The electric power system is designed to economically and reliably transmit electricity to homes, industry, and businesses. The economic impact of the electric grid was demonstrated by the 2003 blackout's visible impact in the graph of the yearly gross domestic product of the Unites States. However, because the number of customers is so large and economies of scale are leveraged to keep electricity prices low, utilities are strongly interconnected. Performing comprehensive engineering analyses to ensure reliable operation is still impossible. Instead, heuristics and safety factors are incorporated into planning processes to continually meet demand in a way that complies with Federal regulations. As evidenced by the infrequency of blackouts in the United States, the sophisticated planning processes have up to date been relatively successful. However, the power system is constantly changing. Electrical generators based on renewable energies are a beneficial addition to the grid, but these and other technological changes like high-voltage power electronic converters also come with their own challenges. These systems as currently employed tend to have a different impact on the reliability of operation than traditional fossil fuel based generators. As the system changes, so do the engineering analyses required to ensure reliable operation. In particular, the wind energy conversion systems (WECS) negatively impact the response of the grid to disturbances in certain ways due to inherent challenges harnessing the wind as an energy sources. These negative impacts (and the advent of powerful personal computing) require an increase in the sophistication of power system models. Thus, there are competing challenges: the scale of the power system necessitates computationally efficient modeling, but the complexity of analysis required to maintain reliable operation is also increasing. The primary aim of this study is to develop models and methods for more detailed yet computationally manageable simulation. To this aim, higher order linearizations and the properties of linear systems (graph theory and linear algebra) are exploited. More specifically, this document contains three studies. In the short term planning and situational awareness context, a method is proposed to quickly check credible outages of important grid equipment. This methodology enables the inspection of a wider breadth of system conditions to ameliorate the negative impacts of the unpredictability of the wind. A linear model in the traditional sense is also developed to model any arbitrary number of wind turbines in a wind farm. This enables industry players to study the impacts wind turbine interaction on the dynamic stability of the grid in response to small disturbances. Finally, a wind farm is modeled as a large matrix to model even nonlinear behavior of wind farms. This helps industry players analyze the impact of large disturbances on the grid. / Doctor of Philosophy / The electric power system is designed to economically and reliably transmit electricity to homes, industry, and businesses. The economic impact of the electric grid was demonstrated by the 2003 blackout’s visible impact in the graph of the yearly gross domestic product of the United States. However, because the number of customers is so large and economies of scale are leveraged to keep electricity prices low, utilities are strongly interconnected. Performing comprehensive engineering analyses to ensure reliable operation is still impossible. Instead, heuristics and safety factors are incorporated into planning processes to continually meet demand in a way that complies with Federal regulations. As evidenced by the infrequency of blackouts in the United States, the sophisticated planning processes have up to date been relatively successful. However, the power system is constantly changing. Electrical generators based on renewable energies are a beneficial addition to the grid, but these and other technological changes like high-voltage power electronic converters also come with their own challenges. These systems as currently employed tend to have a different impact on the reliability of operation than traditional fossil fuel based generators. As the system changes, so do the engineering analyses required to ensure reliable operation. In particular, the wind energy conversion systems (WECS) negatively impact the response of the grid to disturbances in certain ways due to inherent challenges harnessing the wind as an energy sources. These negative impacts (and the advent of powerful personal computing) require an increase in the sophistication of power system models. Thus, there are competing challenges: the scale of the power system necessitates computationally efficient modeling, but the complexity of analysis required to maintain reliable operation is also increasing. The primary aim of this study is to develop models and methods for more detailed yet computationally manageable simulation. To this aim, higher order linearizations and the properties of linear systems (graph theory and linear algebra) are exploited. More specifically, this document contains three studies. In the short term planning and situational awareness context, a method is proposed to quickly check credible outages of important grid equipment. This methodology enables the inspection of a wider breadth of system conditions to ameliorate the negative impacts of the unpredictability of the wind. A linear model in the traditional sense is also developed to model any arbitrary number of wind turbines in a wind farm. This enables industry players to study the impacts wind turbine interaction on the dynamic stability of the grid in response to small disturbances. Finally, a wind farm is modeled as a large matrix to model even nonlinear behavior of wind farms. This helps industry players analyze the impact of large disturbances on the grid.

