ABSTRACT
Reliable energy sources play a critical role in worldwide development and economy. Wind power can contribute significantly to the growing electricity demand because the conditions for large-scale utilization of wind energy are excellent. Wind energy has matured to a level of development where it is almost ready to become a generally accepted utility generation technology.The reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) of wind turbine generators (WTGs) as well as the adequacy of wind energy conversion systems are among the main aspects that govern the large-scale utilization of wind power. This entry presents modeling and improved analysis of these two aspects. Two other relevant issues are also presented: the placement of large-scale wind energy projects and the sizing of the transmission links connecting wind farms to the rest of the system. Considering the wind resources at various locations in Egypt as examples, several case studies are presented. These case studies cover the placement of wind energy projects as well as adequacy and risk analysis.The results show that the squirrel-cage induction generator (SCIG) with a full-scale converter (FSC) and active-redundant converter configuration is the optimal WTG system for offshore and onshore applications; however, attempts should be made to improve the maintainability of this configuration. The risk analysis of off-grid systems supplied only by wind energy shows that the size of the wind farms should be significantly higher than the peak load. This is to achieve reasonable values of the risk indices. Otherwise, an optimal energy mix should be determined based on adequacy and risk limitations as well as the techno-economic feasibility.
