A Wind-Thermal System Design Based on an Energetic and Exergetic Approach

Current wind systems are intermittent and cannot be used as a baseload energy source. The research on the concept of wind power using direct thermal energy conversion and thermal energy storage, called Wind-powered Thermal Energy System (WTES), opened the door to a new energy system called Wind-thermal, a strategy for developing baseload wind power systems. The thermal energy is generated from the rotating energy directly at the top of the tower by the heat generator, which is a simple and light electric brake. The rest of the system is the same as the tower-type Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). This paper’s results suggest that the energy and exergy performance of the WTES (62.5% and 29.8%) is comparable to that of conventional wind power, which must be supported by the backup thermal plants and grid enhancement. This cogeneration nature of the WTES system makes this system suitable for using wind power as a direct heat source in several heat-demanding processes such as chemical production. Also, the light heat generator reduces some issues of wind power, such as noise and vibration, two main bottlenecks of wind power technology.