Energy Resources of India

Energy is the capacity to work. We use energy at various levels in different forms. It is used in the kitchen for cooking food to run machines at the factories. The motor vehicles, the trains, the turbines and the aero planes are driven by the energy. The exploration of Antarctica or the arrival of man on the moon is only possible by harnessing energy rich fuels. Energy provides the power to progress. Its uses at present life are manifold. We cannot grow without it. More the man is advancing towards modernity, more he is becoming dependent on energy. From the prehistoric period, when man first came to know about the use of fire, till date, it plays a key role in the economic and social developments of mankind. A nation is considered rich not by amount of minerals or industrial resources it possesses, but by its technical ability it has acquired and scientific progress it is making, which depends ultimately on the supply and consumption of energy. The per capita daily consumption of energy of the developed countries is much higher in comparison to the developing countries like India. Energy consumption pattern of selected nations Nations Proportions Proportions of Proportions of of world's energy world's daily Consumption Population (%) consumption (%) (approx)X 1000 kcal USA Canada UK Japan India 230 165 145 40 06 35 03 06 03 02 06 0.6 1.5 03 15

We have 15 per cent of world's population; but we consume only 2 per cent of the world's total energy. Whereas countries like USA, Canada, UK, Japan etc. have very less population but their energy consumption is much higher. That is the main reason for which these countries are categorized under 'developed' and India under 'developing' countries. The common units for

expression of energy are calorie and BTU or British thermal unit when the quantity is large; we express it in Mega Watt (MW). Energy Resources: Along with all other natural resources like air, water, land, forestry and fisheries, energy also occupies an important place. Our progress And prosperity depend solely upon it. Natural resources, energy and Environment are intimate related. Distributed or any one would definitely cause disturbances in other two. Energy is required for beneficial use of natural resources and the resources, on the other hand, provide energy. The interaction of these two in the environment in safe and tolerable limit is called 'limit of tolerance*. When this is disturbed, great disasters occur. Depending on the source and availability, energy resources are mainly of two types. (i) Non-conventional or renewable energy. (ii) Conventional or non-renewable energy. (i) Non-conventional or renewable energy It is a type of non-replenish able or non-exhaustible form obtained from the continuous or repetitive currents of energy occurring in the natural environment. As the source of energy is unlimited, it is also called infinite or renewable energy. The examples are: Biomass and Biogas Solar, Wind, Tidal, Minihydel and Geothermal. (ii) Conventional energy All the non-renewable types of energy come under this category. In this case, the raw materials that provide energy can not be replaced. Once it is used, its stock is depleted for ever. The common types are coal, Oil Natural gas and recently the Nuclear energy.

Energy sources in India

Total Installed Capacity (December 2012)
[12]

Source

Total Capacity (MW) Percentage

Coal

120,873.38

57.29

Hydroelectricity

39,339.40

18.64

Renewable energy source 25,856.14

12.25

Gas

18,903.05

8.96

Nuclear

4780

2.26

Oil

1,199.75

0.56

Total

2,10,951.72

Sector

Total Capacity (MW) Percentage

State Sector

86,405.85

40.96

Central Sector 62,886.63

29.81

Private Sector 61,659.24

29.22

Total

2,10,951.72

India Waste Generation Scenario Every year, about 55 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) and 38 billion liters of sewage are generated in the urban areas of India. In addition, large quantities of solid and liquid wastes are generated by industries. Waste generation in India is expected to increase rapidly in the future. As more people migrate to urban areas and as incomes increase, consumption levels are likely to rise, as are

