whole planet. If this power were harnessed and made available, the energy produced on a yearly basis would be equivalent to 10 to 15 times the actual energy consumption of the world; obviously, it is not possible to harness all the wind energy on the surface of the earth, not to mention oceans. Nevertheless, these numbers show the potential importance of wind energy among the "renewables". In Canada alone, there is a potential of at least 50 000 MW in a radius of less than one hundred miles from existing transmission lines. Unfortunately, wind energy has to be taken "where is and as is". It cannot be transported, accumulated, or concentrated in its original form. Nevertheless, wind energy has obvious advantages; it is inexhauslible and is not influenced by political borders. Energy and Power from the Wind A mass moving at a certain speed had a kinetic energy of 1/2 m V2. If the flow is moving at a speed V, perpendicular to the surface S, the mass of air going through the surface per second is given by: Ms = SVp, where p is [he air density (p = 1.25 kg/m3). The kinetic energy available per second which is the power, is equal to: (Equation in full paper) With S in m2, p in kg/m3 and V in m/sec., P is in watts. If one doubles the wind speed, the wind power will go up by a factor of eight. However, no energy transformation is perfect. If all the kinetic energy in the air approaching a wind turbine were extracted by the spinning blades, the air would stop. But the air cannot stop. If it did, all the rest of the air behind it would have to spill around the rotor. Betz has shown that maximum conversion "Betz efficiency" is about 59.3%. "Cp" is the ratio of the power that a wind turbine can extract from the total power contained in the flow (Cp max, = 0.593). Every type of wind turbine has its own characteristic C" (Fig. 1). Principle of Wind Turbine Operation There are two major wind turbine families-drag machines (Savonius rotor) and lift machines (Darrieus rotor). Drag machines generally use the wind to rotate a horizontal axle with vertical blades attached to it. Each blade has a different drag coefficient* for its concave and convex surface (C concave**, C convex). The difference in drag forces (F concave*** - F convex) makes the system rotate (Fig. 2).led. Windfarm developers lease or purchase wind rights on a suitable tract, purchase wind turbines from various manufacturers, contract for the installation of the equipment, negotiate power sales contract with one of the California utility companies, and arrange financing through limited partnerships. The impetus for this activity is due to three factors:Substantial U.S. energy tax credits are available to individual investors who enter into limited partnership agreements with a wind farm developer.