Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Campus

Energy System Engineering Life Cycle Assessment of a Wind Power Plant

Submitted by- Akashdeep Singh (2015H101035P)Sumit Dhage (2015H101028P)Vikash Kumar(2015H101025P)

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CONTENTS

• Wind Energy, Origin of wind & History• Global & Indian Scenario• Physics & Aerodynamics• Classification Of Wind Turbines & its Components• LCA Methodology• Case Study• Conclusion• References

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Wind Energy• Fossil based energy have many disadvantages

leading to need for substitutes.• Increase in alternative sources of renewable

energy, including wind energy.– clean sources of energy. – have a much lower environmental impact.

• The wind is a by-product of solar energy. • Approximately 2% of the solar energy is

converted into wind energy.

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Origin of Wind• Solar radiation differentially absorbed by earth surface converted

through convective processes due to temperature differences to air motion.

• Wind can be classified as: – planetary circulations, – geostrophic winds, – thermal winds, – gradient winds, – topographic winds, – downslope wind storms, – convective storms, – sea and land breeze, – hurricanes, – tornadoes, – atmospheric waves etc.

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HISTORY• Ancient Civilization

– 1st Wind Energy Systems - Vertical-Axis Wind-Mill: connected to grinding stone for milling.

• Middle Ages:– Post Mill Introduced in Northern Europe– Horizontal-Axis Wind-Mill: sails connected to a horizontal shaft.

• 19th century:– Wind-rose horizontal-axis water-pumping wind-mills in rural America.

• 1888:– Charles Brush builds first large-size wind electricity generation turbine.

• 1890s: – Lewis Electric Company of New York sells generators to fit onto existing

windmills

• 1920s-1950s: – Propeller-type 2 & 3-blade horizontal-axis wind electricity conversion

systems.

• Modern Era:– Scale increase, commercialization, competitiveness, grid integration.

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GLOBAL SCENARIO

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INDIAN SCENARIOState wise wind power in India(March 31, 2015)

State Capacity (MW) % of total

Tamil Nadu 7455.2 31.8

Gujarat 3645.4 15.5

Maharashtra 4450.8 18.9

Rajasthan 3307.2 14.1

Karnataka 2638.4 11.2

Andhra Pradesh 1031.4 4.4

Madhya Pradesh 879.7 3.7

Kerala 35.1 0.14

Others 4.3 0.02

India Total 23447.5 100%

Wind Energy Companies in India

Company Office

Vestas India Aarhus, Denmark

Suzlon Energy Pune, Maharashtra

Enercon India Aurich, Germany

Wind World India Mumbai, Maharashtra

Regen Powertech Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Inox Wind limited Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Gamesa Wind Turbines Zamudio, Spain

GE Wind Energy Atlanta, United States

Orient Green Power Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Indowind Energy Chennai, India

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Jaisalmer Wind Park• India's Largest operational onshore wind farm.• Developed by Suzlon Energy.• Initiated in August 2001.• Installed capacity: 1064 MW

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PHYSICSWind Power depends on:

• amount of air (volume)• speed of air (velocity) • mass of air (density)

Betz Limit & Power Coefficient:• Power Coefficient, Cp, is the ratio of power extracted by

the turbine to the total contained in the wind resource to the total contained in the wind resource.

• Turbine power output :• The Betz Limit is the maximal possible Cp = 16/27 = 0.59• 59% efficiency is the BEST a conventional wind turbine can

do in extracting power from the wind.

PT=12  ρ    ∗ A    ∗ v

3∗Cp

P

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Aerodynamics – Wind Turbine

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Aerodynamics – Wind Turbine

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CLASSIFICATION OF WIND TURBINES

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Horizontal Axis

Single Blade Two Blade Three Blade

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Horizontal Axis

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Vertical Axis

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MAIN COMPONENTS OF A WIND TURBINE

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• Rotor : The rotor is made up of blades attached to a hub. Blades are shaped like airplane wings and use the principle of lift to turn wind energy into mechanical energy. Blades can be as long as 150 feet – half the length of football field.

• Pitch Drive : Blades can be rotated to reduce the amount of lift when wind speed becomes too great.

• Nacelle: The rotor attaches to the nacelle which sits atop the tower and encloses the various components

• Brake: The mechanical brake acts as a backup to the braking effects of the blade pitch drives or as a parking brake for maintenance

• Low Speed Shaft: Attached to the rotor.

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• Gear Box: The rotor turns the low speed shaft at speeds ranging from 20 revolutions per minute (rpm) on large turbines to 400 rpm on residential units. Transmission great increase the 1200 to 1800 rpm required by most generator to produce electricity.

• High speed shaft : Attached to a generator

• Generator: Converts the mechanical energy produced by rotor into electricity.

• Heat exchanger: To keep the generator cool

• Controller: A computer system, starts and stops the turbine, and makes the adjustments as wind speed vary.

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• Anemometer: Measure wind speed and passes it along to the controller

• Wind vane: Detects wind direction and passes it along the controller, which adjusts the “YAW” , or heading of the rotor and the nacelle.

• Yaw Drive : Keeps the rotor facing into the wind

• Tower : Because wind speed increases with height, taller towers allow turbines to capture more energy.