rates of waste generation. It is estimated that the amount of waste generated in India will increase at a per capita rate of approximately 1-1.33% annually. This has significant impacts on the amount of land that is and will be needed for disposal, economic costs of collecting and transporting waste, and the environmental consequences of increased MSW generation levels. Types of Waste Waste can be broadly classified into i. ii. iii. iv. Urban Waste Industrial Waste Biomass Waste Biomedical Waste Urban waste includes Municipal Solid Waste, Sewage and Fecal Sludge, whereas industrial waste could be classified as Hazardous industrial waste and Non-hazardous industrial waste. More on the types of wastes from here. Why Waste to Energy is Important? Most wastes that are generated, find their way into land and water bodies without proper treatment, causing severe water pollution. They also emit greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide, and add to air pollution. Any organic waste from urban and rural areas and industries is a resource due to its ability to get degraded, resulting in energy generation. The problems caused by solid and liquid wastes can be significantly mitigated through the adoption of environment-friendly waste-to-energy technologies that will allow treatment and processing of wastes before their disposal. These measures would reduce the quantity of wastes, generate a substantial quantity of energy from them, and greatly reduce environmental pollution. Indias growing energy deficit is making the government central and state governments become keen on alternative and renewable energy sources. Waste to energy is one of these, and it is garnering increasing attention from both the central and state governments. While the Indian Governments own figures would suggest that the cost of waste to energy is somewhat higher than other renewable sources, it is still an attractive option, as it serves a dual role of waste disposal and energy production. India Waste to Energy Potential

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), there exists a potential of about 1700 MW from urban waste (1500 from MSW and 225 MW from sewage) and about 1300 MW from industrial waste. The ministry is also actively promoting the generation of energy from waste, by providing subsidies and incentives for the projects. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) estimates indicate that India has so far realized only about 2% of its waste-to-energy potential. A market analysis from Frost and Sullivan predicts that the Indian municipal solid waste to energy market could be growing at a compound annual growth rate of 9.7% by 2013. More about Waste to Energy Potential in India Technologies for the Generation of Energy from Waste Energy can be recovered from the organic fraction of waste (biodegradable as well as nonbiodegradable) through thermal, thermo-chemical, biochemical and electrochemical methods. (i) Thermal Conversion: The process involves thermal degradation of waste under high temperature. In this complete oxidation of the waste occurs under high temperature. The major technological option under this category is incineration. But incineration has been losing attention these days because of its emission characteristics. (ii) Thermo-chemical conversion: This process entails high temperature driven decomposition of organic matter to produce either heat energy or fuel oil or gas. They are useful for wastes containing high percentage of organic non-biodegradable matter and low moisture content. The main technological options under this category include Pyrolysis and Gasification. The products of these processes (producer gas, exhaust gases etc) can be used purely as heat energy or further processed chemically, to produce a range of end products

(iii) Bio-chemical conversion: This process is based on enzymatic decomposition of organic matter by microbial action to produce methane gas, and alcohol etc. This process, on the other hand, is preferred for wastes having high percentage of organic, bio-degradable (putrescible) matter and high level of moisture/ water content, which aids microbial activity. The major technological options under this category are anaerobic digestion (bio-methanation) and fermentation. Of the two, anaerobic digestion is the most frequently used method for waste to energy, and fermentation is emerging. (iv) Electrochemical conversion: Electrochemical conversion in the context of waste to energy refers typically to microbial fuel cells (MFC). These systems are developed to trap the energy from wastes, where the reduction-oxidation machinery of immobilized microbial cells is catalytically exploited, for the accelerated transfer of electrons from organic wastes, to generate electricity and bio-hydrogen gas.

However this methodology needs extensive evaluation studies on bulk scale liquid waste treatments and stands at a nascent level in India as well as worldwide. More on the technological routes for generating energy from waste Indian Government Support for Waste to Energy The Indian Government has recognized waste to energy as a renewable technology and supports it through various subsidies and incentives. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is actively promoting all the technology options available for energy recovery from urban and industrial wastes. MNRE is also promoting the research on waste to energy by providing financial support for R&D projects on cost sharing basis in accordance with the R&D Policy of the MNRE. In addition to that, MNRE also provides financial support for projects involving applied R&D and studies on resource assessment, technology up-gradation and performance evaluation. Specific data on the government support for waste to energy projects can be obtained from here. A number of key statistics, such as the value of recyclables, the amount of environmental pollution from waste sources, and the quantity of industrial waste generated, need to be computed to gain a better understanding of this sector. In terms of research related to waste to energy, detailed analysis of costs and available funding is needed

