TITLE:

THE UTILIZATION OF WIND POWER IN

RWANDA

Master of Science Thesis

KTH School of Industrial Engineering and Management
Energy Technology EGI-2013-116MSC EKV977
Division of Energy
SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
 Master of Science Thesis EGI-2013-116MSC EKV977

THESIS TITLE:

THE UTILIZATION OF WIND POWER IN

RWANDA
(Design and Production Option)
Done By:
Eric MANIRAGUHA
Approved Date Examiner: Supervisors:

Prof. Torsten FRANSSON Dr. Nenad GLODIC (KTH,Sweden)

and

Prof.Etienne NTAGWIRUMUGARA
(KIST,Rwanda)
Commissioner: Contact Person :

Dr Venant KAYIBANDA

Abstract
This Masters Thesis of The Utilization of Wind Power in Rwanda (Design and Production Option) is the
research done in the country of Rwanda and leads to study the climate of this country, in order to establish
whether this climate could be used to produce energy from air and to implement the first wind turbine for
serving the nation. Also it gives the description of the basic characteristics of wind which is given in the
beginning of the work, where the characteristics show a full picture of wind conditions for some certain
region. It explains also general wind issues, the technical wind energy potential which is based on the concept,
which is a part of natural wind energy resources if possible to realize by modern engineering tools in the
territory. Therefore the review of modern wind turbines t o b e used on the Rwanda territories will be given
in the work. The main attention of the research thesis is devoted on the assessment of wind energy potential
of Rwanda, with the aim of determination of the most suitable place for wind power plants. It will give the
estimation of wind energy resources of Rwanda with definite results for each region, the more efficient sites
than other, because wind is stronger and more consistent. It shows again the best location where the annual
mean wind speed is after design calculation, the rate of use of turbine with hub height for an annual
production per year.

ii
Contents
CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................................. III
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................VII
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................................... IX
LIST OF ACRONYMS...............................................................................................................................................X
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..........................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................2
1.1. MOTIVATION........................................................................................................................................................2
1.2. BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH ........................................................................................................................2
1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT .........................................................................................................................................3
1.4. OBJECTIVE ...........................................................................................................................................................4
1.5. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ...........................................................................................................................................4
1.6. SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH .....................................................................................................................................4
1.7. JUSTICATION OF THE STUDY ...............................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER II.THE KEY CONCEPTS .....................................................................................................................5
2.1. WIND ...................................................................................................................................................................5
2.1.1. Coriolis Force...................................................................................................................................................5
2.2.1. Speedofwind .....................................................................................................................................................6
2.3. LOCAL WINDS ......................................................................................................................................................6
2.3.1. Sea (Lake) Breeze ............................................................................................................................................6
2.3.2. Land Breeze ....................................................................................................................................................7
2.3.3. Mountain Breeze ..............................................................................................................................................7
2.3.4. Foehn Wind ....................................................................................................................................................8
2.3.5. Fall Wind .......................................................................................................................................................9
2.4. WIND FORECASTING TECHNIQUES ......................................................................................................................9
2.4.1. Frontal Winds .................................................................................................................................................9
2.4.2. Diurnal Temperature Data ..............................................................................................................................10
2.4.3. Pressure Gradient Method[3] ............................................................................................................................. 11
2.4.4. Geostrophic Wind Method................................................................................................................................12
2.5. WIND POWER TECHNOLOGY .............................................................................................................................12
2.5.1. Wind Technology ............................................................................................................................................12
2.5.2.Two or three-bladedwindturbines .........................................................................................................................13
2.5.3.Powercontrol ...................................................................................................................................................13
2.5.4.Transmissionandgenerator..................................................................................................................................15
2.5.2. Principle working of Wind Turbine ...................................................................................................................16
2.6. WIND TURBINE COMPONENTS ...........................................................................................................................17
2.7. TYPES OF WIND TURBINE ..................................................................................................................................17
2.7.1. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) .............................................................................................................17
2.7.2. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) .........................................................................................................18
2.8. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF WIND POWER PLANTS ...........................................................................................18
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................20
iii
 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................21
CAPITERIII: ENERGY SECTOR IN RWANDA..................................................................................................22
3.1. ENERGY SITUATION IN RWANDA ........................................................................................................................22
3.2. VISION AND MISSION .........................................................................................................................................22
3.2.1. Mainstreaming energy into national development strategies .......................................................................................22
3.2.2. Increasing Access to Electricity: Generation Capacity..............................................................................................23
3.2.3. Vision 2020 .................................................................................................................................................23
3.3. ENERGY DEMAND AND SUPPLY..........................................................................................................................24
3.3.1. Households and Institutions ..............................................................................................................................25
3.3.2. Industry and services........................................................................................................................................26
3.3.3. Transport ......................................................................................................................................................26
3.3.4. Agriculture ....................................................................................................................................................27
3.3.5. Information and Communication Technology(ICT) ................................................................................................27
3.4. ENERGY SUPPLY ................................................................................................................................................27
2.4.1. Power sub-sector..............................................................................................................................................28
3.4.2. Petroleum ......................................................................................................................................................29
3.4.3. Methane Gas .................................................................................................................................................29
3.4.4. Renewable Energy...........................................................................................................................................30
3.5. RURAL ENERGY .................................................................................................................................................30
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................32
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................33
CHAPTER IV: METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT.................34
4.1.WIND ENERGY TODAY .......................................................................................................................................34
4.1.1.World Growth Market .....................................................................................................................................34
4.2. THE ASSESSMENT WIND RESOURCE ....................................................................................................................35
4.2.1. The Power .....................................................................................................................................................35
4.2.2 Wind power terminology....................................................................................................................................36
4.3.GRIGGS PUTMAN WIND INDEX........................................................................................................................37
4.3.1. Prevailing Wind Direction................................................................................................................................38
4.3.2. Frequency distribution......................................................................................................................................38
4.3.3. Wind Rose ....................................................................................................................................................39
4.3.4. Local Site Wind Availability............................................................................................................................40
4.3.5. Wind Variation .............................................................................................................................................40
4.3.6. Regional Wind Resources .................................................................................................................................40
4.4. WIND ATLAS ......................................................................................................................................................40
4.4.1. Wind Site assessment ......................................................................................................................................40
4.4.2. Turbine Siting and location ...............................................................................................................................41
4.5. SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR SITING ...........................................................................................................................42
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................43
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER V. MEASUREMNT CAMPAIGN RESULTS......................................................................................45
5.1. IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SITES IN RWANDA ............................................................................................45
5.1.1. Preliminary Area Identification ........................................................................................................................45

