Wind Energy Engineering

Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.

• A. INTRODUCTIONB. WIND RESOURCEHow is wind generated?Wind speeds, wind force, wind powerTheory of wind energyWind power densityTheoretical power captured by a wind turbineWind distribution world-wideC. WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGYHistory of harnessing wind powerDesign of horizontal axis wind turbines (power control, stall, generator torque, Yawing, electrical and mechanical braking, turbine size, generator type, blade design, material and count, tower height)Design of vertical axis wind turbines (including Savonius type, designs, advantages)Aerodynamics (drag, lift, maximum power, axial momentum, angular momentum, wake rotation, blade element and momentum theory)Turbine blade size and maximum power outputWind Turbine components (blades, gearbox, rotor shaft, brake, magnets, etc)Variable speed drivesSpeedPower generation, synchronous and asynchronous generatorsOperation and MaintenanceWind energy measurementsD.  GENERATION OF ELECTRICITYWind farms Integration into National GridsSmall scale wind turbines Storing energy from wind turbinesE.  PLANNING  and EXECUTION OF WIND PROJECTSDevelopmentPolitics and public opinionProspectingFinancingTime frameCommissioningInstallationF. WIND ENERGY WORLD WIDEComparison of on-shore and off-shore Countries investing in on-shore wind powerCountries developing and producing wind turbinesG.  ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WIND ENERGYLife cycle of energy input and output Impact on wild life, impact on livestock Impact on humans, noise, landscape and aesthetics, community benefits and incentives, safety Land use Rare earth use (magnets) H.  FINANCIAL MODELING/WIND ENERGY ECONOMICSNet energy gainEnergy return on investment (EROI)IncentivesRevenueI.  REGULATIONSJ.  GROWTH TRENDS AND THE FUTURE OF WIND ENERGY