India Biomass Energy

Introduction With serious concern globally and in India on the use of fossil fuels, it is important for India to start using renewable energy sources. India is the 7 largest country in the world spanning 328 million hectares and amply bestowed with renewable sources of energy. Among the renewable energy sources, biomass plays a vital role especially in rural areas, as it constitutes the major energy source to majority of households in India. Biomass energy is the utilization of organic matter present and can be utilized for various applications. Biomass can be used to produce heat and electricity, or used in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Biomass can also be used in combination with fossil fuels (co-firing) to improve efficiency and reduce the build up of combustion residues. Biomass can also replace petroleum as a source for transportation fuels. Types of Biomass
th

Biomass is highly diverse in nature and classified on the basis of site of origin, as follows: a. Field and plantation biomass b. Industrial biomass c. Forest biomass d. Urban waste biomass e. Aquatic biomass For more information on the types of biomass, click here

Technologies involved in Biomass Energy Production

Biomass is a complex class of feed stocks with significant energy potential to apply different technologies for energy recovery. Typically technologies for biomass energy are broadly classified on the basis of principles of thermo chemistry as combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and biochemistry as anaerobic digestion, fermentation and trans-esterification. Each technology has its uniqueness to produce a major calorific end product and a mixture of by-products. Biomass Energy in India India produces about 450-500 million tonnes of biomass per year. Biomass provides 32% of all the primary energy use in the country at present. EAI estimates that the potential in the short term for power from biomass in India varies from about 18,000 MW, when the scope of biomass is as traditionally defined, to a high of about 50,000 MW if one were to expand the scope of definition of biomass. The current share of biofuels in total fuel consumption is extremely low and is confined mainly to 5% blending of ethanol in gasoline, which the government has made mandatory in 10 states. Currently, biodiesel is not sold on the Indian fuel market, but the government plans to meet 20% of the countrys diesel requirements by 2020 using biodiesel. Plants like Jatropha curcas, Neem, Mahua and other wild plants are identified as the potential sources for biodiesel production in India. There are about 63 million ha waste land in the country, out of which about 40 million ha area can be developed by undertaking plantations of Jatropha. India uses several incentive schemes to induce villagers to rehabilitate waste lands through the cultivation of Jatropha. The Indian government is targeting a Jatropha plantation area of 11.2 million ha by 2012.

Government incentives and Subsidies for Biomass Energy Production

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) in the form of capital subsidy and financial incentives to the biomass energy projects in India. CFA is allotted to the projects on the basis of installed capacity, energy generation mode and its application etc. Financial support will be made available selectively through a transparent and competitive procedure. Bottlenecks faced by the Indian Biomass Industry Biomass to Power/Heat One of the most critical bottlenecks for biomass plants (based on any technology) is the supply chain bottlenecks that could result in non-availability of feedstock. A related problem is the volatility, or more precisely increase, in the feedstock price. Both these could render the project unviable. There is other concerns and bottlenecks as well such as: Lack of adequate policy framework and effective financing mechanisms Lack of effective regulatory framework Lack of technical capacity Absence of effective information dissemination Limited successful commercial demonstration model experience Biomass to Transportation fuels Biodiesel One of the main problems in getting the biodiesel programme rolling is the difficulty linked to initiating large-scale cultivation of Jatropha. The following problems have been cited by farmers regarding Jatropha cultivation: Lack of confidence in farmers due to the delay in notifying, publicizing and explaining the government biodiesel policy. No minimum support price. In the absence of long-term purchase contracts, there are no buy-back arrangements or purchase centres for Jatropha plantations. Lack of availability certified seeds of higher yield containing higher oil content.

No announcement of incentives/subsidy and other benefits proposed to be provided to farmers Bioethanol

The overwhelmingly dominant factor in the production of ethanol in India is the price and availability of molasses.

The Central government sets the policy regarding ethanol blending, but the State governments control the movement of molasses and often restrict molasses transport over State boundaries. State governments also impose excise taxes on potable alcohol sales, a lucrative source of revenue.

