On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 00:11:09 +0100, "Highland Ham"
wrote:


To date land based machines produce on average only 16% of their rated
capacity ,due to periods without adequate wind and to technical outage /
maintenance. Yet they seem profitable. In the Netherlands many farmers have
them on their land ,especially
in the northern provinces.

Those 16 % rated capacity figures seems to be quite low, since usually
20-30 % is quoted for land based windmills near the coast over here.
Of course, if you use a too big generator for a particular place and
wing size, the percentage will go down.

If you use a smaller generator with the same turbine and same
location, the percentage will go up, however, during stronger winds
you can only utilise the amount of power as the generator is rated for
and some of the wind energy is "lost" during stronger winds compared
to a larger generator.

During system design, you can select the percentage by selecting the
generator size. The generator cost compared to the other costs of the
windmill will determine the most economical generator size and thus
also this percentage.

Paul OH3LWR