Harvesting the Wind: A Wind Farm Project Design Experience for Energy Infrastructure Systems Education

Grant:

Faculty Development Fund (FDF)

Academic Year:

2011 - 2012 (June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012)

Funding Requested:

$4,425.00

Project Dates:

Sun, 05/01/2011 - Tue, 04/30/2013

Applicant(s):

cmlasto

Overview of the Project:

Principles of wind farm design and analysis will be taught to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in CEE 567 (Energy Infrastructure Systems) using the WindFarmer software application as an instructional tool. The instruction will service a diverse group of enrolled students from a wide-ranging group of degree programs and levels, on a topic that is centrally aligned with university initiatives on sustainability and renewable energy education and research. The project director, Christian Lastoskie, will partner with an industry wind power expert, Sarah Herman (BSE 08, MEng 09), in developing the wind farm design project.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

Principles of wind farm design and analysis were taught to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in CEE 567, Energy Infrastructure Systems. Using instructional software and homework modules, students in the class were shown how to select the placement and evaluate the performance of wind turbines subject to wind farm site constraints including prevailing wind conditions, setbacks and environmental restrictions, shadowing and noise, and generation potential for recovery of investment costs.

Project Achievements:

CEE 567 were taught over a sequence of three lecture periods and one evening tutorial session how to use the WindFarmer operating environment. Topics covered included the following: wind data collection, site classification, topography effects, wind monitoring instrumentation, wind flow modeling, data entry, and interpretation of results for software outputs of interest. The latter included wake characterization, uncertainty and risk minimization to secure project financing, optimization of wind farm energy output, noise propagation, shadow flicker, and offshore generation. The wind power teaching modules improved the quality of the renewable energy portion of the course, while providing important educational content on low-carbon electricity generation as part of the BSE curriculum in environmental engineering and the M.Eng. program of study in energy systems engineering.

Continuation:

Dissemination:

The instructional material has serviced (and will continue to service in future CEE 567 offerings) a diverse group of enrolled students from a wide-ranging group of degree programs and levels, on the subject of wind power generation that is centrally aligned with university initiatives on sustainability and renewable energy education and research. Faculty colleagues who teach the course will be given access to the teaching materials and software for their instructional use.

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