iv
 5.1.2. Area Wind Resource Evaluation .......................................................................................................................45
5.1.3. Relief............................................................................................................................................................46
5.1.4. Roughness .....................................................................................................................................................46
5.1.3. Installation of measurement equipments ..............................................................................................................47
5.2. MEASUREMENTS CAMPAIGN ...............................................................................................................................48
5.2.1. Mast 1.NGOMA (South East) .......................................................................................................................48
5.2.1.1. Monthly means of measured quantities .............................................................................................................48
5.2.1.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation ...............................................................................49
5.2.2. Mast 2: KAYONZA (East)...........................................................................................................................50
5.2.2.1. Monthly means of measured quantities .............................................................................................................50
5.2.2.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation ...............................................................................51
5.2.3. Antenna 1 MTN at 40m (North at Bicumbi) .....................................................................................................52
5.2.3.1. Monthly means of measured quantities .............................................................................................................52
5.2.4. Antenna 2 MTN at 54m (West at Nyabihu)......................................................................................................54
5.2.5. Antenna 3 MTN at 35m (South at Nyamagabe).................................................................................................56
5.2.6.DeutscheWelle Mast at 60 mat Kigali..................................................................................................................58
5.3. SUMMARY TABLES...............................................................................................................................................60
5.4. PRODUCTION CALCULATIONS.............................................................................................................................61
5.4.1. METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................................................61
5.4.2. CALCULATION OF WIND POWER ......................................................................................................................63
5.4.2.1. Wind Turbine Principles ...............................................................................................................................63
5.5.ENERGY PRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................67
5.5.1. Types of Wind Turbine Envisaged.....................................................................................................................67
5.5.2. Annual Energy Output (AEO) .......................................................................................................................68
5.5.3. Method of calculation [8] ...................................................................................................................................68
5.5.4. Calculations of annual energy production.............................................................................................................69
5.6. SELECTION OF SITE AND WIND TURBINE TO BE USEDIN RWANDA ......................................................................70
5.6.1. Wind turbine site selection ................................................................................................................................70
5.6.2. Selection of wind turbine ..................................................................................................................................71
5.6.2.1. Logarithmic Law .........................................................................................................................................71
5.6.2.2. Wind shear.................................................................................................................................................71
5.6.2.3. Roughness Length ........................................................................................................................................72
5.6.3. DESIGN IMPLICATIONS ....................................................................................................................................74
5.6.4 .CONFIGURATIONS AND SIZES ..........................................................................................................................76
5.6.5. LEVELIZED COST OF ENERGY ..........................................................................................................................77
5.6.6. TURBINE CAPITAL COST [11]...............................................................................................................................78
5.6.7. DIRECT COST OF WIND ENERGY ......................................................................................................................78
5.6.8. FACTORS USED FOR SETTING UP TURBINE FOR KAYONZASITE .........................................................................79
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................80
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................81
CHAPTER VI.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...........................................................................82
6.1. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................................................82
6.2. RECOMMENDATION ...........................................................................................................................................82
ANNEXES .................................................................................................................................................................83

