Design and Optimisation of a 20kW Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine using HARP_Opt

The design of a 20 kW horizontal axis small wind turbine was carried out using the analysed wind data and the Weibull parameters of a site in Vanuatu. The airfoils were generated for the 20 kW SWT and optimized using XFOIL. The initial airfoil was parameterized using a 7^th order Bezier curve. Three airfoils with thicknesses of 21%, 14% and 9% were generated for the root region, mid region and the tip region respectively. The performance characteristics were studied and Harp_Opt was used to design and optimize the 20 kW wind turbine. A cut-in wind speed of 2 m/s and a rated wind speed of 10 m/s were shown by the power curve. The annual energy production (AEP) of the designed turbine was calculated to be 66.75 MWh/year with a capacity factor of around 38.1%. Small wind turbines will be ideal for the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) since they can operate at low wind speeds and Reynolds numbers less than 500,000. Using larger commercial turbines are not ideal for the PICs due to frequent cyclones and logistics issues thus a SWT is designed in the present work.