Your Questions About Wind Turbine Generators Types

admin answers:

As can be seen from the power curves in the first link, there is nothing till about 12km/h wind, then only a small fraction of the maximum power which is reached at around 28km/h. It is important to undertake a proper survey, as wind shear can have a large influence. The Vestas site has advice about planning, but not much detail. Send them an email.

In this kind of situation, with no grid to fall back on, it is usual to have diesel generators running to smooth the load. These are special “low load” types (see the 6th link below). They run on no load when the wind is there, synchronised with the wind generators.

I should warn you that it is easy to convince yourself that a wind system is ok when it isn’t, because you want it to be true. There are all sorts of considerations. It may make sense to have oversized turbines so you still get enough power despite bad wind. What happens when no-one is using power? One or two big ones or lots of smaller ones? You need the turbine manufacturer and/or experienced consultants to help make these decisions with a proper site appraisal. If the trees are all horizontal that is a good start. It should definitely be what most people would think is a windy place, and with steady winds. Solar panels are easier to engineer, perhaps lower risk, but it does depend on where you are too. No clouds in that case. It is not uncommon to have them together, with the low load diesels.

You probably already know the peak power demands from existing power supplies. You should try to factor in for 25 years growth of island power usage too. The figure varies, especially because or airconditioning/heating situation. One could say a typical is 4kWh per house per day. You have to consider community buildings too. This figure takes no account of peak demand anyway. It tells you how much fuel you need for diesel generators.

Vestas is a Danish pioneer in larger wind systems, with some innovative features.
The first link shows power versus wind speed.
The second link also has these for the latest models, look for the brochures. It also gives advice about
The third link has a list of other manufacturers.
The 4th and 5th links have pictures of wind farms with some details that could be helpful for contacts.
The sixth link is about low load diesels.

admin answers:

Climbing 200 feet is important. Once a year someone has to climb down and hand inspect each blade. Being comfortable working on machinery at 200 feet is required. You don’t climb much in nasty weather, but you will climb to the nacelles in winter.

Most windmills use a induction generator with a back to back inverter. The generator generates power at whatever frequency, and the inverter converts it to 60hz. Being able to trouble shoot this type of equipment is a plus.