Analysis on the Effectiveness of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Domestic Consumers

Depleting oil reserves and fossil fuels has changed the aspect of thought in energy sector and led to a strong focus on renewable energy sources. Wind energy sector is a potential area of research as the idea of micro grid and domestic power integration are in place. Wind turbines that can be used to harness the low wind velocities for power generation are of importance. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines and vertical Axis Wind Turbines are the types of wind turbines used to convert wind energy to electrical energy. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines provide good wind power conversion efficiency and are used in regions of moderate to high wind speeds and in regions of lower wind speeds, Vertical Axis Wind Turbines performance is satisfactory. In this work, the mathematical modeling of HAWT and different types of VAWTs are presented, followed by analysis of those turbine models under lower air velocities. The performance parameters used in this study are maximum power coefficient and output power which are standard performance metrics for wind power generation. The analysis reinforces the fact that, in domestic conditions, where the wind velocity in low, VAWTs provide superior performance.