E-Book Overview
Wind is currently the most promising renewable source of energy. After considerable technical development, wind turbine technology is now entering a period of rapid commercialization, especially where it applies to individual farmsteads, small communities in many remote or island areas, and in much of the developing or underdeveloped world where there is no access to an electric grid supply. This book looks at how, by integrating a wind turbine into such communities, fuel consumption can be reduced and money can be saved. Technically this is not easy, because variations in the wind that occur from second to second can cause power quality and logistic problems. Wind diesel technology has to date been largely a research topic. However, the experts who have written this book and who have collaborated since 1985 on a technical basis under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, recognize that the relevant knowledge, understanding, and hardware are now sufficiently well advanced to allow commercial, reliable schemes to be implemented. This book aims to speed this process by offering a comprehensive introduction to the various aspects of the technology for possible developers.
E-Book Content
This book provides for the first time in a single volume the collective knowledge of many leading researchers on state-of-the-art wind-diesel technology. It contains the results and advice of numerous experts from many different countries, and has been carefully edited to provide a coherent reference volume. Wind has long been recognised as one of the most promising 'renewable' sources of power, and much development and commercialisation of the technology has taken place in recent years. The first half of the book discusses selection of an appropriate system from the different wind-diesel options available, taking into account the needs of a particular community and the available wind resource. It then goes on to describe in detail how a practical system should be designed. The second half of the book is concerned with getting the best out of a system once it is installed. It starts by presenting case studies to illustrate systems that work excellently, and some that have been disappointing. For complex systems, modelling can be very useful for getting the optimum configuration and these are discussed in a separate chapter. The following chapter discusses the installation, monitoring, and maintenance of winddiesel systems. The final chapter of the book is devoted to the economics of running a wind-diesel system. The book will be useful to all professional engineers and researchers who are interested in wind energy conversion. It is hoped that the collected knowledge of these leading experts will serve to hasten the development and application of winddiesel systems.
Wind-Diesel Systems
Wind-Diesel Systems A Guide to the Technology and its Implementation Prepared under the auspices of the International Energy Agency
Edited by Ray Hunter and George Elliot
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011^211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1994 First published 1994 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data available ISBN 0 521 43440 8 hardback Transferred to digital printing 2004
Contents
Editors' note
ix
Foreword
1
How to use this book
3
Chapter 1
5
Wind-diesel system options Remote power, Simple wind-diesel combinations, Energy storage - the advantages and disadvantages, Load management, Electrical generator options, System architecture op