v
ANNEX I ..................................................................................................................................................................83
ANNEX II .................................................................................................................................................................84
ANNEX III................................................................................................................................................................85
ANNEX IV................................................................................................................................................................86
ANNEX V .................................................................................................................................................................87

vi
List of Figures
Figure1: a-b. Coriolis force.................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 2. Sea Breeze Model ................................................................................................................................ 7
Figure 3. Land Breeze Model.............................................................................................................................. 7
Figure 4. Mountain Breeze ................................................................................................................................. 8
Figure 5. Foehn (Chinook) Wind ........................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 9. Step 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 11. Pressure Gradient Method ................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 12. National Weather Service Geostrophic Wind Chart ............................................................................... 12
Figure13. Danish typeofwindturbine withinduction generator(constant rotationalspeed). ................................................ 13
Figure.14. Typicalpoweroutputchartofaturbineusingstallcontrol(BONUS 150kW,D=23m,10min meansareshown ............ 14
Figure.15.Pitch-controlled variable speed wind turbine with synchronous generator and acdcac power conversion[2]. .......... 14
Figure 16.Outputcharacteristics typicalofwindturbineusingpitchcontrol(DEBRA100kW,D=25m, 1secmeanvaluesareshown)
.................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Figure20.Yaw System ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Figure24a-b: Energy consumption in tone in 2008 and 2020................................................................................... 24
Figure26: Existing Connections (2008), Source: CGIS-NUR, EWSA ................................................................... 25
Figure27: Population within 5km of network, Source: CGIS-NUR, EWSA............................................................ 26
Figure34.Total Installed Wind Capacity, Growth in total wind energy capacity and Annual additions to wind energy capacit.
.................................................................................................................................................................... 35
Figure35.The Power in wind ............................................................................................................................. 35
Figures37.Use of vegetations to know the wind direction and intensity ........................................................................ 37
Figure38.Use of seas to know the wind direction and intensity .................................................................................. 38
Figure39. Prevailing Wind Direction: Obstruction of wind by a Building or tree of height (H) .............. 38
Figure 40. Frequency distribution ....................................................................................................................... 39
Figure 41 .Wind rose chart................................................................................................................................ 39
Figure 49: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at Mast 1 at 40m ........... 49
Figure 51: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at mast 2 at 40m ............ 51
Figure53: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at Antenna 1 MTN ........ 53
Figure 55: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at Antenna 2 MTN ....... 55
Figure 57: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at Antenna 3 MTN ....... 57
Figure 57a: Frequency histogram Figure 57b.Roses for energy ................................................................. 57

vii
Figure 59: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at Deutsche Welle Mast.... 59
Figure 60. The mean monthly speeds measured at 5 sites.......................................................................................... 60
Figure61: A typical wind speed frequency distribution diagram (Source: Engineeringtoolbox.com)..................................... 61
Figure 64.The conversion of one form of energy to another ....................................................................................... 63
Figure65.IdealizedfluidBetzmodelforawindrotor...................................................................................................... 64
Figure 66. The energy converted by the turbine blades into mechanical energy ................................................................ 65
Figure69: The graphical summary ofefficiency factors for the three turbine types envisaged................................................ 70
Figure70.A turbine used at Mast2-Kayonza (Source EWSA, 2010)........................................................................ 71
Figure 71.The logarithmic velocity profiles ............................................................................................................. 71
Figure72. The change in horizontal wind speed with height ....................................................................................... 72
Figure 73. The effect of surface roughness on velocity profiles..................................................................................... 73
Figure 74.The weibull wind speed probability distributions ....................................................................................... 75
Figure75.Power curve Figure 76: Ce and CT curve ........................................ 83
Figure77.Power curve Figure 78: Ce and Ct curve................................................. 84
Figure79.Power curve Figure 80: Ce and Ct curve...................................................... 85
Figure81.NRG #40C Anemometer ................................................................................................................... 86
Figure82.NRG #200PWind Direction Vane ...................................................................................................... 87

