Progress and Future Prospects of Wind Power
Sri Sritharan, Wilkinson Chair Professor and Interim Assistant Dean
College of Engineering, Iowa State University
Wind power, which led the available technologies in new power generation in 2015, is the fastest
growing source of electricity in the world today. In 2015, about 63 GW of wind power was added,
bringing the total installed global wind energy capacity above 430 GW. Asia, Europe, and North
America are responsible for 95% of the installed wind power, while the growth of wind energy in
Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Pacific region are relatively low. Egypt added 200 MW in
2015 to elevate its installed wind power to 800 MW, which contributes to less than 1% of its
electricity demand. The wind energy is expected to grow continuously and reach nearly 800 GW
by 2020. This will enable countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, and United States to
produce 10 to 20% of their electricity from wind. Egypt also has a similar goal and has set a target
to produce 12% of energy from wind by 2020.
In addition to the advancements of wind energy technologies, other factors contribute to
continuous growth of wind energy. They include: 1) policies and government incentives towards
climate control and renewable energy; 2) reduced energy cost; and 3) a relatively stable market.
Even though the cost of energy is reduced, not every region in a country can rely on producing
wind power. This is due to insufficient wind resources at commonly used hub heights of 80 to
100 m. To overcome this challenge, low speed wind turbines are being introduced together with
taller towers and larger rotors. One challenge with increasing the tower height and rotor
diameter is that they introduce transportation and logistical challenges, which cannot be
overcome cost effectively. For these reasons, newer technologies have been developed to
harvest wind energy at elevated hub heights. This presentation will provide global perspectives
on the current and future wind power and discuss a tower technology that is developed to access
wind energy at elevated hub heights.
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Outline
Hexcrete Tower Project (DE-EE0006737)
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Keynote Presentation 2:
Global perspectives
Wind power in Egypt
Tall towers
• Existing technology and challenges
Hexcrete technology development
Progress and Future Prospects of Wind Power
Sri Sritharan
Wilkinson Chair Professor, College of Engineering
Iowa State University
Wind Power
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Wind Power Global Capacity
Wind Forecasts vs. Actual
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Evolution of Size and Power of Wind Turbines
400 – 500 homes
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Levelized Cost of Enegy
500 – 600 homes
10 – 15 homes
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Levelized Cost of Energy for Different Technologies (2010$)
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Wind Power in Egypt
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Market Forecast for 2016 - 2020
1993: 5.5 MW demonstration wind farm in 1993 (Hurghada)
2001: First commercial wind farm for 30 MW (Gulf of Suez area )
2015: 800 MW or 2% of electricity by wind
Target established in 2008: 12% or 7,200 MW of Electricity by wind by
2020
Joint venture: government and private investment
Government incentives
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Wind Energy
Potential
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Energy equipment are exempted from custom duties and sales taxes since
2010
• Allocation of about 7,600 km2 of land for wind projects (on the Gulf of Suez
and the Nile banks )
• Funds to cover difference between the actual and production costs
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Egypt
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Global
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Iowa
Tower Height
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Increased wind speed
Steadier wind condition
• Higher power output (wind
speed & harvest time)
• Facilitates increase in turbine
capacity and blade length
• Harvest energy where the
demand is high (especially in
the US)
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Rotor
Diameter
Benefits of Taller Towers
NREL
Land Area (km 2)
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Gross Capacity Factor (%)
Black line indicates 80-m hub height
Red line indicates 110-m hub height
Blue line indicates 140-m hub height
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Wind Potential at a 110 m Hub Height
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Wind Potential at a 140 m Hub Height
Including Average Technology (100m dia, 1.62 MW, 110m HH): 10.2 TW
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Current
Technology
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Limitations
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Concrete Technology
Transportation
Cost increase
Maintenance
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The Hexcrete Solution (Phase I)
Curved sections –
increases formwork and
labor costs
Normal concrete –
increases overall
dimensions, limiting the
rotor diameter
Large and heavy sections
– increases logistical
challenges and
transportation costs
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Features of Hexcrete
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Uses High Strength Concrete (HSC) and/or
Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC)
Facilitates tailorability
Uses easily transportable lightweight modules
Relies on post-tensioned connections
Increases tower life span
Avoids specialized formwork and high labor
costs during prefabrication
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Expected prefabrication…
Cell Assembly
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Uses existing technology……
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Testing @ ISU
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Form cells on or
off site and stack
on top of each
them
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Phase III - Developments
All three connections have been shown to
be viable
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120 m (394 ft) – 2.3 MW Tower Design (HT1)
120 m and 140 m tall tower
and foundation design
Tower optimization
FSI investigation
Testing
Erection plan
Commercialization
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Fluid-Strcture Interaction
Base diameter: 25.7 ft
• Frequency: 0.33 Hz
• Number of strands per column: 74 strands
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Tower base
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One third tower height
Structural coupling between rotor and tower
Two third tower height
Preliminarily FSI results:
Mesh moving problem for FSI
Tower top
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Full-scale testing of Hexcrete tower section
Precast Fabrication
Crosshead
Actuators
Actuators
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Test Unit Construction
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Test Unit Construction
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Testing and Instrumentation
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Load Protocol
• Four loading directions were
selected
• Three load cases were chosen
based on largest overturning
moment (1.1), shear (4.2), and
torsion (2.2).
• Each of the three load cases were
applied for operational and extreme
loads
• Example of Operational Loading
shown below
Operational Load Tests
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
Test 4
Test 5
Test 6
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Load
Case
4.2
4.2
1.1
1.1
2.2
4.2
Load direction
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2
4
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Loading Percentages
±25%, ±50% (3x)*, ±75%, ±100% (3x)
±25%, ±50% (3x), ±75%, ±100% (3x)
±25%, ±50% (3x), ±75%, ±100% (3x)
±25%, ±50% (3x), ±75%, ±100% (3x)
±25%, ±50% (3x), ±75%, ±100% (3x)
±50% (3x), ±100% (3x)
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Extreme Loads
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Ultimate torsion load test
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Fatigue Load Testing
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Commercialization Plan
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Establish an erection plan
Evaluate LCOE
Develop prototype options
Perform design certification
Build prototype towers
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Assembly video – 140-m tall Hexcrete Towers
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Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bKn9rtjLS0
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Next Step
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Conclusions
Global wind capacity will continue to grow and is likely to
exceed the targeted goals.
• Egypt has significant wind energy potential
• the suggested 2020 target can be easily accomplished
• New aggressive goals can be added increase the RE
• Tall wind turbine towers should be included in future wind
farms
• Hexcrete tower technology offers a competitive concrete
solution to reach new heights
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