Central and South West wind power project first-year operating experience -- 1996--1997: U.S. Department of Energy-EPRI wind turbine verification program. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:353420

Conover, K ^[1]

---

1. Global Energy Concepts, Inc., Kirkland, WA (United States)

The Wind Turbine Verification Program (TVP) is a collaborative effort of the US Department of Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute, and host utilities to develop, construct, and operate wind power plants. Through their involvement as a TVP host utility, Central and South West Services (CSW), through their involvement in the TVP as a selected host facility, has developed, constructed, and is now operating a commercial wind power plant. The facility was constructed in 1995 at a site in the Davis Mountains near the town of Fort Davis in West Texas. CSW accepted the project in July 1996. The 6.6 MW wind power plant consists of 12 Zond Z-40-A wind turbines which use ailerons for power regulation and overspeed control. As part of the TVP, CSW will conduct a three-year performance evaluation program of their wind project. This report discusses the activities and experiences during the first year of operation at the CSW TVP wind project. It includes summaries of the wind resource data, actual and projected energy production, and availability at the site during the first year. The report discusses the operation and maintenance activities and categorizes the downtime experienced by the turbines during the period from July 1996 through June 1997. Although the project did not achieve its performance goals during the first year, the experience indicates that there are a number of issues that can be addressed in the future to improve the operation of the project and optimize its performance. Subsequent annual reports on the CSW project are planned to document the next two years of operating experience.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Global Energy Concepts, Inc., Kirkland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 353420
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR--109062
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
COMPILED DATA
ELECTRIC GENERATORS
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE
PRODUCTIVITY
RELIABILITY
WIND POWER PLANTS
WIND TURBINES