Wind Power and Related Technologies
There are several agencies in Thailand, such as Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), and other agencies have conducted research on the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Most of the works involve using secondary data to calculate and evaluate projects using statistical methodology. Moreover, EGAT has a pilot wind turbine project at Laem Phrom Thep, Phuket with 150-kW Nordtank wind turbines, model NTK 150/25. From the field visit of the Energy for Environment Foundation, it is found that the project’s capacity factor is 14%, with an investment cost of around 82.3 million Baht per MW. Other costs include maintenance cost of 1.67 Baht per unit, electricity generation cost of 9.44 Baht per unit. These costs are high when compared to the power production with fossil fuels. These results are similar to the outcome of the feasibility study of using wind energy to produce electricity in the case of wind farm project on Pha-Ngan Island, Surat Thani [17]. From the financial and economic feasibility of the case study, it is found that the wind farm project is not financially feasible, with a negative NPV and a B/C ratio of less than 1. 65 Apart from the projects mentioned above, there has been a private proposal for Thailand First Wind Farm by Fellow Engineering Co., Ltd. to construct a 360 MW wind farm, whose capacity is equivalent to a 42.11 MW small power producer (SPP) of fossil fuel power plant, operating at 90% load factor. The wind farm is proposed to be located along the coastline from Pak Phanang, Nakhon Si Thammarat to Singhanakhon, Songkhla. Wind turbine technology can be divided into 2 groups, namely (1) design technology and power control system for wind turbine, and (2) technology for producing wind turbine.
Design Technology and Power Control System for Wind Turbine
In the past, the airfoil design for wind turbine blade usually used the standard airfoil selection developed by agencies such as NACA or NASA. However, these airfoil sections were designed for aircraft wings, which are different from the airfoil section for blade which has more different specific requirements than aircraft wings. The length of a turbine blade is likely to have a Reynolds Number lower than that of an aircraft wing. Airfoil section is usually resized to be thicker, causing it to lose certain aerodynamic quality. The design of a turbine blade requires individualistic quality of airfoil section, depending on the design of rotor, control system, and other equipment used with the turbine blades.
Power Control System Technology for Wind Turbine
There are 2 modern designs of power control system for wind turbines with the capacity at MWs level, namely (1) pitch control, and (2) stall control. Both systems have the same purpose which is to reduce the aero dynamic force on the wind turbine when the wind velocity is at a level higher than what the turbine designed for. This will help limit the power produced and protect the structure of the blade from damages. Moreover, under a high wind velocity environment, the system will prevent the power not to be transmitted to the generator more than what it is designed for.
Technology for Producing Wind Turbine
During the recent years, there is the production of large wind turbines with diameter no less than 80 meters. There has also been a construction of several wind turbine prototypes with diameter 100-120 meters. Over 50 million kilograms of composite materials have been used to produce wind turbines across the world.
As there is a rapid growth of wind turbine, there has been a large quantity of technical research on composite materials and the future trend of this technology, especially on the design of large wind turbines with power production capacity at MWs level.
At present, a large number of wind turbine producers have their own factories. So there is a diversity in the demand for materials and production process. Nordex and GE Wind have built 40-50 m wind turbines using fiber glass in the manual layering process in an open mold and coat a resin based material onto the fiber. NEG Micron is producing 40 m wind turbines using carbon fiber, wood fiber, and epoxy-based material. Vestas has long used prepreg system, using fiber glass as reinforcing material. TPI Composites is producing 30 m wind turbines using vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). Moreover, Bonus uses infusion techniques in making the whole of turbine blades in a single process to reduce gluing between subcomponents in later stage. The wind turbine design technology in Thailand can currently operate at 250 kW level. The experience in producing wind turbines is at 50 kW level.