Thesis (MScEng (Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The sustainability and economy of the current South African National Antarctic Expedition IV (SANAE IV) base diesel-electric power system are threatened by the current high fuel prices and the environmental pollution reduction obligations. This thesis presents the potential technical, environmental and economical challenges associated with the integration of small wind energy conversion system (WECS) with the current SANAE IV diesel fuelled power system. Criteria derived from technical, environmental and economic assessments are applied in the evaluation of eight commercially available wind turbines as to determine the most technically and economically feasible candidates. Results of the coastal Dronning Maud Land and the local Vesleskarvet cold climate assessments based on long term meteorological data and field data are presented. Field experiments were performed during the 2007-2008 austral summer. These results are applied in the generation of a wind energy resource map and in the derivation of technical wind turbine evaluation criteria. The SANAE IV energy system and the electrical grid assessments performed are based on long term fuel consumption records and 2008 logged data. Assessment results led to the identification of SANAE IV specific avoidable wind turbine grid integration issues. Furthermore, electro-technical criteria derived from these results are applied in the evaluation of the eight selected wind turbines. Conceptual wind turbine integration options and operation modes are also suggested. Wind turbine micro-siting incorporating Vesleskarvet specific climatological, environmental and technical related issues are performed. Issues focusing on wind turbine visual impact, air traffic interference and the spatial Vesleskarvet wind distribution are analysed. Three potential sites suited for the deployment of a single or, in the near future, a cluster of small wind turbines are specified. Economics of the current SANAE IV power system based on the South African economy (May 2008) are analysed. The life cycle economic impact associated with the integration of a small wind turbine with the current SANAE IV power system is quantified. Results of an economic sensitivity analysis are used to predict the performance of the proposed wind-diesel power systems. All wind turbines initially considered will recover their investment costs within 20 years and will yield desirable saving as a result of diesel fuel savings, once integrated with the SANAE IV diesel fuelled power system. Finally, results of the technical and economical evaluation of the selected commercially available wind turbines indicated that the Proven 6 kWrated, Bergey 10 kWrated and Fortis 10 kWrated wind turbines are the most robust and will yield feasible savings.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the introduction of Section 17 of the EnWG (German Energy Economy Act), the legislator created a new situation for the complex relationships in the German offshore wind industry. The transmission system operators are now obliged not only to provide the connection for offshore wind farms, but also to reimburse the developers of such plants for the costs they incurred in the course of planning the cable connection between the wind farm and the onshore grid. Forecasts had predicted that by 2007 numerous offshore wind farms would be operational. But no development company in the entire sector had moved beyond the planning phase. However, the rapid development of the offshore wind industry is important in order to achieve the German goal to generate 20% of all energy from renewable energy sources by 2020 and thus contribute to the prevention of grave climate changes. It is also important for the domestic labour market and the initiation of further exports of energy technologies. Early domestic growth will eventually payoff as offshore wind energy is implemented by more countries, which will then rely on the experience of German companies. Under these circumstances, Section 17 (2a) S.3 of the EnWG induces a positive impulse for offshore development. Under the financial constraints that dampened the expectations of developers of offshore wind farms, the suggested reimbursement will offer welcome relief. However a broad interpretation of Section 17 (2a) S.3 of the EnWG must be applied in order to reach the goal of actually enhancing offshore development, as is the legislator's intent. Such a broad interpretation of the reimbursement claim will lead to rapid implementation of the new law, as this will be in the interest of the developers and transmission system operators. The developers will have a large interest in beginning with the actual construction of the wind farm, and the transmission system operators will need to proceed with the planning of the cable connection. Even though improvements remain necessary the introduction of Section 17 (2a) S.3 EnWG can be considered a success. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die inwerkingstelling van afdeling 17 van die EnGW (Duitse Energie Ekonomie Wet), het die regering 'n nuwe situasie geskep vir die komplekse verhouding in die Duitse see-gebonde wind-energie industrie. Die transmissie stelsel operateurs word nou verplig om nie net die verbinding met die wind-plaas te verskaf nie, maar moet ook die ontwikkelaar van die aanleg vergoed vir enige kostes wat hulle aangegaan het met die beplanning van die verbinding tussen die windplaas en die elektrisiteits-netwerk. Vooruitskattings het voorspel dat verskeie see-gebonde windplase operasioneel sou wees teen 2007. Geen ontwikkelingsmaatskappy het egter al tot dusver verder as die beplanningstadium gevorder nie. Desnieteenstaande, die spoedige ontwikkeling van die see-gebonde wind industrie is onontbeerlik in die Duitse mikpunt om 20% van energiebehoeftes op te wek vanuit hernubare bronne teen 2020 en om dus klimaatsverandering teen te werk. Dit is ook belangrik vir werkskepping in Duitsland en vir die uitvoer van energie tegnologie. Spoedige groei in die industrie sal uiteindelik dividende lewer soos seegebonde wind-energie deur ander lande ontwikkel word en gevolglik op Duitse ervaring moet staatmaak. Onder hierdie omstandighede het afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW 'n positiewe effek op seegebonde ontwikkeling. As gevolg van die dempende effek wat finansiele beperkinge het op die verwagtinge van ontwikkelaars sal die terugbetalings welkome verligting bied. Dit is egter nodig om 'n bree interpretasie van afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW te gebruik om die mikpunt van werklike bevordering van seegebonde ontwikkeling te bewerkstellig soos die wetgewer beoog. So 'n bree interpretasie sal lei tot spoedige implimentasie van die nuwe wet omdat dit in die belang van ontwikkelaars en transmissie-netwerk eienaars sal wees. Die ontwikkelaars sal baat daarby om spoedig met ontwikkeling te begin, terwyl die netwerk operateurs vordering sal moet maak met die beplanning van die kabel-verbinding. Ten spyte daarvan dat verdere verbeteringe nodig is kan die inwerkingstelling van afdeling 17 (2a) 5.3 van die EnGW as 'n sukses gereken word.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-114). Also available on the World Wide Web.

