The impact of wind factors on wind power generation

What factors affect wind power generation?

Wind power generation depends on the amount of energy available in the moving air and how effectively a wind turbine can capture and convert that energy into electricity. The power output of a wind turbine is influenced by several physical, environmental, and design-related factors. The power available in wind (P) can be expressed by the equation:

What factors influence wind energy generation potential in China?

The power generation of a wind turbine is dependent on wind speed and rotor area (see (1)). Furthermore, the spacing of wind turbines and the available suitable area influence the installable capacity. First, we focus on the annual wind energy generation potential in China and then discuss the impact each influencing factor has on these results.

How does wind speed affect the power generation potential?

As stated above, this had a substantial impact on the results: the generation potential increased by 54% to 34,000 TWh from 22,490 TWh in the reference scenario. As the installable capacity is identical to the reference scenario, this deviation can only be explained by higher wind speeds.

How does a wind turbine design affect its power output?

From (1), we can deduct that the configuration of a wind turbine has an impact on its power output. The wind turbine design influences the rotor diameter as well as the accessible wind speed. In theory, the rated wind speed increases with increasing hub height. However, with increasing hub height, the investment costs also rise.