The document discusses the design of a wind turbine project near Idaho Falls, Idaho to generate 300,000 kW/hrs per year. Wind data for the site was obtained and analyzed, which showed average wind speeds of 7.5 m/s. Based on the wind speeds, an Energy E15 65kW wind turbine was selected that has a cut-in speed of 4m/s and cut-out speed of 26.8m/s. Load calculations were performed and showed the turbine could withstand the wind forces. While one turbine would generate around 145,000 kW/hrs, two turbines are needed to meet the project's goal of 300,000 kW/hrs of annual energy production.

1.
Development of Wind Turbine Outside Idaho Falls, Idaho
ETME 491: Wind Energy Engineering Final
Section 001
Submitted by
Danny Farr
Caden von Wildenradt
Submitted to
Robb E. Larson
PE, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department
Montana State University
12/9/2015

2. MEMORANDUM 1
To: Professor Robb Larson
From: Caden von Wildenradt (​CvW​), Danny Farr(​DF​)
CC: ETME 491
Date: December 9, 2015
Subject: Development of Wind Turbine in Idaho Falls, Idaho Area
The scope of this project is to design a wind turbine in order to harvest 300,000
kW/hrs/year out of the wind at a location just southeast of Idaho Falls. Our design parameters
are to pick a turbine and blades, derive and consider all loads to the system, asses the
aerodynamics of the blade, specify over­speed control considerations, and to choose a
generator. Multiple turbines can also be used to achieve the 300,000 kW*hrs/year design goal.
Research must be done to find site specific problems that may occur. Using the resources from
ETME 491, ETME 491 lab and various other websites, these parameters can be met. This
project does not encompass business or cost analysis neither does it consider the design or any
transmitted loads from the foundation of the tower. The location used for the wind data closely
represent the coordinates assigned for this project. Some assumptions that were made were
that 80 meter wind data would work for the calculations because of lack of other data, twelve
years of data is sufficient, and the average energy output is 300,000 kW*hrs/year.
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​DF

3. PROCEDURE 2
The first step was to obtain wind data for the area. This was done through research
through the NREL website through the wind prospector. With this website, we were able to
obtain wind data for collected every five minutes for an entire year at the exact location of our
assigned area. The graphs made from this data are listed in the results section. With this data,
a histogram was made to show the distribution of wind speed for the entire year. The histogram
also shows where the wind speed is at for most of the time. This data allows us to find the wind
turbine that will be used based on the wind speed given. Using the Windographer program, a
turbine was selected to produce the allotted 300,000 kWhrs/year. With many options to choose
from, certain determining factors such as cut­in/cut­out speed,wide range of temperature
change and the hub heights available made clear to the option of the Energy E15 65kW wind
turbine for the wind farm. The wind speeds ranged from 0m/s to 30m/s with the average at
7.5m/s. The 65kW Energy turbine has a cut in at 4m/s and it cuts out at 26.8m/s. This wind
turbine works perfectly for the wind data obtained for the Idaho Falls area.
With the turbine chosen, the next step is to calculate the loads on the turbine to see if it
can withstand the area. These calculations include loads on the blades, tower at the hub
height, and previous calculations done for the wind and tip speed of the blades. The results of
these are located in the results section below.
Other areas of the wind turbine also need to be looked at. Including the generator type,
pitch controls, and transmission of the blades and towers to the site for assembly. Along with
these includes the transportation of the parts for assembly as well as possible environmental
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​CvW

4. impacts of the wind turbines. Listed in the results are details of these areas that were
addressed.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3
Wind Data:
Figure 1: Location of future turbines and wind speed prospector screenshot
The wind data collected accounted for over 100,000 points of data. Anemometers in the
area took readings of the wind speed every five minutes for an entire year in 2012. This was
the data that was used in our characterization of the wind data. The effects of a three year
difference in the area should not be that much different at all, thus is negligible. Since the wind
data accounted for so many points, a figure could not be put in place to show the data. The
Microsoft Excel screenshot in Figure 4 shows the summation of the wind data collected and
plugged into equations to find a histogram as well as power output after a turbine was selected.
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​CvW, DF

