Wind energy technology covers many technological aspects, like aerodynamics, mechanics, physics and electrical engineering. Hence, the course intends to provide a wide overview of, for example, the physical power in the wind, the historical development, the wind energy industry, market regulations, wind turbine design concepts, environmental impact of wind turbines, economics, network integration, stand-alone systems and offshore wind power systems.
An important part of the course is a team assignment. In this assignment, the team will perform a feasibility study for a wind energy project.
The course aims at providing knowledge about the wide area of technology that is needed for persons working in the wind energy industry or related industry, like generation or network companies. The course also provides a general knowledge in this wide area.
To pass the course, the students should show that they are able to
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give some basic definitions (power curve, overall efficiency, Betz limit, stall and pitch regulation, etc.),
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describe 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,
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calculate energy yield of a wind turbine using actual wind speed measurements or approximate data,
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describe the main wind turbine design concepts, main differences, advantages, disadvantages,
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describe 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),
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describe effects that wind power has on power system operation and grid investments,
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describe operation of hybrid systems (wind/diesel, wind/battery/diesel),
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describe effects that wind power has on environment,
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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
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derive the important formulas studied during the course (power in the wind, Betz limit, etc.),
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analyse and compare characteristics of different wind turbines,
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present some control possibilities of wind turbines,
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analyse wind conditions, and wind farm layout possibilities of the particular site,
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perform basic calculations and analysis for grid connection of a wind turbine,
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describe main aspects treated in the Grid Codes for connection of wind turbines and explain why those aspects are important.
