The Comparison of Theoretical Potential Application of Two Types of Wind Turbines in Northern Shaanxi

In order to take advantage of wind resource which is not rich in Shaanxi northern region and the annual average wind velocity is a little more than 4 m/s, this paper focused on researching the comparison of theoretical potential application of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) and horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) in Northern Shaanxi. Wind velocity distributions were calculated by the Rayleigh distribution method based on local meteorological data in Yulin and Yan´an where the most common wind velocity is 3 or 4 m/s. Then this paper based on the working characteristics of 600 W permanent magnet generator, simulated the working performances of VAWT and compared with traditional HAWT. The results showed that more than 70 percent wind resource concentrated at wind speed ranged is from 3 m/s to 8 m/s, working hours of VAWT were more than 2000 hours in a year, and electricity generated of VAWT was over 50 percent more than traditional HAWT. Thus, although the aerodynamic performances of the vertical axis wind turbine are less efficient, we can conclude that VAWT have higher torque, less starting wind speed which will be more effective to match wind resource distribution of North Shaanxi and have more potential applications than HAWT.