Determination of Suitability Between Wind Turbine Generators and Sites Including Power Density and Capacity Factor Considerations

This paper proposes a new method to assist in determining the suitability degree of site-matching between wind turbine generators and sites. For a given wind site, by considering power density and capacity factor, the optimum rated speed of a wind turbine generator is found to exhibit when the capacity factors at nonrated and rated operation region are mutually equal. A suitability function is meanwhile suggested as an aid to assess. Through the data acquired from utility, the proposed approach has been practically employed to inspect wind farms in Taiwan. Test results support the feasibility of the method for the application considered.