OPTIMIZING WIND POWER PLANTS: COMPARATIVE ENHANCEMENT IN LOW WIND SPEED ENVIRONMENTS

The study aims to optimize wind farm efficiency in low wind speed regions using the HOMER Pro tool to examine the impact of wind turbine ratings on overall efficiency of wind farms. boosting wind farm efficiency is essential for improving economic viability and grid integration. We propose the establishment of three wind farms, each possessing equal capacities but different in individual turbine capacities 1.5 kW, 3.4 kW and 5.1 kW, then optimize their performance in simulation environment. Through employing HOMER Pro optimization algorithm, we assess all wind farms over the period of one year, taking into account wind speed, temperature and geospatial coordinates. Although all wind farms have equal total capacities, simulation results revealed disparities in their generation abilities, reaching up to 22%, favouring the farm with smaller turbines. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that as wind speed decreases, the disparity in power generation between wind farms increases, reaching 51.9% in November, the month with the lowest wind speeds. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of wind farm behaviour, particularly regarding turbine sizes, and contribute to the research community's efforts to enhance wind farm power production in low wind speed regions. They also help find solutions to enable the embrace of wind energy and decrease fossil fuel consumption in such regions, fulfilling their international sustainability commitments.