No description available.

This thesis presents the results of wind tunnel experiments performed for various model wind turbine arrays. The aim is to understand how siting affects power output. To optimize wind farm efficiency the experiments vary the parameters of the model wind turbines and the layout of the wind turbine array. The parameters include the alignment, height, spacing, and the rotational direction of the model wind turbines. These experiments employ mechanical torque sensors to simultaneously measure the torque and rotor angular velocity, which yields a direct measurement of the fluid mechanical power extracted by the turbine at multiple locations. For a 4 × 3 array, the power is calculated at the center turbine in each of the rows. Variations in wind farm efficiency ranging from 55% to 90% are observed between the 13 different layouts tested. Modifications to the layout of the wind turbine array clearly affects the power output of the wind turbines downstream. The results of such experiments highlight the importance of studying the relationship between wind farm layout and power output.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

High concentrations and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in fluvial systems are associated with the dark brown water colour familiar in many upland, peat-dominated areas and may indicate a depletion of the terrestrial carbon store. The removal of this colour can also be problematic and expensive for water companies as well as affecting the ecological functioning of the water body through factors such as reduced light penetration through the water column. Disturbance resulting from activities such as land use change can also enhance the loss of carbon and this may manifest itself in elevated concentrations and fluxes of DOC from aquatic systems. This thesis describes and explains patterns of change in DOC quantity and quality from the Crosswater, Crosswater of Luce and Tig catchments draining Arecleoch Forest, a peatland in south Ayrshire, Scotland, from 2008 to 2010. This time period incorporates the installation of a 60-turbine wind farm built and operated by Scottish Power Renewables (SPR). Water samples were collected from Arecleoch at different spatial scales ranging from catchments to soil pore water and temporal scales ranging from daily to seasonally. Concentrations of DOC were measured and fluxes estimated at the catchment scale. DOC concentrations from all three catchments exhibited the well-established seasonal pattern with maxima in late August/early September and minima seen in February/March. The Tig catchment experienced the greatest burden of disturbance from the wind farm development and returned the highest DOC concentrations and fluxes. The Crosswater catchment, used as a control site due to its isolation from wind farm activities, had higher DOC concentrations than the Crosswater of Luce throughout the monitoring period possibly due to a greater proportion of forest cover. ii DOC flux ranged from 35.0 g C m-2 yr-1 from the Crosswater of Luce catchment in 2008 to 55.0 g C m-2 yr-1 from the Crosswater in 2009. The Tig catchment was not monitored for the whole period but returned the highest DOC fluxes of the three catchments between January and June 2010 (15.7 g C m-2). These values are considered high for UK peatlands. It is possible to make a tentative estimate of an extra 12 g C m-2 being exported from the Crosswater of Luce in 2009 that may have been a result of wind farm and/or forestry activities in the catchment. At the sub-catchment scale, “hot spots” of high DOC concentrations (up to 113.4 mg L-1) were found during the final survey of headwater streams inside the development area of the wind farm site during construction in August 2010. Further surveys are recommended to assess whether DOC concentrations have decreased since completion of the wind farm. Daily water samples were collected upstream and downstream of turbine 33 during the excavation of the turbine base. DOC concentrations were higher downstream before work began on the turbine base and although the gap between upstream and downstream DOC concentrations increased over the monitoring period, statistical comparisons of these differences before and after the start of excavation work were not significant at the 95 % confidence level. Challenges arose from the practicability of conducting robust research on a construction site and novel approaches to monitoring DOC were developed. Activity scores were used to quantify the effect of peatland disturbance on DOC concentrations at the catchment scale. The results suggest that this approach may have merit but requires comprehensive site records from the developer. The non-linear nature of the individual wind farm development and forestry activities made it impractical to disentangle the impact of each, particularly for forest harvesting. iii Activity scores could, together with other information gathered from site records, be useful to developers as an indicator of the most likely periods for peat disturbance. Knowledge of the differing disturbance potential of the various activities could also provide useful information to feed into the carbon payback calculator. DOC quality was explored using ultraviolet (UV) absorbance, specific UV absorbance (SUVA) and E4/E6 ratios. The latter metric identified changes in the composition of DOC related to disturbance with water samples from areas draining land subject to disturbance having lower E4/E6 ratios indicating a greater degree of humification of the DOC. This research provides one of only three studies to investigate concentrations and fluxes of DOC in water courses draining land subject to disturbance relating to wind farm construction. It is the only study that incorporates a period of time prior to work beginning and takes in the whole of the development phase. In this respect it provides a valuable addition to our understanding of the way in which peatlands respond to land use change and may provide useful tools to assist developers in minimising the impact of their activities on these valuable carbon stores.

