THERMODYNAMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF A WIND TURBINE SYSTEM

The wind turbine system is one of the most competitive sources in the field of renewable energy technologies. In many possible applications, a small power plant based on a renewable energy can be a good solution under both the environmental and economic point of view. Vertical axis wind turbine types have an important role in small-scale power development. This wind power plant would allow the reduction of electric energy consumption from the grid and the increase of the amount of renewable energy use. The large wind turbine market is mature and it is the product of several extensive researches. Wind turbine market is being developed to improve the efficiency, performance, and cost effectiveness of the turbines. The end goal of this development is to gain a position for wind power as a competitive alternative to fossil fuels. Among all renewable energy technology of different kinds, wind energy technology has many advantages such as extensive distribution, high efficiency, low cost, low maintenance, environmental friendliness, economic improvement and environmental characteristic that it stands for the most popularized and potentially applicable type of green energy. In many applications, wind is already competitive with conventional options for generating electricity. In this paper, thermodynamic analysis consisting of energy and exergy terminology and environmental impact factors for wind turbine systems are investigated, and parametric studies for efficiency of wind turbine system are given for different ambient conditions such as wind speed and huge tower high. The relationship between the actual energy generated from the wind turbine and the wind speed characteristics are investigated for sustainability of wind turbine system. Also, important outputs for wind turbine system, such as maximum relative output useful energy and optimal rotational speed corresponding to different wind speeds, are estimated to improve the system performance. By multiplying normalized power by maximum relative output power for the wind turbine system, the relative output power is calculated. Keywords: Renewable energy, wind energy, thermodynamic analysis, environmental analysis, efficiency