Performance analysis of a 7.2 MW wind farm at Sikar in Rajasthan

This paper analyses the performance of a 7.2 MW wind farm having 12 turbines of Enercon E-40/6.44 model each having a rated capacity of 600kW situated at Harsnath hill near Sikar town of Rajasthan, India. The data of the last two years from July 2014 to June 2016 related to wind farm was collected from wind farm site. Using various parameters such as a) monthly energy production, b) wind turbine down time in hours, c) external grid/internal grid non-availability in hours, (i) machine availability, (ii) grid availability, (iii) system availability, (iv) annual usage time and (v) capacity factor were calculated. From the available data of energy production from December 2004 to June 2016, for each of the turbines, it was found that turbine T7 produced maximum energy while T12 produced minimum energy. During the two years period from July 2014 to June 2016, it is found that the highest energy production months are September in 2014 and August in 2015. It is also noticed that the energy production of the machines can be improved by increasing the system availability. By using statistical analysis and weibull distribution parameters, Chauhan and Saini predicted a capacity factor of 9.16% and energy prediction of 485 MWh/year. However, practical values obtained from the wind farm site are capacity factor of 22.08% and 22.60% and values of energy production are 1160.50 MWh and 1191 MWh in 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively.