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Evaluate Average Power Delivered by Wind Turbine

This example shows how to compute the average power output of a wind turbine using Symbolic Math Toolbox™ and Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox™. In this example, you define a parametric analytical expression that models the conversion of wind energy to turbine power. Then you evaluate the average power output by assuming that the wind speed follows a Weibull distribution.

Wind turbines

Define Model for Wind Turbine

You can estimate the total power delivered to a wind turbine by taking the derivative of the wind kinetic energy.

Pw=12ddt(ρAx)u2=ρAu32

The parameters of this equation are:

  • A – The swept area of turbine blades, in m2

  • ρ – The air density, in kg/m3

  • u – The wind speed, in m/s

The process of converting wind energy to electrical power results in efficiency losses, as described in this diagram.

In the process of converting wind energy to electrical power, the wind power Pw is first delivered to the turbine, which has a conversion factor of Cp, then is transferred to the transmission, which has a conversion factor of Ct, and then is transferred to the generator, which has a conversion factor of Cg, to produce the electrical power output, Pe

This equation describes the electrical power output of a practical wind turbine Pe.

Pe(u)=Ctot(u)  ρAu32

where Ctot(u)=CpCtCg is the overall efficiency or conversion factor of the wind energy that depends on the wind speed.

The overall efficiency is between 0.3 and 0.5, varying with both wind speed and rotational speed of the turbine. For a fixed rotational speed, the electrical power delivered by the wind turbine reaches its maximum (Per) at a rated wind speed. The overall efficiency at this rated wind speed is expressed as CtotR.

Per=CtotR  ρAu32

Assuming a fixed rotational speed, the electrical power output of the wind turbine depends on the wind speed. This graph estimates the profile of Pe as a function of u.

Profile of the electrical power output Pe as a function of the wind speed u

The parameters of the graph are:

  • uc – The cut-in speed, or the speed at which the electrical power output rises above zero and power production starts

  • ur – The rated wind speed

  • uf – The furling wind speed, or the speed at which the turbine shuts down to prevent structural damage

The profile of the power output increases between uc and ur. In this region, the power output Pe depends on u exponentially, that is, raised to the power of k. In the region between ur and uf, the power output is at a constant maximum value of Per. For all other conditions, the power output is zero.

Define Piecewise Function for Power Output

Describe the turbine power output by defining a piecewise function. Assume that wind speed u and the parameters uc, ur, uf, k, and Per are positive real numbers. Also assume that the cut-in speed is less than the rated wind speed, which is less than the furling wind speed.

syms C_1 C_2
syms u u_c u_r u_f k P_er positive real
assume(0 < u_c < u_r < u_f)
Pe(u) = piecewise(u < u_c, 0, ...
                  u_c <= u <= u_r, C_1 + C_2*u^k, ...
                  u_r < u <= u_f, P_er, ...
                  u_f < u, 0)
Pe(u) = 

{0 if  u<ucC1+C2uk if  ucuuurPer if  uufur<u0 if  uf<u

Based on the conditions where Pe(uc)=0 and Pe(ur)=Per, solve for the coefficients C1 and C2.

sol = solve([Pe(u_c) == 0; Pe(u_r) == P_er],[C_1 C_2]);

Substitute the solutions for C1 and C2 into the piecewise function.

Pe = subs(Pe,{C_1,C_2},{sol.C_1,sol.C_2})
Pe(u) = 

{0 if  u<ucPeruckuck-urk-Perukuck-urk if  ucuuurPer if  uufur<u0 if  uf<u

Define Profile of Wind Speed

The rated power output indicates how much power a wind turbine is capable of producing. However, the turbine power output depends on the wind speed. To calculate the average power produced by the turbine, you need to account for external wind conditions. In this example, use the Weibull distribution to model the wind speed. The wind profile follows the Weibull probability density function.

f(u)=(ba)(ua)b-1e(ua)bifu0

The parameters a and b represent scale and shape, respectively. In general, a larger value of a indicates a higher median wind speed, and a larger value of b indicates a reduced variability in the wind speed.

To generate random numbers from the Weibull Distribution (Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox), you can use the wblrnd function. For example, choose the parameters a=12.5 and b=2.2. Generate 1000 random numbers that follow the Weibull distribution. Plot these random numbers as a histogram that is normalized to the probability density function.

a = 12.5;
b = 2.2;
N = 1000;
r = wblrnd(a,b,[1 N]);
histogram(r,15,Normalization="pdf")

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains an object of type histogram.

To generate the Weibull probability density function (pdf), use wblpdf. Plot the pdf and compare it with the histogram plot of the sampled random numbers.

hold on
x = linspace(0,34,N);
y = wblpdf(x,a,b);
plot(x,y,LineWidth=2)
hold off
title("Weibull Distribution of Wind Speeds")
xlabel("Wind Speed (m/s)")

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Weibull Distribution of Wind Speeds, xlabel Wind Speed (m/s) contains 2 objects of type histogram, line.

Calculate Average Power Output

You can calculate the average power output of a wind turbine by using this integral.

Pe=0Pe(u)f(u)du

Define the Weibull pdf analytically, and assume the parameters a and b are positive real numbers.

syms a b positive real
f(u) = (b/a)*(u/a)^(b-1)/exp((u/a)^b)
f(u) = 

be-uabuab-1a

Find the integrand you can use to evaluate the average power output.

Pintegrand(u) = simplify(Pe(u)*f(u))
Pintegrand(u) = 

{0 if  u<uc-Perbub-1e-ubabuk-uckabuck-urk if  ucuuurPerbub-1e-uabab if  uufur<u0 if  uf<u

Perform the integration with respect to the wind speed u with the bounds from 0 to by using int. The resulting analytical expression represents the average power output of the wind turbine.

Pav = int(Pintegrand,u,0,Inf)
Pav = 

ucur-Perbub-1e-ubabuk-uckabuck-urk du-Pere-ufab-e-urab

To evaluate the average power output for specific parameter values, you can use the subs function. For example, find the average power output for these parameters.

params.a = 12.5;
params.b = 2.2;
params.k = 2;
params.uc = 5;
params.ur = 15;
params.uf = 40;
params.Per = 2e5;
Pav = subs(Pav,{a b k u_c u_r u_f P_er},{params.a params.b params.k params.uc params.ur params.uf params.Per})
Pav = 

200000e-3654/561/5125-200000e-σ1-200000e-25654/5161/5125+1562500Γigamma(1011,412501/5125)11-1562500Γigamma(1011,σ1)11where  σ1=3637501/5125

The result is an exact symbolic number that involves the exponential function and the gamma function. You can use double to convert the symbolic number to a double-precision number.

Pav_num = double(Pav)
Pav_num = 
9.7744e+04

You can use the parametric expression defined in this example to evaluate various wind turbine configurations and wind farm sites. For more information, see Wind Resource Assessment.

See Also

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