INCREASING THE SIZE OF WTGs IN INDIA

Benefits; Challenges & Technological Advancements Nimish Shah Suzlon Energy snimish@suzlon.com

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility Benefits. Economics Other Benefits Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation Advancements in Technology and Materials Conclusion

2.

3.

4. 5.

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility 2. Benefits. Economics Other Benefits 3. Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation 4. Advancements in Technology and Materials 5. Conclusion

NEED FOR INCREASE IN WTG SIZE

Current Installed Electrical Power Capacity in India is 156,092.23 MW[1] Expected to multiply manifold (~ 450,000 MW BY 2020 or 950,000 MW[2] by 2030). To reach anywhere close to 20% of this installed capacity by Wind energy, we would be talking of an annual WTG installation in the excess of 10,000MW. Current Average size of WTG installations in India is just 1000 kW[3] . This implies installation of over 10,000 turbines per year. Compare this to the fact that in 2008, less than 7000[4] turbines were installed in the entire European region or even in America. Thus, it is clear that we cannot reach our targets simply by increasing the number of turbines to be installed and it is imperative that the WTG sizes have to increase as well.

LEARNING FROM THE WORLD

Annual & Cumulative wind power development 1983-2008

From 1995 cumulative wind power installed has increased from 4,778MW to 122,158MW in 2008. And world avg. WTG size has increase from 394kW (1995) to 1419kW (2008) appx.

LEARNING FROM THE WORLD

Average WTG size installed each year 1995-2008
2000 1800

Rated power (kW)

1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Germany

Year India

World Avg

Average Global WTG size increased from 400 kW (1995) to 1400 kW (2008). We see the same trend in India, albeit with a time lag.

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY
Increase in the size of (commercial) turbines from 50 kW to 5 MW (100 times) over the period of the last 30 years[5].

Through Improved Materials Through Improved Technologies And we are still only a 30 year young industry. Hence we can say that, the wind industry has been in a technologically
nascent stage and clearly there has been a room for upscaling from a technological point of view.

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility 2. Benefits. Economics Other Benefits 3. Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation 4. Advancements in Technology and Materials 5. Conclusion

BENEFITS OF INCREASING SIZE

Better economics
Eg. Lower Control costs Eg. Ease of managing transportation costs Eg. Lower BoP costs (Grid connection; Transmission; Power Evacuation) Eg. Lower overhead costs per MW Other Benefits
Feasibility of using advanced technologies Better space utilization (in linear wind farms) Higher capacity installation

Reduced Control Cost

Reduction in costs of control panels, pitch systems, microprocessors, communication devices, etc as there is no significant increase in amount of silicon (computing power) used with increase in size of turbines as compared to copper and steel .
Con trol Pan el cost
3.50% 3.00%
As % of total turbine cost

2.50% 2.00% 1.50% 1.00% 0.50% 0.00% 500 1000 1500 2000
T urbine size (kW )

As per estimation ,pure control costs range around 3 % for a WTG in a 500 kW size range as compared to only in the order of 1.5% for a WTG in a 2 MW range.

Control p an el cost as % of total W TG cost

Ease Of Managing Transportation & Costs

There will be increase in cost per component transported for bigger turbines due to increase in size. But there is a significant reduction in volumes/ number of component transported for large sized turbines. Hence Easier to manage transportation
T o t a l N o . o f M a jo r c o m p o n e n t s t o b e t r a n s p o rt a t i o n /M W

35 30 No. of components/MW 25 20

32

16

15 10 5 0
250 500 1000 1500 2000
S iz e o f tu r b in e (k W )
9 6 5

B la d e s T o w e r S e c t io n s a c e lle n

H u b (ro to r ) T ra n s fo rm e r T o t a l C o m p o n e n ts

Transporation cost 5.0% 4.5% 4.0% 3.5% 3.0% 2.5% 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 500 1000 1500 2000 Turbine size (kW) As % of total turbine cost

Empirical data suggests that the transportation costs per MW would be less than half for a Multi MW sized WTG v/s to a sub MW sized WTG.

Transporation cost as % of Total Cost

Balance of Plant Costs (Electrical)

Cost Per MW of Balance of Plant items such as Grid connection, Transmission lines & Power Evacuation reduces with increase in installed size (of wind farm). Attached plot shows empirical % costs per MW for major electrical items for a windfarm with different sizes of WTG. Eg. Cost Per MW of Electrical components (BoP) supplied for a 2 MW KW turbine is roughly twothirds of that compared to a 300 kW turbine.
S u p p ly o f e le c t r ic a l c o m p o n e n t s p e r T o ta l C o s t o f W T G 9 .0 % 8 .0 % 7 .0 %
Electrical component supply cost (% of total WTG cost)

6 .0 % 5 .0 % 4 .0 % 3 .0 % 2 .0 % 1 .0 % 0 .0 % 500 1000 1500 2000 In c r e a s e in T u r b in e s iz e ( k W )

Reduced Overhead Cost

Overhead costs like management of land acquisition, purchase and engineering; and also other overhead costs like access road construction cost, SCADA cost and would also reduce per MW by using larger sized WTGs or larger wind farms.

Feasibility of Technology Advancements

Bigger Turbines enable us to use latest technology advancements to their full potential which otherwise not possible with smaller turbines due to higher costs.
Eg : Technologies such as Pitch System Eg.: Technologies such as Converters

are used effectively with bigger turbines but cannot be viable to use on low sized WTGs.

