The average wind speed at a proposed HAWT wind farm site is 12.5 m/s. The power coefficient
of each wind turbine is predicted to be 0.41, and the combined efficiency of the gearbox and
generator is 92 percent. Each wind turbine must produce 2.5 MW of electrical power when the
wind blows at 12.5 m/s.
(a) Calculate the required diameter of each turbine disk. Consider air density as = 1.2 kg/m3
.
(b) If 30 such turbines are built on the site and an average home in the area consumes
approximately 1.5 kW of electrical power, estimate how many homes can
be powered by this wind farm, assuming an additional efficiency of 96 percent to
account for the powerline losses.