Wind Turbine Lab Museum of Science, Boston APA National ... · • Wind regime (generally &...

Wind Turbine LabMuseum of Science, Boston

APA National ConferenceUrban Wind April 10, 2011

Marian TomusiakWind Turbine Lab Analyst

Museum of Science, Boston

Proven

Windspire

Swift

Skystream

AVX1000s

Why are Wind Turbines on the Museum of Science Roof?

• Wind energy was one option explored as part of our

Green Initiative, which includes conservation, recycling, and other renewable energy sources.

• Site, wind and structural assessment showed it was impractical to scale wind turbines for Museum’s electrical load (9GWh/year)

• Little data on small-scale wind turbines are available from the built environment

Project became a Consumer Test Lab

• Testing a variety of commercially available small-scale wind turbines roof-mounted in our urban environment

• Serving as a community resource for both professionals and the general public– A lesson in critical thinking about energy technology– A practical demonstration and laboratory; experience; data

• An experiential part of a new Museum exhibit

• A landmark for Boston, Cambridge, New England

• A statement about the importance of renewable energy

Complex Site

WIND

WIND

VIEWS

VIE

WS

VIE

WS

VIEWS

PUBLIC SAFETY

STRUCTURE

But wait, there’s more!

Boston

Cambridge DCR Land

Wetland

FAA / hospital / military flywayHistoric District

(MA, Boston & Cambridge)

Birds? Bats? Endangered species?

Neighbors

Implementation

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Design & Permitting

Str. Eng.Test l

ab concept

Con-tracts

Ph. I

Ph. II

Commissioning

Wind Study

Windspire Energy

Windspire 1.2kW @11m/s 10 m tall

Cascade Engineering

Swift 1kW @11m/s 2.1 m diameter

Southwest Windpower

Skystream 3.72.4kW @13m/s 3.7 m diameter

Proven Energy

Proven 6 6kW @12m/s 5.5 m diameter

AeroVironment

AVX1000 5 x 1kW @13m/s 1.8 m diameter

The Turbines

Five different types of small-scale wind turbines installed on the roof of the Museum in 2009 Feeds into our

Catching the Wind

Exhibit

A consumer test lab for both professionals and the general public. Data is recorded and shared.

The Lab

2010 Update

• In 2010, the wind turbines produced

4,409 kWh of clean electricity

for the Museum.– 60% of average MA home (2009 figures)

– Museum requires > 1,000 times MA house

• No issues with noise, vibration, ice throw, flicker, birds, bats, other environment problems*. Our neighbors like them, too. (*Update April 12, 2011 –one bird strike in 2-year Lab history.)

• Not cost effective at this site – Roof installation costs were high

– The Museum does not have a good wind regime

– Some turbines underperforming; investigation continues

Overall production (2010)

Low cut-out speed; out of service for 4 months out of 12

2%1743.123.4Windspire

Directional. Improved after repairs, but underperforming

5%3393.726.7AVX1000

Poor site; unable to evaluate true behavior

2%1152.933.0Swift

More energy than the others combined, but underperforming

31%22592.695.1Proven

As expected in this wind profile21%15223.0141.6Skystream

NotesMA Home

(7416 kWh)

Total Usable Energy

kWh

AvgWind

Speed (m/s)

Energy/ Swept

Area

kWh/m2

TURBINE

Skystream Power Curves

Actual vs. Manufacturer’s

Of the wind turbines installed at the Museum, Skystream is the closest to “plug and play.”

Southwest Windpower’s new model will be Skystream 600.

It’s

not s

o w

indy

muc

h of

the

time.

We

get o

ur p

ower

whe

n it’

s w

indy

.

kWh

%

Time

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

Percent Elapsed Time

Skystream Wind DistributionLower and Higher Wind Buckets

0 - 10 MPH

10 - 20+ MPH

0

50

100

150

200

250

Energy kWh

Skystream Energy per MonthAvg 127 kWh/Month; Total 1525 kWh

Proven Power Curves

Actual vs. Manufacturer’s

Proven has the largest generator and rotor of the Museum turbines.

It produces more energy than all the others combined, yet it is underperforming expectations.

Investigation of system components continues.

Swift Power Curves

Actual vs. Manufacturer’s

Swift is poorly sited for prevailing southern winds.

Significant increase in energy generation in strong north winds.

Evaluating increase of tower height.

TRC/Ansys Computational Flow Model

Wind

AVX1000 Power Curves5 Units

Actual vs. Manufacturer’s

Reoccurring inverter faults throughout 2010.

Tail shroud repaired May19; power turned off by mistake until June 3

Inverter down mid-November to mid-January.

April 2011 Update:

Inverter settings changed January 2011; fix has eliminated inverter faults. Turbines still underperforming.

Windspire Power Curves

Actual vs. Manufacturer’s

Cut-out logic reduces access to high energy wind.

