A 200-kW wind turbine generator conceptual design study

A conceptual design study was conducted to define a 200 kW wind turbine power system configuration for remote applications. The goal was to attain an energy cost of 1 to 2 cents per kilowatt-hour at a 14-mph site (mean average wind velocity at an altitude of 30 ft.) The costs of the Clayton, New Mexico, Mod-OA (200-kW) were used to identify the components, subsystems, and other factors that were high in cost and thus candidates for cost reduction. Efforts devoted to developing component and subsystem concepts and ideas resulted in a machine concept that is considerably simpler, lighter in weight, and lower in cost than the present Mod-OA wind turbines. In this report are described the various innovations that contributed to the lower cost and lighter weight design as well as the method used to calculate the cost of energy.