Course Information / course syllabus

Course Syllabus 2016

Objectives

The course Wind Power Systems aims at providing knowledge about the wide area of technology that is needed for persons working in the wind energy industry or related industry, such as generation or network companies.

At the end of the course you should be able to:

• give some basic definitions (power curve, overall efficiency, Betz limit, stall and pitch regulation, etc.),

• understand basic concepts, such as power in the wind, vertical distribution of wind speeds, power production and efficiency of a wind turbine, energy yield of a wind turbine from a site,

• calculate energy yield of a wind turbine using actual wind speed measurements or approximate data,

• describe the main wind turbine design concepts, main differences, advantages, disadvantages,

• understand basic concepts from grid integration of wind turbines (voltage at the connection point, active, reactive power, strength of the grid, power quality of a wind turbine),

• describe some effects that wind power has on power system operation and grid investments,

• describe operation of hybrid systems (wind/diesel, wind/battery/diesel),

• describe effects that wind power has on environment,

• describe different economical support schemes for wind power.

In order to receive a higher grade (A-D), you will also need to show that you are able to

• derive the important formulas studied during the course (power in the wind, Betz limit, etc.),

• analyse and compare characteristics of different wind turbines,

• present some control possibilities of wind turbines,

• analyse wind conditions, and wind farm layout possibilities of the particular site,

• perform basic calculations and analysis for grid connection of a wind turbine,

• describe main aspects treated in the Grid Codes for connection of wind turbines and explain why those aspects are important.

Prerequisites

60 HP (basic mechanics, basic physics, complex numbers, numerical methods), and documented proficiency in English B or equivalent. Basic knowledge in Matlab programming is recommended.

Course Registration

You must register for this course through KTH's web registration system. Please contact student office STEX for issues related to registration.

You must also register here (EPE Registration)  for internal usage. 

Course Structure

The course includes 24 lectures, 5 exercise sessions and a five-hour examination. It is taught in English. Reading suggestions related to each lecture are given in the schedule on KTH Social and at the end of this document. During the course assistance hours, the teaching assistant will be available to assist the students with the assignments and/or project work, and review the completed home assignments.

Student Office

STEX – Studerandeexpeditionen
Osquldas väg 10
Phone 08-790 9086/7

Course Literature

The following books are highly recommended for this course:

• J. F. Manwell, J. G. McGowan and A. L. Rogers, Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application, Second Edition. 2010 

• Eric Hau, Wind turbines. Fundamentals, Technologies, Application, Economics. 2013

• Robert Gasch and Jochen Twele, Wind Power Plants. Fundamentals, Design, Construction and Operation. 2012

The first book can be bought from STEX for 500 SEK. 

Home Assignments

You can work on five facultative assignments that should give you a better understanding. All assignments will be marked, but only the best four can give up to 2.5 bonus points each for the exam (for a maximum of 10 extra points in total). The bonus points are valid for the exam in January and the re-exam in June next year.

The assignments should be completed individually and a written report has to be submitted through the KTH Social WEB system. The submission platform can be found under the title "Assignments" on the left column of this webpage. If Matlab is used for completing the assignments the code should be included with the report. Solutions to the assignments must be well motivated and explained in detail. All equations used must be written clearly and all variables clarified. Figures and tables must be properly scaled and have labels and captions. Write your name and personal number on the front page of the assignments.

The assignments can be found under the title "Instruction for Assignments" on the left column of this webpage. The teaching assistant (see table below) will be available to answer questions during the scheduled course assistance hours.

Project

There is also a course project, where a group of 3 or 4 students conducts technical and economical pre-feasibility study for an imaginary wind farm project given real wind data, location, electrical network topology etc.

The project description and data will be uploaded on this webpage under the title "Project".

Each project group will also receive a project report from another group to read. They should then act as an opponent by preparing some questions to ask about the report.

Upon completing of the project, the students are rewarded 1.5 hp (ECTS credits).

The reports summarizing the results of the project should be submitted has to be submitted through the WEB system.

All presentations will be on Monday December 14, 10-12 in the rooms: L42, L43, L44, B22 and B23.
The presentations should be around 15 minute long.

Examination

Rules regulating written examinations at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) can be found on KTH Intranet.

The examination is a single-part examination. Upon completing the course work and passing the final
exam, which is given twice a year, the students are awarded 6 hp (ECTS credits). The regular exam is on Saturday 16 January and a re-examination will take place in June (details to be announced).

At KTH it is compulsory to register for examinations. In order to be eligible for a seat during the exam,
the examinee must file this registration in advance. Bookings must be made in advance through
https://www.kth.se/student/minasidor/.

The final grade of the course is given according to the table below.

Study trip

We plan to organize a 2-day study trip involving a visit to a wind farm and a visit to a company, e.g. a wind turbine manufacturer or a system operator. For the study trip in 2016 we are going to Germany.

Participation in the study trip is not compulsory. Costs for the study trip are shared between the students and the department. Typically the costs for each student are around 500 – 700 SEK. The cost varies with the flight ticket.

The study trip will take place on Monday – Tuesday, 21-22 November, Germany. Information
about registration will be given during the lectures. Please register your interest in the study trip as early as possible.

Course Evaluation

Your feedback is important for continuously improving of the course. Any feedback you have during the course can be sent to Lennart or Lars and evaluation forms will be available in the middle and in the end of the course.

For Questions

If you have questions or comments on the course setup, study trip, lectures, and material you can post it in the News Feed or send an email to eg2340@gmail.com.