Hybrid-Systems Containing Wind Energy

The term wind hybrid system describes any combination of wind energy with one or more additional sources of electricity generation (e.g. biomass, solar or a generator using fossil fuels). The combination of renewable energy technologies allows a more balanced electricity supply during day/night and seasonal changes: At most sites wind speed is low, when the sun is shining and reaches higher values on cloudy days. Thus the amount of energy generated by wind energy reaches its maximum in the winter months, while the output of PV-cells is significantly higher in the summer. Other important examples are Wind-Diesel systems often used in rural areas. A diesel generator will be used as backup, if the electricity demand can not be covered by the installed wind turbines. Regulation and conversion of the available energy sources is a central issue planning a wind hybrid system. Many hybrid systems are uses as stand-alone off-grid applications.

Ancillary equipment in off-grid systems

Batteries can be the most expensive part of an off-grid system, because their working life is limited and they may have to be exchanged several times during a off-grid system is in operation. In most cases, batteries with lead-acid technology are used and it is important to select high-quality cells whenever possible.

To prevent the batteries from over-charging or over-discharging, electric controllers are needed. Many wind turbines for off-grid applications are already delivered with a matching controller. Inverters change the DC current generated by wind turbines into the AC current.

External links

• Wikipedia: Wind-diesel hybrid power system (contains a list of communities using wind-diesel systems), retrieved 17.6.2011 [[1]]