Due to inverter issues, Windspire shut down Jan, Feb, most of Aug, half of Sep, end of Dec.

April 2011 Update:Will soon replace with Windspire High Wind model with improved inverter and generator.

Cost Breakdown ($350K total)

• Hidden costs associated with being “ground breaking,”coping with surprises in permitting, engineering, installation, commissioning

• Maintenance is not expensive, our regular facilities people can handle most of the operations (do it themselves or coordinate with vendors)

Summarizing Issues

• Wind regime (generally & different locations that were suboptimal)

• Bugs (Windspire inverter, Swift braking problem)

• “Features” (Windspire high-wind shutdown)

• Installation errors (Proven anemometer, AVX inverter settings)

• Location/failure to account for building effects (Swift)

• Unknowns (Proven power curve, AVX power curve)

• Lab vs. single installation (complexity, conservative foundations)

Evaluating Wind Turbines

• “Rated Power” tells you about size of generator and rotor, not how much energy you can expect. Wind speed at rated power is not yet standardized across market.

• Energy produced depends most strongly on wind speed (cubed)– How fast, how often: Detailed anemometer study at hub height– Building effects: CFD analysis may be wise

• Return on Investment relies heavily on installation costs and project scale.– At MoS cost of structural steel was single largest capital cost – almost

one quarter of entire $350K project cost• Federal & state financial incentives are available.

– Consider scale of expected energy wrt your building electrical load.• Consider expected future costs of electricity generated from fossil

fuels

Actionable items

• Be clear and realistic about your goals (Energy? Economics? EcoBling? Green?)

• Carefully investigate wind/building interaction

• Take care with structure and public safety

• Be aware of the cost of building integration (even with new construction)

• Carefully think through your plan for vibration risk management and other uncertainties.

• Evaluate Scale …

– Wind speed generally increases with height

• Roof space?

• Ground installation?

– Large buildings mean high electricity needs

View from Museum of Science Garage Roof One Science Park, Boston MA

Proven

Windspire

Swift

Skystream

AVX1000s

mos.org/WindTurbineLabmtomusiak@mos.org

Additional Slides

The TeamMuseum of ScienceDavid Rabkin, Director for Current Science and TechnologyPaul Ippolito, Director, FacilitiesSteve Nichols, Project Manager, IITMarian Tomusiak, Wind Turbine Lab Analyst

Boreal Renewable Energy DevelopmentBob Shatten, PrincipalTom Michelman, PrincipalAlex Weck, PrincipalMichael Alexis, Principal

ANSYS/TRCValerio Viti, Sr. Fluids SpecialistChris DesAutels, Sr. MeteorologistLloyd Schulman, Sr. Meteorologist

Apterra TechnologiesTed Schwartz, Principal

Nexamp, Inc.Will Thompson, VP, Integration

Phelan EngineeringPaul Phelan, Jr., P.E.

Richard Gross, Inc.Richard Gross, P.E.

Rubin and Rudman, LLPKeren Schlomy, Partner

Shaw Welding CompanyRick Shaw, President/CEO

Titan Electric CorporationJohn Gill, President

Renewable Energy Trust / Mass CECDick Tinsman, now with Criterium Engineersrtinsman@criterium-engineers.com

Rapheal Herz, now with Johnson ControlsRaphael.Herz@jci.com

Jim Christo, now with Alteris Renewablesjchristo@alterisinc.com

Marybeth Campbell, now with the MassachusettsClean Energy Center

MCampbell@MassCEC.com

Christie Howe, Massachusetts Clean Energy Centerchowe@MassCEC.com

drabkin@mos.orgpippoloto@mos.orgsnichols@mos.org

mtomusiak@mos.org

bshatten@boreal-renewable.comtmichelman@boreal-renewable.com

aweck@boreal-renewable.commalexis@boreal-renewable.com

valerio.viti@ansys.comcdesautels@trcsolutions.comlschulman@trcsolutions.com

ted.schwartz@apterratech.com

wthompson@nexamp.com

paulphelan@comcast.net

rgross@ieee.org

kschlomy@green-mail.org

rick@shawwelding.com

jgill@titan-electric.com

Underwriters

Kresge Foundation

Cascade Energy

Museum of Science and its supporters

And the Extended Project Team

Wind Resource Assessment

• Multiple locations for measurement

– Parapets

– Tower

• 3-month study correlated local data to Logan to estimate local annual pattern

• Winds recorded for another 9 months

• Moved anemometer 1 to future Proven location

1

3 2

4

5

Data Collection

• Apterra Hawkeye samples data every 2-3 seconds, after

inverters, transformer

• Data recorded:

– Wind Direction

– Power & Energy for each turbine

– Wind Speed for each turbine’s anemometer

• Data aggregated into 10-minute intervals, includes wind speed and power averages, min, max, std dev

• Continuous data collection since 8Oct09

– Commissioning issues meant some inaccuracies over several weeks