A review of technical issues on the development of wind farms

Energy is the prime mover of economic growth and is vital to sustain a modern economic and social development. Renewable energy applications have brought about significant changes in the Indian energy scenario. The identification and efficient use of various renewable energy resources are the thrust areas in energy development. Wind energy is one of the most environment friendly, clean and safe energy resources. The wind energy will continue to be the biggest renewable energy sector in any country in terms of both installed capacity and total potential. This paper reviews some important factors and techniques to be considered for wind turbine installations such as the wind energy resource assessment techniques, environmental factors, grid integration factors, control strategies, impact of offshore wind turbines and hybrid energy technologies, hydrogen production techniques, feed-in tariff mechanism, modeling of wind turbine components including generators, performance improvement techniques. The cost and economic feasibility of the wind energy conversion system as well as the control strategies of wind turbine generators have also been discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.