Selecting and testing of wind turbine blades of the local-wood growing fastly on local wind characteristics

The total potential of wind energy in Indonesia reaches 144 GW. This wind energy potential is dominated by small wind speeds ranging from 4-6 m/s and about 113 GW. This is the reason why the development of small-scale wind powerplant is more feasible to be developed in Indonesia. The characteristics of local wind and geographical conditions of Indonesia which is an archipelagic country are fundamental in designing wind power and utilizing of local materials. This study aims to get local fast-growing wood of wind turbines blades in Indonesia, which has the best physical and mechanical properties of wood, and is tested computationally on certain airfoils and shows a uniform distribution of stress. The types of wood are tested in this study were Sengon (Albizia chinensis), Jabon (Antocephalus cadamba), and Balsa (Ochroma Rowlee grandiflorum). The test covers the basic properties of the wood, physical and mechanical properties. The test results showed that Jabon have density 0.34 was the best compared to Sengon (0.24) and balsa (0.18). The best dimensional stability (T/R Ratios) are Jabon (1.97), sengon (2.19) and balsa (2.84), respectively. With the highest density result and the lowest dimensional stability value, mechanical testing of Jabon wood shows the best mechanical properties. The simulation result using Q-Blade software was obtained airfoil NACA 4415 most suitable for local wind characteristics, and got the low value of stress and distribution color uniformly on each wood.