viii
List of Tables
Table1: Projected National Grid Coverage Least cost rollout plan ........................................................ 23
Table2: Analysis of the electricity supply and demand in Rwanda ....................................................... 24
Table3. The generation sources presently in use .................................................................................... 28
Table4.Zone dimensioning ....................................................................................................................... 42
Table5. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Mast1 at 40 m ....................................... 49
Table6. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Mast 2 at 40m ...................................... 51
Table7. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 1 MTN................................... 53
Table8. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 2 MTN .................................. 55
Table9. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 3 MTN .................................. 57
Table10. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Deutsche Welle Mast ......................... 59
Table11.The annual measured mean speed ............................................................................................. 60
Table12.The technical characteristics of wind turbine models studied ................................................ 67
Table13: The annual production datas and capacity factors for the three turbine types envisaged at
each site ...................................................................................................................................................... 69
Table14. The surface roughness length. .................................................................................................. 73
Table15. The common wind shear exponent values .............................................................................. 74
Table16: The vertical wind profile (Weibull parameters) at measurement locations ........................... 76
Table17. The Wind speed scale................................................................................................................. 76
Table18. The classification system for wind turbines. ............................................................................ 77
Table19: The comparison of Rotor Types ............................................................................................... 77
Table20: The power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of Vergnet ................. 83
Table21:The power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of ENERCON .......... 84
Table22: the power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of ENERCON ........... 85

ix
List of acronyms
C Degree Centigrade

F Degree Fahrenheit

AC Alternating Current

AFREC Africa Energy Commission

AKFED Agakhan Fund for Economic Development

BNR Banque National du Rwanda (National Bank of Rwanda)

CEPGL Great Lakes Countries Economic Community

CITT Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer

DC Direct Current

DW DeutscheWelle

EAC East African Community

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast

EDPRS Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy

EU European Union

EWSA Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority

FM Frequency Modulation

Frw Rwandan Francs

GAWEA American Wind Energy Association

GIS Geographical Information System

GoR Government of Rwanda

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

GWh Giga-watt hour (measure of electrical energy)

HAWT Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine

ICT Information Communication Technology

x
IPP Independent Power Producer

IPS Industrial Promotion Service

KIST Kigali Institute of Science and Technology

KP1 Kibuye Project 1

KV Kilovolt

kW Kilowatt

KWh Kilo Watt-hour (measure of electrical energy the basic unit that is billed, so a kWh is also
referred to as a unit of electricity)
LDG Liquefied Petroleum Gas

LV Low Voltage

m/s Meter per Second

MAGERWA Magasins Gnraux Rwanda

MDGS Millennium Development Goals

MININFRA Ministry of Infrastructure

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

Mph Miles per Hour.

MV Medium Voltage

MW Megawatt

MW Megawatt (measure of electrical power or capacity)

NBI Nile River Basin Initiative

NTM Normal Turbulence Model

NUR National University of Rwanda

NWP Normal Wind Profile

PGF Pressure Gradient Force

PP Page

PPA Power Purchase Agreement

PPT PowerPoint

xi
PV Photovoltaic

RBA Rwanda Broadcasting Agency

RE Renewable Energy

RIG Rwanda Investment Group

Rpm Revolution per meter

RURA Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency

SINELAC Socit Internationale dElectricit des Pays des Grand Lacs

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

TV Television

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization

US United States

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USD United State Dollars

VAT Value Added Taxes

VAWT Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

Vision 2020 Rwanda Vision 2020 (long-term development programme)

WAsP Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program

xii
Acknowledgement
It has been an honor to work on this research with my advisors Professor Etienne NTAGWIRUMUGARA
and Dr.Nenad GLODIC.Their insights, guidance, encouragement and support throughout this research work
enabled me to stay motivated and productive. I appreciate all their contribution of time, effort and ideas to
this work.

I would like to thank Professor Andrew Martin Director of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) MSc
Program, for giving us the opportunity to study at KTH School of Industrial Engineering and Management.
This work would not have been possible without them.

I am grateful to my sponsors; the government of Rwanda and KTH School of Industrial Engineering and
Management. Without their financial support this work would be none existent.

To the faculty, staff and fellow students, particularly students followed the Sustainable Energy Utilization as
Specialization of the Sustainable Energy Technology at KTH School of Industrial Engineering and
Management.

My Special thanks are to MSc thesis administrator, Oxana SAMOTEEVA; Dr. Chamindie SENARATNE,
Deputy Program Director for SEE Worldwide at Royal Institute of Technology; Dr. Venant KAYIBANDA
Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KIST and Facilitator of KTH based at KIST in
Rwanda and EWSAs authorities, for their suggestions, support and advices.

I would like to conclude with lots of appreciation to two very special people; my wife Anglique
UWAYISABA (B.Sc IT) and my son Livin DARTAGNAN for their continuous prayers during the whole
period of my study.

Thank you.

