Department of Physics, The University of West Indies, Mona


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P 36D/PHYS3680
Wind & Hydro Power

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Prerequisites : P26A/PHYS2670 and P36B/PHYS3660

Aim

To describe and explain the use of wind and hydro energy sources and the basic principles of operation of wind and hydro turbines for power generation.

Objectives

To explain how winds are classified, based on wind speed, and determine the class of a desired wind regime.
To apply the basic statistics in wind speed and power distribution analysis.
To perform an assessment of a site for power generation.
To describe the basic operation of wind and hydro turbines, and processes of conversion of wind and hydro power to electrical power.
To design and test a micro wind system for small scale applications.
To develop planning strategies for stand alone turbines, wind farms, and hydro power plants.
To apply the concept of wind hybrid systems in rural communities.

Content

Wind Power

Brief overview of global wind power.
Introduction to boundary layer. Turbulence, roughness length and wind velocity profiles (without proof).
Origin and nature of atmospheric winds. Wind types (breezes and relief). Beaufort wind scale and wind classes.
Wind resource assessment: Anemometry and site prospecting.
Introduction to basic statistics: Weibull and Rayleigh distributions.
Wind energy and power density calculations.
Components and basic operation of WEC (Wind Energy Conversion) systems and turbine types.
Introduction to conversion of wind power to electrical power.
Turbine performance: Air foil lift, drag and stall. Capacity factor, expected energy, efficiency, power losses and turbulence, tip losses. Effect of blade pitch and stall on performance.
Planning aspects of wind farms: Investment strategies. Estimation of cost of electricity from a typical stand alone turbine or wind farm.
Environmental assessment: Noise, visual impact, and other environmental impacts.
Grid and rural power: large and small turbines.
Introduction to wind hybrid systems (solar, diesel, hydro) for small communities.
Application of wind power to water pumping and irrigation.
Energy storage: batteries and flywheels

Basics of Hydro Power

Introduction to hydrologic (water) cycle, and a brief overview of global hydro power.
Hydro resource assessment.
Brief treatment of the principle of Pelton, Francis and Kaplan turbines
Introduction to conversion of hydro power to electrical power.
Turbine characteristics, losses.
Energy storage: pumped storage facilities.

Evaluation

2 -hour Final Examination 60%

In-Course (1-hour) Test 15%

Practical work 15%

Case study (hydro power) 10%

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