India Wind Energy

Introduction
Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. The earths surface is made of different types of land and water. These surfaces absorb the suns heat at different rates, giving rise to the differences in temperature and subsequently to winds. During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place, creating winds. At night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly over land than over water. In the same way, the large atmospheric winds that circle the earth are created because the land near the earth's equator is heated more by the sun than the land near the North and South Poles. Humans use this wind flow for many purposes: sailing boats, pumping water, grinding mills and also generating electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy of the moving wind into electricity.

Wind Energy for power generation

Wind Energy, like solar is a free energy resource. But is much intermittent than solar. Wind speeds may vary within minutes and affect the power generation and in cases of high speeds- may result in overloading of generator. Energy from the wind can be tapped using turbines. Setting up of these turbines needs little research before being established. Be it a small wind turbine on a house, a commercial wind farm or any offshore installation, all of

them, at first, need the Wind Resource to be determined in the area of proposed site. The Wind Resource data is an estimation of average and peak wind speeds at a location based on various meteorological. The next step is to determine access to the transmission lines or nearest control centre where the power generated from the turbines can be conditioned, refined, stored or transmitted. It is also necessary to survey the impact of putting up wind turbines on the community and wildlife in the locality. If sufficient wind resources are found, the developer will secure land leases from property owners, obtain the necessary permits and financing; purchase and install wind turbines. The completed facility is often sold to an independent operator called an independent power producer (IPP) who generates electricity to sell to the local utility, although some utilities own and operate wind farms directly. Wind mills can be set up ranging scales of:

On-shore grid connected Wind Turbine systems

Off-shore Wind turbine systems

Small Wind and Hybrid Energy Decentralized systems (Floating) Advantages Can be used for both distributed generation or grid interactive power generation using on-shore or off shore technologies. Ranges of power producing turbines are available. Micro-turbines are capable of producing 300W to 1MW and large wind turbines have typical size of 35kW-3MW. Wind turbine is suitable to install in remote rural area, water pumping and grinding mills Average capacity factor can be close or higher than 30% Disadvantages The total cost can be cheaper than solar system but more expensive than hydro. Electricity production depends on- wind speed, location, season and air temperature. Hence various monitoring systems are needed and may cost expensive. High percentage of the hardware cost (for large WT) is mostly spent on the tower designed to support the turbine

Technology
The range of wind speeds that are usable by a particular wind turbine for electricity generation is called productive wind speed. The power available from wind is proportional to cube of the wind's speed. So as the speed of the wind falls, the amount of energy that can be got from it falls very rapidly. On the other hand, as the wind speed

rises, so the amount of energy in it rises very rapidly; very high wind speeds can overload a turbine. Productive wind speeds will range between 4 m/sec to 35 m/sec. The minimum prescribed speed for optimal performance of large scale wind farms is about 6 m/s. Wind power potential is mostly assessed assuming 1% of land availability for wind farms required @12 ha/MW in sites having wind power density exceeding 200 W/sq.m. at 50 m hub-height. The energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a generator to create electricity. Wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 100 feet (30 meters) or more above ground, they can take advantage of faster and less turbulent wind. Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building, or they can be connected to an electricity grid (shown here) for more widespread electricity distribution. Furthermore projects are going on exploring in Research Design and Development to achieve following goals:

Continue cost reduction: improved site assessment, better modeling for aerodynamics, intelligent/recyclable materials, stand-alone and hybrid systems. Increase value and reduce uncertainties: forecasting power performance, improving standards and engineering integrity and storage techniques. Enable large-scale use: Load flow control and adaptive power quality Minimize environmental impacts: Noise impacts, Flora and Fauna, utilization of land resources and aesthetics integration

Indias Unique Proposition

Geographic Location and Wind Potential:

The potential is far from exhausted. It is estimated

that with the current level of technology, the on-shore potential for utilization of wind energy for electricity generation is of the order of 65,000 MW. India also is blessed with 7517km of coastline and its territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles into the sea. The unexploited resource availability has the potential to sustain the growth of wind energy sector in India in the years to come. Potential areas can be identified on Indian map using Wind Power Density map. C-WET, one of pioneering Wind Research organization in the country is leading in all such resource studies and has launched its Wind Resource map. In a step towards identifying and properly exploiting these wind resources, MNRE has estimated state-wise wind power potential in the country.

