Annualized wind energy improvement using variable speeds

To optimize the operation of a wind turbine, variable turbine speeds are desirable. To determine the advantages of a variable speed turbine, the annualized energy production of the turbine needs to be considered. This is done by using a Rayleigh probability distribution to determine the number of hours of a particular wind speed occurs in a given year. This distribution is used with the aerodynamic power generated at a given average wind speed to determine the total energy generated during the year. The total energy for fixed and variable speed turbine control are compared. The variable speed turbines show improved energy production over the constant speed systems.