Advancing small wind turbine design and testing

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This research program addresses pressing research needs of the Canadian wind energy industry. The majority of Canadian wind turbine manufacturers produce small wind turbines (<50 kW capacity); this research program focuses on the needs of this segment of the industry. The design of wind turbines requires fully understanding the wind climate in which wind turbines operate, including the characteristics of gusts and turbulence. Small wind turbines operate in a much wider range of wind climates than larger ones, often close to the ground or near buildings and trees. Once the wind climate is understood, design of small turbines requires knowing how to model wind effects on the turbine. The design of tail systems that keep the turbine yawed into the wind is a particularly important design issue unique to smaller turbines. And once a turbine is designed, methods of testing its performance are needed that are much faster and more economical than those currently used. This research program will collect and analyze extremely high resolution wind and turbine performance data, and provide more detailed wind information to small wind turbine designers. Building on current research, methods of predicting the performance impact of locating small turbines in proximity to buildings and obstacles will be developed. The design of tail systems will be systematically approached with the goal of developing yaw systems that keep the turbine aligned with the wind and producing power even in gusts and turbulence. New methods of characterizing wind turbine performance ("power curves") will be developed. Methods will be developed to more fully utilize the information collected during traditional tower-based power curve measurements, and for very small turbines, research will be conducted to overcome the limitations of vehicle-based testing, such as inaccurate reproduction of gusts experienced by tower-mounted turbines.