World Market Share: According to REN21- Global Status Report 2011 (GSR-2011), Indian company Suzlon was among top ten manufacturers of Wind Turbine manufacturers in the world with world market share of 6.7%. Also major world companies are pouring into the fast evolving Wind Energy market in India: Vestas, GE Wind, Enercon and Gamesa have already opened up their establishments across various cities in India. Government Support and Policies: Several states have come up with renewable energy policies likeKarnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. More details of and summary for such policies is available on this page.
Installed Capacity:

According to MNRE s achievent report, The cumulative installed capacity

of Grid Interactive Wind Energy in India by the end of September 2011 was 14989MW (of which 833MW was installed during 2011-2012 against a target of 2400MW). Aerogenerators and hybrid systems contributed 1.20MW during 2011-12 to yield cumulative off-grid wind capacity of 15.55MW.
India in the windy world:

In 2008, India shared 6.58% of total wind energy installed

capacity around the world, according to World Wind Energy Report-2008. According to GSR-2011, the world witnessed highest renewable energy installations through wind energy. Total installed capacity of wind energy reached 198GW by the end of 2010.

India ranked third in the world in annual capacity additions and fifth in terms of total wind energy installed capacity. India has been able to fast pace its growth in wind energy installations and bring down costs of power production. The GSR 2011 reported onshore wind power (1.5-3.5MW; Rotor diameter 60-100m) at 5-9 cents/kWh and off shore wind power (1.5-5MW; Rotor diameter 75-120m) at 10-20 cents/kWh. But Indias onshore wind power cost reached 6-9cents/kWh in 2008 itself (Indian Renewable Energy Status Report-2010).
Clean Wind to overcome power shortage:

Electricity losses in India during transmission and

distribution have been extremely high over the years and this reached a worst proportion of about 24.7% during 2010-11. India is in a pressing need to tide over a peak power shortfall of 13% by reducing losses due to theft. Theft of electricity, common in most parts of urban India, amounts to 1.5% of Indias GDP. Due to shortage of electricity, power cuts are common throughout India and this has adversely affected the countrys economic growth. Hence a cheaper, non-polluting and environment friendly solution to power rural India is needed.
Wind energy as job generator: Wind

energy utilization creates many more jobs than

centralized, non-renewable energy sources. Wind Energy companies have opened up huge career options. Also the ease and accessibility of manufacturing technology has given entrepreneurs with new business options to venture in. The wind sector worldwide has become a major job generator: Within only three years, the wind sector worldwide almost doubled the number of jobs from 235,000 in 2005 to 440,000 in the year 2008. These highly skilled employees are contributing to the generation of 260 TWh of electricity.

Capacity Installed
A notable feature of the Indian programme has been the interest among private investors/developers in setting up of commercial wind
power projects.

Several companies have established themselves in wind technologymanufacturing. The gross potential is 48,561 MW (source C-wet) and a total of about 14,158.00 MW of commercial projects have been established until March 31, 2011. All projects installed in India are listed on this page. The break-up of projects implemented in prominent wind potential states (as on March 31, 2011) is as given below: State Gross Potential (MW)Total Capacity (MW) till 31.03.2011 Andhra Pradesh 8968 200.2 Gujarat 10,645 2175.6

Karnataka 11,531 Kerala 1171 Madhya Pradesh1019 Maharashtra 4584 Orissa 255 Rajasthan 4858 Tamil Nadu 5530 Others Total 48,561

1730.1 32.8 275.5 2310.7 1524.7 5904.4 4 14,158

Source: InWEA, more details on State-Wise Cumulative Wind Generation Data

o study detailed technical constraints in design of these wind mills based on Aerodynamic, Electrical, Transmission, Control and Safety designs, click here.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