KIST, September 2013

Eric MANIRAGUHA

1
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Rwanda has considerable opportunities development energy from hydro sources, methane gas, solar and peat
deposits. Most of these energy sources have not been fully exploited, such as solar, wind and geothermal. As
such wood is still being the major source of energy for 94 per cent of the population and imported petroleum
products consume more than 40 per cent of foreign exchange. Energy is a key component of the Rwandan
economy. It is thus recognized that the current inadequate and expensive energy supply constitutes a limiting
factor to sustainable development. Rwandas Vision 2020 emphasizes the need for economic growth, private
investment and economic transformation supported by a reliable and affordable energy supply as a key factor
for the development process. To achieve this transformation, the country will need to increase energy
production and diversify into alternative energy sources. Rwandan nations dont have small-scale solar, wind,
and geothermal devices in operation providing energy to urban and rural areas. These types of energy
production are especially useful in remote locations because of the excessive cost of transporting electricity
from large-scale power plants. The application of renewable energy technology has the potential to alleviate
many of the problems that face the people of Rwanda every day, especially if done so in a sustainable manner
that prioritizes human rights.

1.1. Motivation

In the days today human activities, electricity is essential to provide renewable energy that does not contribute
to global warming, leads to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. As wind energy displaces the use of imported
fossil fuels, the Rwandan economy will benefit through a corresponding saving of imports, and enjoys various
sources of energy with electricity being a major source, in rural electrification areas as part of its efforts to
reduce poverty, transform rural economies, and improve productivity and quality of social services. The
renewable energy technologies can provide sources of unlimited, cheap and clean energy to the people of
Rwanda. Especially, communities in remote and rural area, which do not have easy access to the hydro power,
and can not afford the installation of long transmission lines or using solar photovoltaic power form EWSA
that could benefit from the wider use of wind energy. Small wind turbines can present a good economically
viable and environmental friendly solution to provide remote villages in hilly areas with light and electricity.

1.2. Background of the Research

The Potential wind in Rwanda has not been fully exploited for Power Generation. Although, potential wind
power that Rwanda has in some areas may provide with possible solutions such as water pumping, windmill
and electricity generation. A study of wind speed distribution has been made before. The results have been
found for the average wind speeds and directions for 3 stations (Kigali, Gisenyi and Butare) from 1985 to
1993.

These results were summarized as follows:

Direction of wind varies from 11 to 16

Wind speed varies from 2 to 5.5 m/s

The National Meteorological Service was responsible of the Rwandan synoptic stations, and supplies data
summaries. It was accountable for more than 5 synoptic sites (Kigali-Kanombe Airport, Cyangugu-Kamembe
Airport, Butare, Gisenyi, Gikongoro, and Nyagatare.) with hourly wind records. These data collections started
in 1985.

Among the data used for this analysis were hourly wind records over a 4 year period between 1985-1993 from
3 weather stations (Kigali, Butare and Gisenyi).

2
All of these stations were located in the local airports with windmill type anemometers installed at 10m above
ground level. Using the Weibull function for analyzing the wind speed frequency distribution, this was an
important parameter for predicting the energy output of a wind energy conversion. The annual mean wind
speed exceeded 2 m/s for these 3 stations. This wind could be used for water pumping or windmills. This
analysis of the wind energy possible solution for energy supply in rural areas of Rwanda was undertaken to
the wind power potential estimation. In total data from 4 stations (Kamembe, Butare, Nyagatare and Gisenyi)
have been analyzed by the National Meteorological Division in 1989. Once again, the data from 3 synoptic
sites (Kigali, Butare and Gisenyi) were analyzed by the Weibull function too. The considered data has been
used to evaluate the annual frequency of wind speed and the direction of wind, yearly variation of the
monthly average, annual and daily variation, and vertical profile of wind energy potential. In 2010 a wind
system was put in place to serve the Rwanda office of information ORINFOR (by now RBA) on Mount Jali
overlooking Kigali. This is the same site for the 250KW solar system feeding to the grid. There is need for
more thorough assessment of the wind potential in the country. Nevertheless more detailed data is still
required in order the renewable energy technologies could provide sources of unlimited, cheap and clean
energy to the people of Rwanda, especially, communities in remote and rural area, which do not have easy
access to the hydro power, and cannot afford the installation of long transmission lines of EWSA that could
benefit from the wider use of wind energy.

1.3. Problem Statement

Several indicators point to an energy crisis in Rwanda including: accelerated deforestation, a biomass energy
deficit and deterioration in electricity generation and distribution systems. The major part of the energy
consumed in Rwanda today still comes from wood (80.4 per cent). Yet studies carried out as far back as 1982
and 19890 already showed a gap of 3,000,000 m of wood for energy needs only. As a result, there is massive
deforestation across the country with consequent effects on the environment.

The installed electricity generation capacity is extremely low at 72.445 MW from all categories. Only 2 per cent
of the population has access to electricity, and there is a gap in national production of electricity of more than
50 per cent which is filled by electricity imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda
(Privatization Secretariat undated).