In this dissertation, two high-frequency (HF) transformer isolated single-stage integrated ac-dc converters are proposed for a small scale permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based wind energy conversion system (WECS). These two types of single-stage integrated ac-dc converters include expected functions of HF isolation, power factor correction (PFC), and output regulation in one single-stage. Fixed-frequency phase-shift control and soft-switching operation are employed in both proposed ac-dc converters. After reviewing the literature and discussing pros and cons of the existing topologies, it is preferred that three identical single-phase single-stage integrated converters with interleaved connection configuration are suitable for the PMSG. For the single-phase converter, two new HF isolated single-stage integrated resonant ac-dc converters with fixed-frequency phase-shift control are proposed. The first proposed circuit is HF isolated single-stage integrated secondary-side controlled ac-dc converter. The other proposed circuit is HF isolated single-stage dual-tank LCL-type series resonant ac-dc converter, which brings better solutions compared to the first converter, such as high power factor and low total harmonic distortion (THD) at the ac input side. Approximate analysis approach and Fourier series methods are used to analyze these two proposed converters. Design examples for each one are given and designed converters are simulated using PSIM simulation package. Two experimental circuits are also built to verify the analysis and simulation. The simulated and experimental results reasonably match the theoretical analysis. Then the proposed HF isolated dual-tank LCL-type series resonant ac-dc converter is used for three-phase interleaved connection in order to satisfy requirements of PMSG based WECS. A design example for this three-phase interleaved configuration is given and simulated for validation under several operating conditions. / Graduate / 0544 / duyimian@uvic.ca

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / Este trabalho apresenta o estudo e desenvolvimento de um sistema eletrÃnico de aproveitamento de energia eÃlica a partir de um gerador sÃncrono de Ãmà permanente conectado a uma turbina de vento. O sistema opera com velocidade variÃvel, permitindo o mÃximo aproveitamento da energia cinÃtica incidente na turbina de vento. Essa energia cinÃtica à convertida em energia elÃtrica pelo gerador sÃncrono de Ãmà permanente e depois de totalmente condicionada, injetada na rede elÃtrica convencional. Esse condicionamento à feito por um sistema eletrÃnico objeto de estudo e desenvolvimento deste trabalho, o qual consiste em um retificador trifÃsico interligado a um inversor monofÃsico em ponte completa com saÃda em corrente. SÃo apresentadas a revisÃo bibliogrÃfica de sistemas de aproveitamento de energia eÃlica para geraÃÃo de energia elÃtrica pertinentes ao escopo do trabalho, a anÃlise do estÃgio retificador (potÃncia e controle), a anÃlise do estÃgio inversor (potÃncia e controle), uma comparaÃÃo teÃrica de rendimento entre o retificador trifÃsico proposto neste trabalho (bridgeless trifÃsico) e o retificador trifÃsico dois nÃveis, e os resultados experimentais de um protÃtipo de validaÃÃo de 5kW do sistema proposto. / This work presents the study and development of an electronic system for wind energy exploitation from a permanent magnet synchronous generator connected to a wind turbine. The system operates with variable speed, allowing maximum use of the kinetic energy incident on the wind turbine. This kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy by the permanent magnet synchronous generator and, after being fully conditioned, injected into the conventional power grid. This conditioning is done by an electronic system object of study and development of this work, which consists of a rectifier connected to a single-phase full-bridge inverter with current output. Are presented the literature review of the relevant wind energy conversion systems to the scope of work, the analysis of the rectifier stage (power and control), the analysis of the inverter stage (power and control), a efficiency theoretical comparison between the proposed rectifier (three-phase bridgeless) and the three-phase fullbridge rectifier, and the experimental results of an 5kW validation prototype of the proposed system.