Better Space Utilization

Bigger Wind Turbines will provide better utilization of space in Linear Wind farms (considering specifically hilly terrains wind sites in India)

Higher Capacity Installations

Higher Demand Annual Installations in Wind Range of 10,0000MW

Bigger Size will increase Installation capacity through Wind, hence annual targets can be met with ease

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility 2. Benefits. Economics Other Benefits 3. Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation 4. Advancements in Technology and Materials 5. Conclusion

Major Bottlenecks for Large WTGs

1. Logistics 2. Installations 3. Increase in costs of components due to non-linear nature of some physics 4. Costs due to low volumes or due to unusual requirements Short supply of large sized subcomponents Reliability issues (due to edge of technology) 1. Stringent Grid code compliance requirements. Increase in risk Large WTGs have to follow stringent grid

CHALLENGES
Logistics
Lack of Transportation infrastructure such as limitations on size of roads and short supply of proper infrastructure are a big constraint for logistics. Most wind farm sites in India are on hilly terrain and the way is through narrow Panchayat Roads making it extremely difficult for passage of extra length Rotor Blades as also the heavy turbines and other components.

Logistic Hurdles

CHALLENGES
Installation
Short supply of all the installation equipments required for WTG. Lesser availability of means of transport like multi-axle trucks and large cranes required for erection of turbines pose a big challenge. Also, equipments which are supplied due to high demand and lesser supply (such as Hydraulic axles) are exorbitantly costly.

CHALLENGES
Increase in costs of components due to non-linear nature of some physics Increase in blade weights Increase in tower weight leading to increase in cost of tower and material cost. Costs due to low volumes or due to unusual requirements Reliability issues with increase in size and increase in structural loads. Short supply of large sized subcomponents like bearings, forged rings & tower flanges

BOTTLENECKS
Stringent Grid code compliance requirements..
Increase in risk a bigger turbine stop means a larger loss but not critical since turbine sizes still very low as compared to power plants; but is already making an impact due to large wind farm sizes. This means that large WTGs have to follow stringent grid code compliance requirements, which may add to costs.

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility 2. Benefits. Economics Other Benefits 3. Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation 4. Advancements in Technology and Materials 5. Conclusion

ADVANCEMENTS & TECHNOLOGY IMPROVEMENTS

(To enable us in overcoming the challenges being faced )

How Technology can benefit us ??

Ability to make key components lighter and smaller Advanced computer aided designs & analysis enable a trend towards lighter weight . It enables designers to counter the seemingly inexorable rise in mass that is feature of modern turbine evolution.

How Technology can benefit us ??

Increased Power Electronics
Offering higher flexibility of controlled operations of turbines coupled with ever-increasing computing power: leading to the reduction of overall specific weights.

How Technology can benefit us ??

By using the latest control techniques Technology enables us reliable load measurement throughout the life of the wind turbine. Thus designers are able to improve WTG structural efficiency.

How Technology can benefit us ??

Towers: New materials & concepts such as pre-stressed concrete material and Hybrid Towers provides higher strength. Modularization of construction. Above advancements have also helped to overcome the transportation bottlenecks.

How Technology can benefit us ??

BLADES: Increased use of advanced materials on physical dimensions intensive components such as blades has provided following advantages: The turbine designs have continually evolved from conventional use of wood to composites involving GRP and now with latest development by use of carbon fibers for longer blades. Thus increasing strength and fatigue resistance property of blades. Use of carbon fibers in manufacturing of blades providing better mass-stiffness distributions.

Technology to enable remote inspection. Run to failure is not an operational option with large multi-megawatt machines. By detecting faults in their earliest stages, technology enable measures to be taken that counter their further development, thereby avoiding expensive failures later & thus minimizing the risks of huge costs of failure in large wind turbines.

How Technology can benefit us ??

Availability of better infrastructure: a) Production of sub-components (e.g. diameters of forged rings for bearings or tower flanges) following the up-scaling trends leading to availability of large components in significant volumes (at a beneficial costs, also due to economies of scale). Availability of Ancillary infrastructure. such as roads; cranes etc. (particularly in the Indian context already available in the world; to be brought in India)

b)

Technology Overcomes the Bottlenecks

By providing ability to make key components lighter and smaller By using the latest control techniques & larger power electronics By advanced materials on physical dimension intensive components Improved engineering technologies such as Modularization Technology to facilitate Remote Inspection (minimizing risks) Availability of better infrastructure Production of sub-components Availability of ancillary infra-structure

CONTENTS
1. Increasing WTG size. Need Learning from the world; History & Statistics Technical Feasibility 2. Benefits. Economics Other Benefits 3. Bottlenecks / Challenges. Logistics Installation 4. Advancements in Technology and Materials 5. Conclusion

CONCLUSION
1. Turbine Sizes will increase
As benefits outweigh the costs especially considering the current WTG size in India (average v/s global average)

1. The WTG size increase will take some time

Because it not only involves the technology advancements but also requires other necessary aspects related to transportation, logistics and installation.

1. The rate of increase will slow down as we go forward and may behave as a slab function over time.

THANK YOU

References:
[1] Website of Ministry of Power government retrieved on 05-02-2010. [2] Website Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India retrieved on 05-02-2010. [3] World market update 2008; BTM Consultancy, March 2008. [4] International wind energy development, BTM Consult ApsMarch 2009. [5] - Ten year review of the International Wind power Industry, BTM Consult Aps- September 2005.