INFO POST 3 (please note these posts are explanations and as such can be a little technical: Load factor (this is often confused with efficiency so when it is stated turbines are only 30% efficient the speaker is confused and they are maybe referring to the load factor) Wind energy has a lower load factor than many other technologies. The load factor of wind varies according to the site and the type of turbine. In the UK it averages around 27%, though can be up to 50% or more at a very windy site (DECC 2007-11: also Gas 62%, nuclear 60%, coal 42%, hydro 35%, solar 8%). The load factor refers to the average percentage of electricity actually produced of that which would be produced at the continuous maximum output of the turbine’s generator. Wind load factor is higher during the winter than the summer. There is a good reason why wind load factors are lower than for eg nuclear or fossil fuels: the energy source – wind – is variable. The turbine manufacturer attempts to optimize load factor by juggling the ‘variable size and variable cost’ turbine components, especially rotor size and generator capacity, to give maximum electricity yield at any particular cost level. Technical note: it is possible, for any given rotor diameter, to raise load factor simply by reducing generator size (ie for any particular rotor, a smaller generator would achieve a higher load factor as it would be operating nearer to maximum output for more of the time). However, this would normally result in lower overall electricity production as the smaller generator would reach maximum output at lower windspeeds. And so cost inefficiencies would arise, as output would not be able to increase further to benefit from periods of higher windspeed. Conversely it is possible to raise load factor for any particular generator simply by increasing rotor size (ie a larger rotor will generate more input at all windspeeds). However this too would result in cost inefficiencies as the generator would now be too small to take advantage, at higher windspeeds, of the greater potential power input of the larger rotor.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 18:04:35 +0000
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