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Sequences involved in wind power generation

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LCA

• LCA is a holistic approach for evaluating the environmental impacts associated with

– the manufacture – use – disposal of a product

• It looks at a product or a service by following all stages of the life of that product or service.

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LCA Methodology

• Goal and scope Definition :includes technical details like the system boundaries, assumptions impact categories chosen.

• Life cycle inventory (LCI) : includes information on all of the environmental inputs and

outputs associated with a product i.e. material and energy requirements, as well as emissions and wastes.

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• Impact Assessment : This phase is aimed at evaluating the significance of potential

environmental impacts based on the LCI flow results.

• Interpretation :The results from the inventory analysis and impact assessment

are summarized during the interpretation phase.

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CASE STUDY

• Gamesa onshore wind turbine in the Munilla wind farm in Spain

• 1200 m altitude.• Wind turbine : – 80 m rotor blade– 5027 m2 sweep area– 70 m height

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LCA OF THE CASE STUDY

1. Construction Phase

2. Transportation stage

3. Operational Phase

4. Decommissioning phase

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Foundations• The base has a volume of 270 m3 of concrete and a total weight of 700t

and uses 25t of iron for the reinforcing bars. • The steel ferrule used to connect and support the turbine towers weighs

15t. Tower• Tower measures 76 m and weighs 143t. • In decommissioning process for the tower, the material undergoes a

recycling process with approx. 10% losses. Nacelle• Nacelle cover is made of composite material (preperg).• It contains main shaft, the gearbox, the generator and the transformer)• The total weight corresponds to around 50tRotor• The whole unit weighs approximately 35t. • Each blade is 39 m long, weighs 6.5t and is made of prepreg composite

material..

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Key parameters of the life cycle inventory for wind power production

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Phases of the wind turbine’s life cycle • Manufacturing stage:

– The manufacturing processes used in each case is analyzed.– Foundation and the rotor have greatest impact in this stage.– Prepreg is the element which has the greatest impact in the GWP category.

• Transportation stage: – From the various component manufacturers to the assembly workshop. – To its final emplacement in the wind farm.

• Use stage: – Greatest impact is of inorganic respiration and the reduction of mineral

resources.• Disposal stage:

– Material directed to landfill such as concrete and prepreg.– The metals extracted are taken for recycling.– Foundations will be left in place and covered with a 30 cm layer of organic

soil to avoid contamination caused by heavy equipment.

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Contribution of each life-cycle stage.

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Impact Categories

– Carcinogens(C), – Organic respiration(OR), – Inorganic respiration (IR), – Global warming(GWP), – Radiation(R), – Depletion of the stratospheric zone(ODP), – Eco-toxicity(ET), – Acidification and eutrophication(Acid/Eut.), – Land use(LU), – Minerals(M),– Fossil fuels(Fuels).

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Eco-profile of the four main components under study. (Martinez, et al., 2009)

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Material type and disposal method considered

Energy payback time of the wind farm• Annual output can be estimated as 4GWh for a 2MW rate turbine

with an average production of 2000 full load hours per year. • This output of electrical energy allows us to reduce the levels of

environmental impact, since need of energy from the conventional source can be reduced.

• The wind turbine allows us to recover nearly 31 times the environmental contamination cause by its manufacture, start-up, operation and decommissioning.

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CONCLUSIONS• Wind turbines consumes energy resources and causes emissions during the

production of – raw materials, – manufacturing process, – transportation of small and large parts of the wind turbines, – maintenance, and – disposal of the parts at the end life of the turbines.

• The main environmental impact shown up is the cost in copper. • This metal has a high value and environmental impact although it is recyclable. • The best solution is to reduce the amount used or replace it with another material

with similar characteristics which will not reduce the generator’s efficiency. • More energy and more emissions are produced during the primary material

production of the wind turbine parts. • The manufacturing process is the second dominant phase. • The energy consumption and carbon foot print are negligible for the

transportation and the use phases. • The results also show clearly the benefits of recycling the wind turbine parts at the

end of its life.

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REFERENCES• Martinez, E. and at., el. 2009. Life cycle assessment of a multi-megawatt wind turbine;

Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 667–673. 2009.• Tremeac, B. 2009. B. Tremeac, F. Meunier / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13.

2009.• Consultants, PRe´. 2001. The Eco-indicator 99. A damage oriented method for life cycle

impact assessment. Netherlands. 2001.• ISO. 1998. Environmental management – life cycle assessment – principlesand framework.

Geneva. s.l. : International Organisation for Standardisation, 1998. ISO 14040.• Li, H., Zhang and H-C., Carrell, J. and Tate, D. 2010. Use of an energy-saving concept to assess

life-cycle impact in engineering. s.l. : International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, Vol. 2, 2010.

• Pehnt. 2006. Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies. 2006.• Spellman, Frank R. 2014. Water & Wastewater Infrastructure - Energy Efficiency and

Sustainability. s.l. : Taylor & Francis, 2014.• Varun, Bhat and I.K. and Prakash, R. 2009. LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation

systems .– a review.’. s.l. : Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 13, 2009.

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Thank You !!!