Abstract

This diploma thesis focuses on providing detailed information on the principles and methods employed in the collection, storage and analysis of data measurements. In this context, it further facilitates the establishment of an enabling environment for the rapid uptake of renewable energy technologies, by contributing to the development of the necessary quality infrastructure framework for small wind turbine applications with respect to the data measurement methods and resulting activities. Methodologies and data measurement activities require the complete information flow, to be accurate and adhere to the respective standards in order to provide a complete, reliable and consistent set of data to be exploited in a commonly accepted and reproducible way. Significant effort has been made to maintain the above mentioned structure that will ensure every part of the data information flow will be accounted for and evaluated.

Initially, a survey was conducted with a goal of better understanding attitudes, practices and technology choices across the community’s various implementations, regarding the measurement procedure and respective techniques on small wind turbine applications. This focused the research process on issues of practical interest, helping to ensure quality by creating a favorable environment for the rapid development of renewable energy technologies.

Subsequently, reference is made to existing tests that are carried out for the certification of small wind turbines and an extensive analysis of the specifications of IEC Standard 61400-12-1 for the measurement of the power curve. Similarly, reference is made to the requirements of the accuracy limits and the output values of the transducers related to the electrical power, in the context of the aforementioned applications. Also, standards for voltage and current transformers used with electrical measuring instruments are examined and presented.

Finally, the International Standards Series IEC 61400‐25 is being studied in order to integrate communication systems in wind farms, both for internal exchange of information and for remote control. The series is designed for a client‐to‐server communication interface. Three areas are individually defined and analysed to ensure the ability to scale the implementations. These are the wind energy information models, the information exchange model, and the mapping of these two models to a typical communication profile.

Key words: international IEC standards, small wind turbines, power curve measurement, measurement system, data acquisition system, calibration, accuracy, transducer, instrument transformer, information model

Author: Dimitris Sialmas

Responsible PhD: Athanasios Vassilakis / avassil@mail.ntua.gr and Thomas Pazios / tompaz@mail.ntua.gr

Supervising Professor: Nikos Hatziargyriou / nh@power.ece.ntua.gr

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