DIRECTORATE FOR FUEL AND ENERGY SECTOR Development of Wind Energy Technology in the World INFORMATION REFERENCE October 2013
I N F O R M A T I O N R E F E R E N C E General Information on Wind Energy Wind energy is the energy sector is related to the development of methods and means of converting wind energy into mechanical, thermal or electrical energy. Wind energy (kinetic energy of the wind flow) is a form of solar energy: wind formation is a consequence of the activities of the sun. Thus, wind energy reserves are not finite, which allows referring to it as a renewable energy source. In addition, wind power belongs to the so-called clean or green energy, because it is characterized by virtually zero emission of greenhouse gases. Basic indicators of development of wind energy in the world According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the installed capacity of wind power turbines (WPT) at the end of 2012 amounted to 283 GW (+18.7% compared to 2011), including 5.4 GW of offshore wind turbines (31.4%). According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013, electricity generation of the wind turbines in the world amounted to 521.3 billion kw/ h (or 2.3% of total global electricity production). Figure 1 Dynamics of the installed capacity of wind turbines in the world (left axis) and volume of global electricity production of wind turbines (right axis) Source Global Wind Energy Council; BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2013 2
Development of wind energy technology in the world Most of the installed capacity is concentrated in Europe (38.8%). Next come the Asian countries (34.5%) and North America (23.9%). Least of all the wind energy is used in Latin America and the Caribbean (1.2%), in the Pacific Region (1.1%), as well as in Africa and the Middle East (0.4%). Speaking about the leading countries for wind power development, the majority (73.6%) of the world's capacity of wind turbines is installed in five countries: China, USA, Germany, Spain and India. Table 1 Top ten countries in terms of installed capacity of wind turbines and their share in the world s total installed capacity of wind turbines (at the end of 2012) Country Capacity, МW Share, % China 75 324 26,7 USA 60 007 21,2 Germany 31 308 11,1 Spain 22 796 8,1 India 18 421 6,5 United Kingdom 8445 3,0 Italy 8144 2,9 France 7564 2,7 Canada 6200 2,2 Portugal 4525 1,6 Rest of World 39 853 14,1 Total (top ten countries) 242 734 85,9 Total (world) 282 587 100 Source Global Wind Energy Council Factors contributing to the development of wind energy A number of factors contribute to the development of wind energy: The growing dependence of most developed and developing countries on energy imports. Moreover, importers increasingly rely on energy imports from countries and / or regions characterized by frequent armed conflicts and political instability. 3
I N F O R M A T I O N R E F E R E N C E This situation creates risks for the energy security of importing countries, prompting their governments to stimulate the development and use of alternative energy sources. Increase of the anthropogenic impacts on the environment. Increasing volumes of greenhouse gases and hazardous substances of petrol burning into the atmosphere contribute to the change of climate and affect human health. As a result, there is a need to develop low-carbon energy, which is characterized by low or even zero emissions of greenhouse gases and hazardous substances into the atmosphere. Development of technology and experience. There has passed a 30-year period since the beginning of commercial use of wind turbines. Today, modern, more efficient and cheaper materials are used in the production of wind energy. This is explained by the increasing unit capacity of wind energy plants. The high capacity of wind produced energy leads to a reduction of problems in the production of wind power generation turbines, and hence to improve the competitiveness of wind turbines, compared to other electricity production technologies. Economy Wind power is the most developed branch of renewable energy (excluding hydropower), which is reflected in its economic characteristics. Therefore, onshore wind turbines are characterized by some of the lowest costs among the other electricity generation technologies. Nevertheless, the number of marine wind turbines is fewer than some other types of renewable energy and twice more than the conventional thermal power plants. The cost of electricity generated by wind turbines, especially offshore, is quite high, due to high capital costs per unit of power, compared to conventional thermal power plants. For onshore wind turbines, bulk of capital costs is directed to the fabrication, transportation and installation of the wind turbines. The offshore wind turbines are expensive, from the point of view of network connecting, as well as obtaining of the permits. This is due to technical difficulties and more complex regulation of the use of marine areas. 4