Gearbox Technology
Gearbox is an equipment that transfers power from wind turbines to generator and adjust the rotation speed of wind turbine to be at a level needed by the generator (increasing the
Wind Power and Related Technologies There are several agencies in Thailand, such as Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), and other agencies have conducted research on the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Most of the works involve using secondary data to calculate and evaluate projects using statistical methodology. Moreover, EGAT has a pilot wind turbine project at Laem Phrom Thep, Phuket with 150-kW Nordtank wind turbines, model NTK 150/25. From the field visit of the Energy for Environment Foundation, it is found that the project’s capacity factor is 14%, with an investment cost of around 82.3 million Baht per MW. Other costs include maintenance cost of 1.67 Baht per unit, electricity generation cost of 9.44 Baht per unit. These costs are high when compared to the power production with fossil fuels. These results are similar to the outcome of the feasibility study of using wind energy to produce electricity in the case of wind farm project on Pha-Ngan Island, Surat Thani [17]. From the financial and economic feasibility of the case study, it is found that the wind farm project is not financially feasible, with a negative NPV and a B/C ratio of less than 1. 65 Apart from the projects mentioned above, there has been a private proposal for Thailand First Wind Farm by Fellow Engineering Co., Ltd. to construct a 360 MW wind farm, whose capacity is equivalent to a 42.11 MW small power producer (SPP) of fossil fuel power plant, operating at 90% load factor. The wind farm is proposed to be located along the coastline from Pak Phanang, Nakhon Si Thammarat to Singhanakhon, Songkhla. Wind turbine technology can be divided into 2 groups, namely (1) design technology and power control system for wind turbine, and (2) technology for producing wind turbine. Design Technology and Power Control System for Wind Turbine In the past, the airfoil design for wind turbine blade usually used the standard airfoil selection developed by agencies such as NACA or NASA. However, these airfoil sections were designed for aircraft wings, which are different from the airfoil section for blade which has more different specific requirements than aircraft wings. The length of a turbine blade is likely to have a Reynolds Number lower than that of an aircraft wing. Airfoil section is usually resized to be thicker, causing it to lose certain aerodynamic quality. The design of a turbine blade requires individualistic quality of airfoil section, depending on the design of rotor, control system, and other equipment used with the turbine blades. Power Control System Technology for Wind Turbine There are 2 modern designs of power control system for wind turbines with the capacity at MWs level, namely (1) pitch control, and (2) stall control. Both systems have the same purpose which is to reduce the aero dynamic force on the wind turbine when the wind velocity is at a level higher than what the turbine designed for. This will help limit the power produced and protect the structure of the blade from damages. Moreover, under a high wind velocity environment, the system will prevent the power not to be transmitted to the generator more than what it is designed for.
Technology for Producing Wind Turbine
During the recent years, there is the production of large wind turbines with diameter no less than 80 meters. There has also been a construction of several wind turbine prototypes with diameter 100-120 meters. Over 50 million kilograms of composite materials have been used to produce wind turbines across the world.
As there is a rapid growth of wind turbine, there has been a large quantity of technical research on composite materials and the future trend of this technology, especially on the design of large wind turbines with power production capacity at MWs level.
At present, a large number of wind turbine producers have their own factories. So there is a diversity in the demand for materials and production process. Nordex and GE Wind have built 40-50 m wind turbines using fiber glass in the manual layering process in an open mold and coat a resin based material onto the fiber. NEG Micron is producing 40 m wind turbines using carbon fiber, wood fiber, and epoxy-based material. Vestas has long used prepreg system, using fiber glass as reinforcing material. TPI Composites is producing 30 m wind turbines using vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). Moreover, Bonus uses infusion techniques in making the whole of turbine blades in a single process to reduce gluing between subcomponents in later stage. The wind turbine design technology in Thailand can currently operate at 250 kW level. The experience in producing wind turbines is at 50 kW level.
Gearbox Technology
Gearbox is an equipment that transfers power from wind turbines to generator and adjust the rotation speed of wind turbine to be at a level needed by the generator (increasing the
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