Jan 31 2011
World over number of wind farms both on shore and offshore have started appearing and some of them have become functional. But the wind farm owners are still finding ways to improve the power generating performance of the wind turbines.
Charles Meneveau, a fluid mechanics and turbulence expert at Johns Hopkins and Johan Meyers, who works in Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium as an assistant professor, have utilized computer simulations of bigger sized wind farm layouts to find out the correct spacing between the wind turbines for increased power production.
The study details presented by Meneveau at a meeting held under the auspicious of American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics proposes that wind turbines must be placed at least 15 rotor diameters between them for cost- efficient wind power generation instead of the presently followed distance of 7 rotor diameters. The research argues that the horizontal winds play a lesser role in wind power generation and the power generation largely depends on the upheaval created by the wind turbines in pulling down the wind from the higher ends. According to them, the extra space between the wind turbines changes the setting of turbulence creation that agitates the air and assist in receiving more potent kinetic energy from higher heights for improved power generation.
The research will help in preventing the below the level performance of wind turbines in the proposed wind farms or wind farms that are already in operation in places such as China, Europe and the western United States.