Currently, Rwandan nations dont have small-scale solar, wind, and geothermal devices in operation providing
energy to urban and rural areas. These types of energy production are especially useful in remote locations
because of the excessive cost of transporting electricity from large-scale power plants. The application of
renewable energy technology has the potential to alleviate many of the problems that face to the Rwanda
populations every day, especially if done so in a sustainable manner that prioritizes human rights.

3
1.4. Objective

The wind Potential in Rwanda gives the context of the energy policy and strategy by showing the countrys
development overview and mainstreaming energy into national development strategies and its Vision. The
plans of EDPRS period explains that; the main issues in the energy sector revolve around access to energy,
costs of supply, energy security and the institutional framework in the management of energy.

The many objective of this work gives the description of the basic characteristics of wind, so that the
characteristics will show a full picture of wind conditions for some certain region. It explains also general
wind issues, the technical wind energy potential which is based on the concept, which is a part of natural wind
energy resources if possible, to realize modern engineering tools in the territory. Therefore, the review of
modern wind turbines t o b e a p p l i e d on the Rwanda territories will be given in the work.

1.5. Specific objectives

It will lead to Study the climate of Rwanda in order to establish whether this climate could be used to produce
energy from air and to implement the first wind turbine.

The main attention of this research thesis will be devoted to the assessment of wind energy potential of
Rwanda, with the aim of determination of the most suitable place for wind power plants. It will give the
estimation of wind energy potential of Rwanda with definite results for each region. The renewable energy
technologies will provide sources of unlimited, cheap and clean energy to the Rwandan economy as well as
population, especially, communities in remote and rural area, which do not have easy access to the hydro
power, and can afford the installation of long transmission lines of EWSA that is benefit from the wider use
of wind energy.

1.6. Scope of the research

The research was carried out on the Utilization of wind power in Rwanda. Five sites studied on which wind
measuring could have wind power resources and to allow the equipments to be installed.

1.7. Justication of the Study

The signicance of this study is to provide information of studying the climate of Rwanda in order to establish
whether this climate could be used to produce energy from air and to implement the first wind turbine in
future.

4
CHAPTER II.THE KEY CONCEPTS
2.1. Wind

Wind is the circulation of the air masses for different thermal conditions of the masses in the surface of the
earth. Hence the circulation comes up and formed in atmosphere under the influence of a difference of
pressure in its various pressure areas, generated by heterogeneity of their heating and cooling under the
influence of radiating, phase, turbulent and a convective in flow and heat transformations. Wind energy
comes from the sun where: solar radiation falls onto the earth and the temperature difference between the
equator and the poles drives thermal currents or wind which circulate around the world.
Wind energy is considered as one of forms of a solar energy where the sun is that primary source which
influences the weather phenomena on the earth [1].

The wind arises because of non-uniform heating of a surface of the earth by the sun. This causes water and
territory surface heat up much more slowly, the surface of the earth accessible to sunlight also heats up faster
as well as the air which is over warm with a surface heats up and rises up wards too, creating areas of the
lowered pressure. T h e r e f o r e a ir from high pressure areas moves in the direction of low pressure areas,
thereby creating a wind [1].

The wind speed changes with height and the wind speed share depends on the local conditions. Also there is
wind direction share over height, wind turbine experiences a wind speed share as well as wind direction across
the rotor, which result in different loads across the rotor, so that moving air masses are affected by Coriolis
forces caused by rotation of the earth, the coriolis effect results in the deflection of all objects to the right in
the Northern hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere. The Coriolis force moves large objects
such as air masses considerable distances, the greatest interest is represented by the horizontal component of a
wind defined at its ground measurements(wind gauge, weather vanes and other)which usually considerably
surpasses a vertical component of a wind[2].

2.1.1. Coriolis Force

The Coriolis force is the apparent force that makes any mass, moving free of the Earths surface, appear to
be deflected from its intended path. The Coriolis force deflects winds to the right in the Northern
Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the earths rotation. Coriolis only affect winds
direction and has no effect on wind speed. The strength of the Coriolis effect varies with latitude [3].
At the equator the effect is zero.
Maximum bending occurs at the poles.

Figure1: a-b.Coriolis force [3]

5
Wind is characterized by two measured parameters:
speed expressed in m/s, and
the direction, whence it blows.
The direction is defined as the vector of speed formed by a meridian and counted from a direction on the
north clockwise. Wind speed and direction change eventually owing to the turbulence of airflow (casual
internal fluctuations) by the influence of the external factors caused by non-uniformity in space, in time of
temperature and pressure of various parts of atmosphere, is being its integral properties. Variability of
parameters of wind is characterized by spatial and temporary variations of different scales [1].

