Low-Wind Turbines in the Dutch Power Grid

Low-Wind Turbines in the Dutch Power Grid: Understanding the Effect of Low-Wind Turbines on Storage Capacity and System Costs

Vos, Bas (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Zaaijer, M B (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Energy Technology

2021-09-23

One of the major challenges that the world currently faces is the energy transition. The aim of most countries worldwide is to reduce their carbon footprint, in order to slow climate change. Fossil fuel powered energy generation is replaced with an increasing share of variable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy. Because of the inherent uncertainty and intermittency of these renewable power sources, large scale energy storage is considered inevitable in order to mitigate the mismatch between supply and demand. However, storage comes at a cost and uses precious materials, of which there might not be sufficient. Therefore, a whole range of solutions is being researched and implemented. Currently, it is not well-known what mix of which solutions will be the most technologically and economically effective. The Low-Wind turbine is a new turbine concept, specifically designed for low wind speed conditions, combined with a low rated and cut-out wind speed. The reduced normative loads on the blades enable a re-design of several components, which ultimately results in lower costs. This new turbine concept aims to be a system-friendly turbine, by decreasing the mismatch between production and demand and thereby reducing the total amount of storage or overplanting required in the system. This research assesses the effectiveness of the Low-Wind turbine in the Dutch energy grid, when it is predominantly powered by renewable energy sources. A power model, specifically developed for this research, simulates the power flows and optimises the seasonal storage required in order to meet the constraints. The power model is simulated for a range of installed turbines, consisting of combinations of conventional and Low-Wind turbines. This research also carries out a preliminary design off a Low-Wind turbine, based of a reference turbine, in order to determine its costs. The result of this study show that, if the cost of the installed wind farms dominate the costs, Low-Wind turbines does not provide a cost-effective solution to minimising system costs. However, the results also show that, in a situation where total costs are dominated by storage cost, the Low-Wind turbine can provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional turbines. The results also show that, for high overplanting factors, Low-Wind turbines and conventional turbines provide a similar effect on the reduction of system costs, but at lower costs.

Wind Turbine
Low-Wind Turbines
Cost analysis
Optimisation
Storage
Wind turbine design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ef460078-74a9-47fa-b4a9-aacb1f2e8725

Student theses

master thesis

© 2021 Bas Vos