Development of wind energy technology in the world Table 2 The cost of electricity, depending on the source, based on data for 2009-2012, USD / KW/ h Type of plant Minimum Average Maximum Photovoltaic plant 0.14 0.25 0.48 Solar Thermal Electric 0.17 0.19 0.20 Marine Wind Turbine 0.09 0.12 0.17 Geothermal Electric 0.04 0.06 0.12 Large hydropower 0.03 0.06 0.11 Coal ES with coal-fired boilers 0.04 0.05 0.11 NPP 0.01 0.06 0.11 Coastal wind turbines 0.03 0.06 0.09 Combined-cycle ES 0.02 0.05 0.07 Note provides the cost of electricity, including the payback of initial investment and operating costs Source OpenЕI Transparent Cost Database Table 3 Structure of capital costs for onshore and offshore wind turbines (for developed countries in 2011) Onshore wind Turbine Offshore Wind Turbine Capital costs (USD / KW) 1700-2450 3300-5000 The cost of wind turbines [1] (%) 65-84 30-50 The cost of connecting to the network [2] (%) 9-14 15-30 Installation costs and transportation [3] (%) 4-16 15-25 Other capital costs [4] (%) 4-10 8-30 Notes: * WPT production, transportation and installation. ** Power line laying and transformer plants construction. *** WPT transportation and installation, and additional infrastructure erection. **** Other expenditures, including design and licenses and approvals obtaining. Source IRENA Renewable Energy Technologies: Cost Analysis Series, Volume 1: Power Sector, Issue 5/5, June 2012 5
I N F O R M A T I O N R E F E R E N C E Despite the significant capital costs, coastal wind power is characterized by relatively high competitiveness in comparison with other types of renewable energy sources in terms of capital costs. Thus, according to IRENA, onshore wind turbines on this indicator can compete with all kinds of renewable energy, including large hydro plants. High capital costs of offshore wind turbines do not allow competing equally with other renewable energy sources. Figure 2 Comparison of the capital costs for different types of power plants using renewable energy sources in 2012 Source IRENA Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2012: An Overview Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy Wind power is characterized by the following advantages: wind energy is affordable and renewable energy source; its resources are inexhaustible; the absence of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere during the production of electricity; small area of the occupied territory (using land on which the wind turbines are installed for other purposes, for ex. agriculture); 6
Development of wind energy technology in the world the possibility of independent power supply in remote and isolated areas. The disadvantages of wind energy are: unstable and unregulated power generation; higher capital costs per unit of power compared to conventional thermal power plants; the need to develop the network infrastructure; noise, visual and electromagnetic impact on the environment and human health. The main wind power technology Horizontal-axis wind turbine Coastal horizontal axis wind turbine The most common type of wind turbines are horizontal-axis onshore wind power plants - HAWT (Table 4). Typically, these wind turbines have three blades (there are also multi-, dual- and single-vane wind turbines), and their capacity can reach 10 MW. The power of HAWT depends mainly on the diameter and height of the propeller (rotor) bladed wind turbine system that receives the aerodynamic loads from the wind stream. Diameter of the wind wheel for large wind turbines reaches 100 meters. In order to improve the efficiency of HAWT, these turbines are equipped with special focus on the wind. Thus, small HAWT use ordinary weathervanes. Orientation to wind of larger installations requires the use of mechanized systems for wind turbine turning. Marine horizontal-axis wind turbine Marine HAWT have a similar construction, with few exceptions, connected to the installing procedure. So, marine HAWT are subdivided into reference (set in shallow water on a special support, foundation) and floating (used in deep offshore areas) (Table 4) Marine HAWT allow leveling some drawbacks of the coastal counterparts. Thus, to avoid negative shadow effect (the aerodynamic path of neighboring HAWT) HAWTs must be installed at a certain distance from each other. This situation leads to the problems of finding optimal sites for placement of wind turbines on land. 7
