Standards and Tests: Small Wind Turbines

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Standards and TestsSmall Wind Turbines

• Brent Summerville PE
• Technical Director
• Small Wind Certification Council
• Commissioners Forum Urban Wind Turbines
• July 30, 2010, 1pm - 4pm

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SWCC Small Wind Certification Council

• New independent, third-party certification body
  to serve North America
• Certify that small wind turbines (SWTs) meet the
  requirements of the new AWEA Small Wind Turbine
  Performance and Safety Standard
• Used as state-level eligibility for incentives

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What is the AWEA Standard?

• AWEA Small Wind Turbine Performance and Safety
  Standard (AWEA Standard 9.1 2009)
• Incorporates, with modifications, existing IEC
  standards for small wind turbines (IEC 61400
  series)
• Written to ensure the quality of the wind turbine
  can be assessed while imposing only reasonable
  costs and difficulty

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Equipment Eligibility

• Per the AWEA standard and IEC standards
• Newly manufactured, electricity-producing wind
  turbines with a swept area up to 200 m2
• 200m2 16m diameter rotor 50-65 kW
• Horizontal and vertical axis turbines are
  eligible

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Certification based on

• an evaluation of
• Wind turbine design (Structural Analysis)
• Field testing

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Field Testing

• SWCC Test Organization List now has 26 test
  organizations
• 4 new NREL supported Regional Test Centers

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NREL Independent Testing Project, Round 1
Joe Smith joe.smith_at_nrel.gov
Windspire
Gaia-Wind 11kW
ARE 442
EW50
VT10
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IEC Tests Performed

• Power Performance power curve, annual energy
  production
• Acoustic Noise sound power level, sound
  pressure levels
• Duration operational time fraction, power
  degradation, inspections, dynamic behavior
• Safety and Function - verification of designed
  behavior

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View Results at
www.nrel.gov/wind/smallwind/independent_testing.ht
ml
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Upcoming event on Urban Wind Energy August
11-12, 2010 Boulder, CO
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Beech Mtn Test Site Appalachian State North
Carolina
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Myres Hill Test Site TUV-NEL East Kilbride,
Scotland
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Beech Mtn Test Site Appalachian State North
Carolina
Alternative Energy Institute Test Site West Texas
AM Canyon, Texas Average turbulence intensity
of 0.10
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Installed in Urban Environment
Tested in Open Terrain
Higher turbulence reduced performance higher
stresses on the design potentially inadequate
design
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Installed on a Building
Tested on a Tower
Stresses and dynamic behavior assessed on
ground-mounted tower dynamic loading and
stresses on a building are unknown
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(No Transcript)
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http//www.caebridge.com/urban-wind-and-rooftop-tu
rbine-placement
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Urban Studies

• MT2 the maintenance team for IEC 61400-2 Design
  requirements for small wind turbines
• Research projects to better understand wind
  characteristics in the urban environment
• Turbulence
• Effects on reliability, performance and
  structural design of SWTs

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Murdoch University - Jonathan Whale

• How to accurately characterize turbulence
• How does measured turbulence compare with models
  from -2

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Excerpts from Japanese studyA Study of the
Small Wind Turbine in an Urban site

• Hideki Tokuyama Nasu Denki Tekko Co.
• Masafumi Kawakami Zephyr Co.
• Yasuhiro Takata NIKKO Co.

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A Power performance of a Micro Wind Turbine for
a Field Test on an Urban Site
In order to examine the power performance in the
urban site, we perform a field test for a micro
wind turbine.
3300
2580
This position is 8m in height from the ground.
Surroundings of this place is the environment
where is lined with buildings.
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Wind environment on an urban site
Turbulence intensity
The turbulence intensity is calculated by using
the set of 10 minutes data,
In a urban area, TI shows the tendency which
becomes large. The value of TI becomes about
0.3.
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Conclusion

• Potential mismatch between conditions of testing
  and certification of SWTs and the conditions seen
  by SWTs installed in the built environment
• Research is underway to better understand urban
  conditions and how these conditions relate to the
  current design and testing standards
• Research needed on safety issues and dynamic
  loading on buildings

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Thanks

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• Brent Summerville PE
• Technical Director, SWCC
• Brent_at_smallwindcertification.org