Certification and testing technology for small vertical axis wind turbine in Taiwan

This study concerns the testing and certification of small vertical-axis wind turbines. Vertical-axis wind turbines have seldom been tested around the world. Additionally, Taiwan has few people with experience of the testing specifications of wind turbines, so manufacturers of small wind turbines in Taiwan must obtain product certifications from foreign test centers. For economic reasons and convenience, an international wind turbine test site must be built in Taiwan to support the small wind turbine (SWT) industry. Construction of the respective SWT test site in Taiwan has been completed, and all tests are conducted in accordance with Taiwan's CNS 15176 series of standards, which was derived and modified from the international standards IEC 61400 and VDI 3834. The tests include power performance, durability, and strength and safety. This work demonstrates the test results for two VAWTs and proposes valuable suggestions to relative standards, test centers and manufacturers.