Wind Energy Technology

Provides an overview of how wind energy technologies convert the natural resource of wind into useful electricity. The course introduces students to the details of various types of commercial wind technology available in the marketplace today as well as acquaints them with the fundamental theory and physics behind wind energy generation. The course provides a foundation in how to perform a site assessment, how to select favorable locations, how to estimate turbine performance based upon wind resources, how to perform economic analysis of systems, how vertical and horizontal axis machines work and what are the major components of wind turbine systems. In addition, the course provides a historical perspective on the development of wind power. Students are introduced to the fundamentals of electric power including effective values of voltage and current, idealized components subjected to sinusoidal voltages, power factor, the power triangle and power factor correction, three-wire, single-phase residential wiring, three-phase systems, power supplies and power quality. Labs include maintenance visits on small and large scale wind turbine systems.