CFD investigation on wind power harvesting from small-scale wind turbines for powering residential buildings in New Zealand

As an alternative solution, wind power could be harnessed by designing and implementing small-scale wind turbines for distributed power generation. In this work, 3-dimensional time-domain numerical simulations, based on the Reynolds-Average Navier-Strokes (RANS) model, are conducted for two categories of small-scale wind turbines, i.e. drag force- (Savonius) and lift force-driven (Darrieus) ones, while placing them at a flat surface and a step height, respectively. The present results confirmed that placing a small-scale wind turbine at a step height can improve the maximum power output, respectively, approximately 219.2% for the Savonius wind turbine and 121.0% for the Darrieus wind turbine operating at their optimum stage; moreover, the corresponding peak power spectral density of the turbine torque is improved by 173.9% and 83.6%, respectively. In addition, the power generated from the wind flow could reduce the CO2 emission. It has been observed that the Savonius turbine could reduce the annual CO2 emission by 3,738.9-19,857.8 kg and that of Darrieus turbines by 4,919.6-26,128.8 kg. This study demonstrated the benefits of adopting forward facing steps to improve wind turbine performance in a typical urban environment.