Slow speed of wind turbine generator

How fast can a wind turbine run?

Overall trends, however, were readily apparent. During the period of field testing the maximum instantaneous wind speed recorded was 8m/s while the maximum sustained wind speed was around 4 to 5m/s. Figure 10. Wind turbine with optimized generator during turbine evaluation. Notice the anemometer in the background to the left.

How much power does an optimized wind turbine generate?

As the wind speed at the test site never exceeded 7m/s for any significant amount of time the optimized turbine is shown to generate 3 to 4 times more power than the commercial turbines over the whole available wind speed range.

Can a wind turbine run at a low speed?

Yes, less than 1 mph, a wind so light you’d have a hard time getting a feather to blow through the air. Though the amount of energy your turbine will produce at these speeds is minuscule, it is free energy. Rather than have your turbine sitting idle, you might as well be putting it to use.

What are variable speed wind turbines?

Variable speed wind turbines use power electronics to convert a variable frequency generator output to a constant frequency. With reductions in power electronic costs, variable speed wind turbines will look more attractive compared to fixed speed wind turbines in terms of COE.

How does wind speed affect wind power?

The reduction in wind speeds plays a central role in shaping these lower estimates: it directly impacts the electricity generation rate of each turbine, regardless of its technical design. We then discuss that including these atmospheric effects is critical to planning for the expansion of large-scale wind power.

What happens if a wind turbine reaches maximum power use?

At maximum wind power use, wind speeds are reduced to 58% of their original value, and lowers the capacity factor to 20% of what would be generated by an isolated turbine.