The characteristics of wind are measured on meteorological stations. The specialized winds atlases are made
on the basis of the supervision of speeds of wind in various location areas.

2.2.1. The Speed of wind

The speed is the major characteristic defining power value of wind. The wind varies with the course of
time. In winter months wind speed usually above than in the summer ,therefore, changes of speed of wind
are observed during the day, as a rule near to the seas and the big lakes. In the morning the sun heats up the
earth faster than water, therefore wind blows in a coast direction. In the evening the earth cools down faster
than water, therefore wind blows from coast, this leads to the majority of regions considerable seasonal
changes of wind streams to be observed.

Wind speed depends on height over earth level, whereby close to the earth wind is slowed down at the
expense of a friction about a terrestrial surface.Thus, wind is stronger at the big heights in relation to the
earth [1].

2.3. Local Winds

In the atmospheric circulation system, small-scale wind systems occur with the general circulation pattern.
They are a result of the Earths rough surface and temperature differences between land and water. These
small-scale circulations are frequently called local winds and have names that link them to the place where they
occur. The absence of strong pressure gradient is typically necessary for the development of most of these
often thermally-induced winds. Besides the pressure gradient, surface temperatures determine whether the
temperature gradient is sufficient to induce such circulations as the land/sea breeze, or in the mountain or
valley breezes case, whether the isolation or radiation is sufficient to develop the breeze. With forced
circulations like fall (glacier) and foehn (Chinook) winds, the proper orientation and spacing of the isobars
(which is a direct result of pressure gradient) is necessary to develop winds [3].
2.3.1. Sea (Lake) Breeze

A sea breeze occurs during the day when air over the land becomes warm and rises, creating lower pressure.
Since the air over water is not warmed as rapidly or as much, the pressure is higher than over the land. When
pressure gradient is weak, the air flows from the higher pressure to the lower pressure or from sea to land.
The sea breeze can last up to 2-3 hours after sunset (achieving maximum intensity at maximum heating).
There are lakes around the world that are large enough to create this process shown in Figure 2. Hence, these
winds are called Lake Breezes [3].

6
 Figure2.Sea Breeze Model[3]

2.3.2. Land Breeze

The land breeze occurs during the night, because of radiation, it becomes cooler than the sea. The cooler air
over the land produces higher pressure than over the sea. This pressure combined with the rising air currents
over the sea from warmer air, moves the air from the land to the sea (from high pressure to low pressure).
The land breeze is normally weaker (<5m/s) than the sea breeze. [3]

Figure3.Land Breeze Model [3]

2.3.3. Mountain Breeze

The mountain breeze, a nighttime feature, is simply a stronger case of the drainage wind in mountainous areas.
Nighttime radiation cools the air on the side of the mountain faster than the air in the valley. As the cooler air
becomes denser it sinks toward the lower elevations and collects in the valleys as depicted in Figure 4.
Typically, a mountain breeze may reach speeds of 5 to 6m/s, and the cooler air may extend several meters in
depth. In extreme cases, mountain breezes can reach speeds of 25m/s [3].

7
 Figure4.Mountain Breeze[3]

Necessary factors for mountain breeze (katabatic flow - blowing down an incline) developments are:
Terrain must be greater than 3000 meters.
Skies must either be clear, or cloudy and rainy with nearly saturated air.
The depth of the down slope flow layer on simple slopes has been found to be 0. 05 times the vertical
drop from the top of the slope. Surface-wind speeds in mountainvalley katabatic flows are often 34
m/s, but on long slopes, they have been found to exceed 8 m/s.
2.3.4. Foehn Wind

The name "foehn" originated in the Alps, and there are several names for this type of phenomenon in other
parts of the world. This is a warm wind that flows down the leeside of mountains, raising the temperature as
much as 50 F in just a few minutes at the base of the mountain. The formation of this wind depends on
warm, moist air rising on the windward side of the mountain. As air rises, expands/cools, and condensation
(clouds and precipitation) occurs. When air continues over the mountain top and descends on the leeward
slopes, the down slope motion causes compression of air and resultant adiabatic heating. Because of
compression and heating, the wind accelerates, thus increasing the heating even more. The result is very
strong and very warm wind at the base of the mountain. Figure 5 depicts this process [3].

Figure5.Foehn (Chinook) Wind [3]

8
 2.3.5. Fall Wind

Typically the fall (or glacier) wind, a cold wind, originates in snow-covered mountains under high pressure.
The air on the snow-covered mountains is cooled enough so that it remains colder than the valley air despite
adiabatic warming upon descent. Near the edges of the mountains, the horizontal pressure gradient force,
along with gravity, causes the cold air to flow across the isobars through gaps and saddles down to lower
elevations. This colder, denser air descends rapidly to the valley below. If the wind is channeled through a
restricted valley, it speeds up and has been known to reach 100 mph for days at a time. The temperature in the
valley may drop more than 20 F when the breeze sets in [3].

