ABSTRACT
Wind energy is one of the fastest growing forms of energy generation and has the potential to supply much of the energy needs of the world. Globally, wind capacity has expanded forty-fold in 15 years to 318 GW by 2013, and now accounts for around 4% of global electricity generation [1]. Most of this energy will come from large-scale wind turbines, collected together into wind farms of tens or hundreds of MW, and increasingly located offshore to access better winds and to limit visual impact. Small-scale wind (usually defined to be less than 100 kW) is not expected to have the same global impact; sales of small wind turbines accounted around 0.14% of all wind by value in 2010 [2]. However, these small turbines can contribute significantly to the electricity needs at the site where they are installed, instead of having to rely on extensive transmission systems to take wind power from large and remote farms.
