Feasibility study for wind power at SAB Newlands

[摘要] This paper describes a MEng thesis project for a MEng inRenewable Energy Systems program at the Centre for RenewableEnergy Studies at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Theaim of this paper was to offer to SAB (South African Breweries), inCape Town, a feasibility study for the possibilities of the usage ofwind energy on site.The small scale wind power technology has a long historyand has been in South Africa for more than a hundred years in theform of water pump wind mills. All wind mills have an absolutemaximum power output defined by the Betz limit. The choice of awind turbine depends not only on this, but also on the wind speeddistribution, the power curve, the location and financing. The smallscale turbines have many different design which are predominantlygrouped in horizontal axis (HAWT) and vertical axis (VAWT)machines.The choice of turbine for SAB depends on the available windenergy, the available budget, the available space and theapplication. The aim of the measurements on site was threefold;find a correlation with existing weather stations in the area like atCape Town International Airport, propose a turbine for SAB'sbudget and research the possibility for installing the turbine on oneof the buildings. This is also known as building integrated windturbines.Wind speeds can increase over buildings due to venturieffects and it could therefore be viable to locate these accelerationzones and install a turbine there. The data analysis shows that thewind above the brewery is very well correlated with the wind at theairport. We can therefore use the average speed values of thisstation to predict average power production. This leads to theproposal of a 1kW or 3kW turbine from a South Africanmanufacturer: Kestrel. Building integration is however not a goodidea. The wind is too turbulent and can therefore not be used. Thisis mainly caused by the fact that the surroundings of the breweryare too high and irregularly shaped. This makes it difficult for thewind to 'lower in between the buildings and accelerate.The wind turbine for SAB is proposed to be installed on thehighest point of the roof and based on the neighbouring averagewind speed values. The wind turbine should be connected directlyto the brewery's grid with an inverter and would then solelyfunction as an energy saver. Another important aspect is thepromotional value in the energy efficiency strategy of SAB.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University