Economical Design of Wind Generating Plants

A definitive analysis technique is proposed for designing wind generating plants to produce electrical energy at minimum cost. The method employs variation in essential design parameters: rated power level, rated wind velocity, design wind velocity, and number of generator poles. These parameters in turn define wind turbine radius, turbine speed, rated torque at step-up gear input, and step-up gear ratio. When these are combined with site (or region) specific wind statistics, appropriate wind plant cost functions, and criteria by which to compute annual cost of ownership, the result yields the cost of produced energy for the several design variations. The selected design is that one for which the cost of produced energy is minimum.