I N F O R M A T I O N R E F E R E N C E Placement choice of the marine HAWTs is less restricted. Floating HAWT can also be placed in locations far from land up to a distance of 20 km, as a result, they are not visible from the shore and do not spoil the visual landscape. In addition, marine HAWTs work under more favorable conditions (higher and more stable wind speeds) to generate electricity. Nevertheless, the marine HAWTs are characterized by higher costs, compared to the onshore counterparts, due to increased complexity of the installation, including a more extended network infrastructure, especially for floating HAWTs. In addition, the placement of wind turbines in the sea requires an analysis of their negative effect on the marine ecosystem. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Typically, Vertical Axis wind turbines (VAWT) have Savonius (1922) or Darrieus rotor (1931). They often also separately allocate one of the variations of Darrieus rotor helicoid Gorlov turbine (2001) (Table 4). VAWT have lower working wind speed compared to the HAWT. Furthermore, VAWTs can be placed much closer to the earth's surface compared to HAWT and they can also be placed sufficiently close to each other. Moreover, there are studies, which show that a certain scheme of arrangement of VAWT can improve the efficiency of adjacent units. In addition, VAWT do not require orientation systems to the wind. Perspective and other wind turbines VAWT with a stream intensifier Wind power plant with a stream intensifier is a type of HAWT. This kind of wind power plant has several stream intensifiers (cones and / or troughs) directed to the concentration of wind flow and increasing the wind speed passing through a paddle of the wind turbine system (Table 4). Since this type of wind power technology requires installation of additional components (stream intensifier), their use is limited. 8
Development of wind energy technology in the world Gearless Wind Turbine Gearless wind power installation (GWPT) has a lower initial operating speed of the wind, which allows generating electricity at a wind speed of 2 m / s. Nevertheless, the best wind speed of GWPT is 5.6 m/s. This type is characterized by the absence of a wind power installation gear, in the place of which they use an annular channel with a copper rod inside the rotor mounted around the rim (Table 4). The electric current in such wind turbines is produced by the reaction of copper rod with magnets embedded into the rotor rim. This design avoids the loss characteristic of wind turbine gear. Rotor diameter of contemporary models of GWPT, producing 1500 Kw/h per year, reaches 180 cm. High-altitude (air) wind turbines High-altitude, or air, wind turbines are perspective views of wind turbines and represent special kites (kites), balloons and gliders. Generation of electricity from the kite is carried out on the ground (cable tension transmitting torque to the generator), and with the help of balloons and gliders in the air (rotation of the balloon or the mounted on a balloon / glider rotors (Table 4)). The main advantages of this type of wind turbine is the higher and more stable wind speed that gives the possibility of achieving more electricity generation. Table 4 The main types of wind turbines and their efficiency Type of wind turbine Efficiency Image HORIZONTAL AXIS WPU Coastal wind turbines Up to 40% Marine Wind Turbine (floating) Up to 40% 9
I N F O R M A T I O N R E F E R E N C E Type of wind turbine Efficiency Image Type of wind turbine Up to 40% VERTICAL AXIS TURBINES Savonius rotor Up to 40% Darrieus rotor Up to 40% Helicoid Gorlov turbine Up to 40% FUTURE ORIENTED WPT VAWT with a stream intensifier Up to 56-90% Gearless Wind Turbine Up to 56% 10
Development of wind energy technology in the world Type of wind turbine Efficiency Image High-altitude (air) wind turbines Up to 40% Source The Land Art Generator Initiative List of Abbreviations GWPT gearless wind power turbine. VAWT vertical axis wind turbine. WPS - wind power station. WPI - wind power installation. VEUPU - wind power installation with stream intensifier. HAWPI horizontal axis wind power installation. HEP Hydroelectric Plant. 11
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