5.
Turbine:
Figure 2: Description of Turbine Components
After calculating which turbine would work best for the wind data that was obtained, it
was found that the E15 65kW wind turbine would be ideal. The 110 ft option is the option we
selected to produce the most amount of energy. From here we can go into the components of
the wind turbine. With the weight of the Nacelle being 9000 lbs, and the tower being 18500 lbs,
moment calculations were done on the tower in order to see if the winds were too much for the
turbine. With the wind forces found to be 101.45 lbs per blade listed in (Fig. 4), the moments on
the blades and the tower were found. These values were much less than the yield strength of
the materials in the tower and blades, so this system is safe in these winds. These calculated

6. values were used using dynamic equations listed in the book. The calculated values for the
loads on the main components are listed in (Fig. 4).
Figure 3: Power Curve and Technical Specs
The technical specs for the E15 65kW turbine includes useful information needed to
design for the goal of a 300,000kW*hr/year energy production that can then be fed into the grid.
This information includes wind class, rated power, cut­ in speed, cut­out speed, rotor diameter,
swept area, number of blades and other more specific data. The power curve for the turbine
shows how much energy can be produced at a specific speed. The wind data along with this
technical information information allowed for the wind density analysis to be performed.

7.
Figure 4: Calculated Excel Values

8.
Figure 5: Windographer Data: For Recommended Wind Turbine
From the data listed above from the Windographer Program, it was found that the overall
energy output for the E15 65kW is about half of what is needed for the project. Since this is the
case, adding another turbine will the the ideal solution. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Since
one turbine is already being put in place, the cost of adding transmission lines to the project will
be much less than only adding one turbine. Along with this, having a second turbine also helps
for operating and maintenance cost. If one turbine is broken down during a period of time,
another one will be running. If there was only one turbine in place then this would be a major
problem. These values from Windographer are also accurate because of the loss
considerations. These losses include downtime losses, array losses, icing losses, as well as

9. other loss factors. With the total losses calculated to be around 17%, the annual output of
energy was dropped down.
Figure 6: Calculated kWhrs/year Output Without Loss Consideration
Figure 7: Wind Data Analysis Histogram

10. In the histogram above (Fig. 7) the frequencies of the every 5 minute unit is graphed at
its respective bin of range. With this data we were able to calculate the amount of hours each
wind speed is getting. The frequency times the amount of hours in a year times the coefficient of
how much each wind speed occurs during the year, the amount of energy for each wind speed
is producing. The sum of the power of the speed is the amount of of power the turbine can make
per hour in a year. The average wind speed for our data was 7.5m/s where the hours of the
>27m/s are less than a tenth of an hour. With the overall output of a single turbine being
145,314 Kw*hrs/year (Fig. 5), the results show that two turbines will be needed in this location to
get approximately close to meeting the goal of 300,000 kW*hrs/year. In order to get above the
300,000 kW*hrs/year there would need to be 2 turbines totally somewhere around just under
300,000 kW*hrs/year. We believe that this value will still be sufficient to have the necessary
output of energy at 300,000 kW*hrs/year. Because of the high loss values stated in the
Windographer program shown in (Fig.5); each turbine reaching an average of 150,000
kW*hrs/year is very feasible. With the data collected, it is shown that the capacity factor of the
wind that was collected is only at 25% for the turbine. This means that much more wind is
available for harvesting in the area, giving further reasoning into continuing the expansion of this
wind farm.

11.
Figure 7: Velocity and Power Duration Curves
The velocity and duration curve are important when comparing energy potential of
candidate wind sites. The goal of this project was to use a specific location so our values were
not compared to others. The velocity curve is number of hours in the year for which the speed
equals or exceeds each particular value on the x axis. The power duration curve is the number
of hours in the year for which value of produced power equals or exceeds the value on the x
axis in hours. Here we can see the rated power at 35 KW and declining to the power at cut­in
speed. The power curve for the wind would be above this curve because the turbine is not
100% efficient.

