Economic Analysis of an active-yaw control for horizontal-axis small-wind turbines at Alt Empordà
L. Pacheco(1), N. Luo(1), I. Ferrer(1), J. Vilà(2), J.R. Gonzalez(2) 1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Automation, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003 Girona (Spain) 2. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Construction, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003 Girona (Spain) 2025-07-25

Abstract

Many horizontal-axis wind turbines of medium and large power systems use active-yaw. However, when small wind turbines are considered, passive yaw is an available solution for most of generators of less than 5kW. In this paper, it is analysed the economic losses of such decisions for the Alt Empordà specific area. Alt Empordà is an interesting harvesting zone because winds resources as marinada and tramontane are present.  In this context, it is necessary the data-wind knowledge at different points of the region. Hence, it is necessary to compute the production for small horizontal-axis generators. Moreover, this work presents developed research for passive-yaw behaviour analysing two different aspects: real acquired data and simulated results. The objective is to compute the lack of electricity production due to the use of passive instead of active-yaw systems.

Key words: Active-yaw control, small horizontal-axis wind turbines, Tramontane wind, Economic Analysis.

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