A Proposed Methodology for Estimating the Performance of Small Wind Turbines in Urban Areas

Large and medium scale wind turbine systems represent feasible renewable resources of energy, that constitute an alternative to conventional energy supply systems. However the development of small-scale wind turbines is still uncertain due to the difficulty in their use especially in urban areas.For these reasons this study propose an operative methodology to evaluate the energy potential of micro wind turbines in urban areas.The technique used for the site wind energy production evaluation is given below:analysis of wind speed data for the site analysed, coming from measurements, and elaboration of wind frequency distribution;calculation of the 3D wind flow field utilising a Computational Fluid Dynamic code;implementation of the results of the flow dynamic study, into a GIS platform that for each site of installation permits the evaluation of power wind production.Authors have developed a case study for an urban area in a small Sicilian city.The results of the research suggest that small wind turbines represent a possible way to produce renewable energy, to realize distributed power generation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, if an adequate methodology to accurately predict wind energy production for a specific site is available.