Mathematical model of small wind turbines

The paper presents a mathematical model of small wind turbines with a focus on the power flow from wind to electricity. Thus, a tool for supporting the designing process is developed which allows a reliable estimation of energy yield and profitability. As a very interesting result it was found out that for practical applications the energy yield estimation simply based on Rayleigh-distributed wind speeds is much too optimistic. Furthermore it is shown what kind of improvement can be achieved by integrating a temporary energy storage, especially when small wind turbines are being used off-grid.