Fault analysis of wind turbine generators in India

Wind energy has become a techno-economically viable source of energy and is considered as a preferable renewable energy resources option in the power sector in India. If the current pace of development is maintained for at least a few decades, India would soon possess the highest windfarm installation in the world and a significant portion of the country's energy needs could be met through wind power. The available wind energy resource can be utilised to the greater extent by optimally siting the windfarms, by appropriate machine selection and by proper maintenance. An attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of wind turbine generators for the largest demonstration windfarm (10 MW) in Asia. This windfarm is situated at Lamba, Gujarat State with 50 wind turbine machines of 200 kW capacity. The technical availability, real availability, capacity factor and maximum down time of the wind turbine generators have been calculated and plotted over the year. About 30 fault conditions have been identified and analysed by pareto diagram.