Energy Production Through Wind Using Personal Use Wind Turbines: A UAE Case Study

A model study is conducted to investigate the possible wind energy harnessing potential of a recently designed personal use wind turbine, PWT, having efficient and economical blades. The study is conducted for the conditions usually found in United Arab Emirates, UAE. The PWT has a total length of 4.5 m while the disk diameter is 3 m. The PWT dimensions make it big enough to be used to power household appliances or to charge batteries yet small enough to be installed on rooftops or buildings. The wind turbine setup uses a tail vane to keep the wind turbine aligned with the airflow. The wind turbine blades are installed at an angle of 22°, with respect to the disk plane, as it gives the highest power. For electrical power generation, a permanent magnet generator is used which is rated for 250 RPM to 100 RPM. Gears are used to increase the generator RPM to six times than that of the wind turbine. The UAE wind data is used to find the total possible power from each wind turbine. Possible number of housing units, buildings and telecommunication towers are found, in UAE, where a PWT can be installed. An analysis is conducted for the energy and exergy potential of the wind turbine rotor. The clean energy potential of the PWT is also investigated when operated by their possible users. Calculations are made at variable wind speeds to represent the average wind speed during each month. It is concluded that a country like UAE can produce on average 500 MW using PWTs. The efficiencies come out to be low for summer months while high for winter months. It is also concluded that a system like PWT would help reduce the monthly billing cost by the end user.