Horizontal axis wind turbines have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower, and they must be pointed into the wind. Small turbines are pointed by a

simple wind vane placed square with the rotor (blades), while large turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a servo motor. Most large wind turbines have a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the rotor into a faster rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator. Since a tower produces turbulence behind it, the turbine is usually pointed upwind of the tower. Wind turbine blades are made stiff to prevent the blades from being pushed into the tower by high winds. Additionally, the blades are placed a considerable distance in front of the tower and are sometimes tilted up a small amount. Downwind machines have been built, despite the problem of turbulence, because they don't need an additional mechanism for keeping them in line with the wind, and because in high winds, the blades can be allowed to bend which reduces their swept area and thus their wind resistance. Since turbulence leads to fatigue failures, and reliability is so important, most HAWTs are upwind machines. Types of HAWT wind farm installations are:
o

On-Shore: Mountains and hilly areas have been the original choice to setup these farms. Individual wind turbines at these farms contribute towards power generation of 100 MW or more. The land occupied by the wind parks are often used for agriculture or animal grazing. Denmark, Spain and Portugal are some of the leading countries in the onshore wind farm electricity production. Offshore wind farms are the results of revolutionary technology that has encouraged man to set up wind energy harvesting farms on the water surface. Apart from oceans, lakes also act as sites for the installation of wind parks. An advantage of offshore wind farm is that it makes use of powerful winds blowing over the water surface. Moreover, it is easy to transport huge parts of a wind turbine to the offshore sites using big ships and vessels. Some of the other advantages of these farms include mitigation of noise due to distance from land and higher capacity factors. The United Kingdom is the nation that leads in electricity generation using offshore wind parks. Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands are other countries that follow.

Off-shore Wind in India

MNRE is planning to set up two pilot projects in Gujarat and Tamilnadu to estimate potentials in these states. Although India has a coastline stretching more than 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles), research hasnt shown locations with sufficient wind for offshore turbines, according to the World Energy Council. The survey is important as India doesnt have good data on offshore wind speeds and their variability, which developers need before they make investments. It will help in getting reliable data to reduce their risk.

Suzlon Energy Limited, active in off shore wind in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands, has preliminary estimates showing the South

Asian nation may have the potential to produce 25,000 megawatts of power from wind farms at sea, especially in areas off Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. It is also planning to come up with an off-shore wind Energy project near Kutchchh area. The company is also studying 9 different sites in the state of Gujarat. The copany also plans to set up off-shore farms 20km from the Tamil Nadu coast.

It is believed that once TEDA gets approval from MNRE to set up off-shore wind farms along its coastal belts, each unit installed can have a potential of about 500-700MW. Centre for Wind Energy Technology is already carrying out a detailed study to assess the potential of off-shore wind energy.

wind power. As suggested by its name, a near-shore wind farm is installed near the shore, thus making use of land and see breezes to turn the turbines. In future, you might come across air-borne wind farms, with wind turbines requiring no towers for installation.
HAWT advantages

A near-shore wind farm is the third type of farms used for harvesting

The tall tower base allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear. In some wind shear sites, every ten meters up the wind speed can increase by 20% and the power output by 34%. High efficiency, since the blades always move perpendicularly to the wind, receiving power through the whole rotation. In contrast, all vertical axis wind turbines, and most proposed airborne wind turbine designs, involve various types of reciprocating actions, requiring airfoil surfaces to backtrack against the wind for part of the cycle. Backtracking against the wind leads to inherently lower efficiency.
HAWT disadvantages

Massive tower construction is required to support the heavy blades, gearbox, generator and an additional yaw control mechanism to turn the blades toward the wind. Downwind variants suffer from fatigue and structural failure caused by turbulence when a blade passes through the tower's wind shadow (for this reason, the majority of HAWTs use an upwind design, with the rotor facing the wind in front of the tower). HAWTs generally require a braking or yawing device in high winds to stop the turbine from spinning and destroying or damaging itself.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