12.
Figure 8: Tip Speed Ratio and Power Coefficient
The wind speed and tip speed of the blades was between the range of 12­2. The rpm
that was used the spec rpm with mean wind speed of 7.5 m/s used. These values were
determined using the wind data obtained through NREL as well as references through the
Windographer program.
With the calculations done for the blades and the wind data gathered, the next step is to
look at the transportation of these components, the transmission of the energy gathered, and
possible effects that the wind turbines will have on the community. The main effect that will be
looked at is the controversy of adding another wind farm to an area.

13. Transmission:
Figure 9: 115 kV and 138 kV Transmission Line Connection Idaho Falls
The transmission lines are no further than 20 miles from our site making it accessible to
the grid. Because the infrastructure is already there, it is much easier to build at these sites.
They could potentially hook up to the 115 kV line or the 138 kV. Having two turbines, the
transmission from these towers to a main station then to the transmission lines will be
necessary. This might be a small added cost, but will be worth the connection in the long run.
Power Control:
The control system in the Energy E15 65kW wind turbine uses an induction generator
with thermal protection and a vibration sensor for shutdown. For safety, the turbine has
centrifugally actuated blade tip brakes. It also has fail­safe mechanical disc brakes, which will
stop the turbine if the tip braking does not work.. The grid monitoring allows for fault shutdown
inputs like line voltage, line frequency and overproduction. There is thermal protection for the

14. pump and yaw motor circuits and because of the high cut­out speed it has a high wind speed
fault shutdown.
Tower:
The tower that will be used is a hot dip galvanized lattice tower. Since the tower is only
34 meters tall and is in lattice form, the transportation of these wind turbines will be relatively
simple to those of much more magnitude. The weight of the tower was listed above in (Fig. 4)
to be 18,500 lbs. This weight is nothing for a tractor trailer, reiterating that the transportation of
the tower and components of the nacelle is relatively easy.
Land:
Figure 10: Topographical Map of Assigned Wind Area

15. The land where the turbines will be built will be right where the mountains begin
southeast of idaho falls. This area increases in elevation and the roads must go with the land so
they are going to be windy. Short corners require modular pieces in order to get them to the
location. The modular pieces can then be constructed on site.
Along with land comes into the consideration of the view of the wind turbines. Some
people do not want to look at wind turbines, but this won’t be a problem for the location that the
wind farm will be located. The wind farm is in a rural area in Idaho, so not many people will see
or complain about the wind turbines. Also there are only two wind turbines going in for now.
These turbines that we selected also are relatively quiet to other wind turbines.
Conclusion:
With the goal of designing a 300,000 kW*hr/year wind farm, the turbine that was chosen
out of all the alternatives was the Energy E15 65kW wind turbine. This turbine was chosen
specifically to produce for our energy production goal. The turbine was chosen for its wide range
between cut­in and cut­out speeds. The small size of the wind turbine will decrease the difficulty
of installation and manufacturability of the turbines..The relatively small wind wind turbine is a
perfect application for this amount of power production because of the smaller loads that it must
be able to withstand verses using one larger turbine. With two turbines, it is much easier to keep
the downtime to a minimum because when one is down the other can still be producing power.
Overall this small production application would work best as a wind appliance to power three
households.

16.
References:
Taylor, Valerie. "A Threat at Every Turn: New Challenges and New Solutions." ​PsycEXTRA Dataset
(2014): n. pag. ​Rowan.edu​. Wind Energy. Web.
http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/engineering/clinics/cleanenergy/pictures/anemometer_pics/e15_
brochure.pdf
Generators​. Anderson, IN: Delco Remy, www.gepowerconversion.com, 1958. Web.
http://www.gepowerconversion.com/sites/gepc/files/product/Generators%20Brochure­English.p
df
"The Wind Prospector." ​The Wind Prospector​. NREL, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
https://maps.nrel.gov/wind­prospector/