VAWTs, have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. The main advantage of this arrangement is that the wind turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind. This is an advantage on sites where the wind direction is highly variable or has turbulent winds. With a vertical axis, the generator and other primary components can be placed near the ground, so the tower does not need to support it, also makes maintenance easier. The main drawback of a VAWT is that it generally creates drag when rotating into the wind. It is difficult to mount vertical-axis turbines on towers, meaning they are often installed nearer to the base on which they rest, such as the ground or a building rooftop. Hence these models are not frequently used for off-shore installations which if used might require water proof casings that adds to extra costs. Also, offshore installations require very high height towers. The wind speed is slower at a lower altitude, so less wind energy is available for a given size turbine. Air flow near the ground and other objects can create turbulent flow, which can introduce issues of vibration, including noise and bearing wear which may increase the maintenance or shorten its service life. However, when a turbine is mounted on a rooftop, the building generally redirects wind over the roof and these can double the wind speed at the turbine. If the height of the rooftop mounted turbine tower is approximately 50% of the building height, this is near

the optimum for maximum wind energy and minimum wind turbulence. Various types of VAWT are:

Darrieus wind turbine: "Eggbeater" turbines, or Darrieus turbines, were named after the French inventor, Georges Darrieus. They have good efficiency, but produce large torque ripple and cyclical stress on the tower, which contributes to poor reliability. They also generally require some external power source, or an additional Savonius rotor to start turning, because the starting torque is very low. The torque ripple is reduced by using three or more blades which results in greater solidity of the rotor. Solidity is measured by blade area divided by the rotor area. Newer Darrieus type turbines are not held up by guy-wires but have an external superstructure connected to the top bearing. Giromill: It is a subtype of Darrieus turbine with straight, as opposed to curved, blades. The cycloturbine variety has variable pitch to reduce the torque pulsation and is selfstarting. The advantages of variable pitch are: high starting torque; a wide, relatively flat torque curve; a lower blade speed ratio; a higher coefficient of performance; more efficient operation in turbulent winds; and a lower blade speed ratio which lowers blade bending stresses. Straight, V, or curved blades may be used. Savonius wind turbine: These are drag-type devices with two (or more) scoops that are used in anemometers, Flettner vents (commonly seen on bus and van roofs), and in some high-reliability low-efficiency power turbines. They are always self-starting if there are at least three scoops. Twisted Savonius: Twisted Savonius is a modified savonius, with long helical scoops to give a smooth torque, this is mostly used as roof windturbine or on some boats (like the Hornblower Hybrid)
VAWT advantages

No yaw mechanism is needed because they have lower wind startup speeds than the typical the HAWTs. A VAWT can be located nearer the ground, making it easier to maintain the moving parts. VAWTs situated close to the ground can take advantage of locations where rooftops, mesas, hilltops, ridgelines, and passes funnel the wind and increase wind velocity.
VAWT disadvantages

Most VAWTs have an average decreased efficiency from a common HAWT, mainly because of the additional drag that they have as their blades rotate into the wind. Having rotors located close to the ground where wind speeds are lower due and do not take advantage of higher wind speeds above.

Wind Turbine Technology Based on Applications

Wind power can be divided into three size ranges, which are used for different applications. The size is chosen differently depending on the turbines purpose. The height/span of wind turbines can be anticipated by comparing with some other large objects and installations. Typical sizes in the three ranges available are: Residential: below 30 kW

Choose a size based on electrical load Diameter: 1 - 13 m (4 - 43 ft) Height: 18 - 37 m (60 - 120 ft) Example: 20,000 kWh/year Medium: 30 - 500 kW May be sized to a load. Typically used when there is a large electrical load. Diameter: 13 - 30 m (43 - 100 ft) Height: 35 - 50 m (115 - 164 ft) Example: 600,000 kWh/year Commercial scale: 500 kW - 2 MW Usually fed into the grid, not sized to a single load Diameter: 47 - 90 m (155 - 300 ft) Height: 50 - 80 m (164 - 262 ft) Example: 4,000,000 kWh/year