Figure6.Fall Wind [3]

2.4. Wind Forecasting Techniques [10]

Accurate wind forecasting is vital to air operations, ground combat operations and base resource protection.
Techniques and rules of thumb have been developed to aid you forecasting surface winds in order to
accurately predict the onset, duration and demise of this critical weather element.
Two techniques used for many years have been identified:
Persistence - Persistence by definition means a "continued existence or occurrence." The persistence
method of forecasting any weather element assumes that the conditions at the time of the forecast
will not change. At most locations, when the synoptic pattern remains relatively unchanged; weather
events follow daily cycles.
Extrapolation - Extrapolation commonly refers to the forecasting of weather patterns or features
based solely on past motions of those features. An awareness of weather-producing systems in the
local area, rates of movement, and changes in structure is required.

2.4.1. Frontal Winds

Frontal winds are usually forecast by extrapolation of the wind from an upstream station that has the same
relative position with respect to the front that you anticipate your station to have at forecast time. This wind,
assuming persistence of frontal characteristics, is a close approximation of your stations wind in the future.
Using Figure 7, as the front approaches point B you would expect the southwesterly winds at 12.5 m/s
occurring at point A to continue east and produce similar winds at point B. Since changes in frontal
characteristics affect the wind speeds, an account of them must be considered. Deepening or filling of the
frontal trough can increase or decrease the winds and changes in moisture content increase or decrease the
cloud cover. Temperature contrast changes resulting from this or other causes alter wind speeds.
Normally, there is less purely diurnal effect along a front than exists deeper within an air mass because diurnal
temperature changes along the front are less pronounced [3].

9
 Figure7.Frontal Winds Extrapolation [3]

2.4.2. Diurnal Temperature Data

Surface winds may change as a result of diurnal temperature changes and temperature changes associated with
the formation or destruction of low-level temperature inversions. Generally when the pressure gradient is
weak, the maximum wind speeds occur during maximum heating, and the minimum wind speeds occur during
maximum cooling. However, short periods of maximum gusts may also occur just as the inversion breaks,
which may occur before maximum heating. The inversion, once set in the evening, does not allow higher wind
speeds aloft to mix down to the surface. Winds usually stay light throughout the night and early morning until
the surface inversion breaks[3].
Knowledge of a low-level inversion "break" time allows you to forecast development of surface winds during
the day. If surface heating is not sufficient to break the inversion, forecast unchanged wind speeds. To
determine inversion break time use a representative sounding [3].
Step 1: Find the top of the radiation inversion as shown in Figure 8.

Figure8.Step 1[3]
Step 2: From the inversion top follow a representative isotherm down to the surface as shown in
Figure 9.

Figure9.Step 2[3]

10
 Step 3: At the surface, determine the temperature that isotherm crosses as shown in Figure 10.
This temperature represents the surface temperature corresponding to the inversion decay.

Figure10.Step 3[3]

2.4.3. Pressure Gradient Method [3]

The pressure gradient can provide a reliable estimate of the actual wind in mid-latitudes. Use following steps
(Figure 11 is an example) to convert an existing surface pressure gradient (millibars) into a representative
gradient wind (knots).
Step 1: Create a 6-radius circle with the forecast location at the center.
Step 2: Note pressure value at forecast location.
Step 3: Note pressure value at edge of circle in direction system is coming from at right angles to
isobars.
Step 4: Find the difference in pressure (millibars) between the forecast location and the reference point.
Step 5: Use the numerical difference (millibars) found to represent the wind speed in m/s (e.g. using
Figure 11, a 10 millibar difference = 5m/s).
Step 6: The gradient wind will be approximately equal to the value derived in Step 5.
Now, to figure a representative gradient wind.
Use 50% of the gradient wind as a forecast of the mean surface wind speed.
Use 80%-100% of the gradient wind for daytime peak gusts.
Wind direction follows isobars (adjust for friction, back about 15).

Figure11.Pressure Gradient Method [3]

The pressure gradient wind speed is inversely proportional to changes in latitude or air density (e.g., increasing
latitude/air density = decreasing wind speed).
11
 2.4.4. Geostrophic Wind Method [3]

Using the geostrophic wind method described below can provide a good estimate of short-term surface winds.
For best results, use this method in a 90-minute to 2-hour window from the valid time. Geostrophic winds are
sensitive to changes in pressure fields and do not work well in areas of strongly curved isobars. Use following
steps to convert the geostrophic wind to estimated surface wind speeds.

Step 1: Obtain a value of the geostrophic wind at the forecast location (Figure 12.)
Step 2: Convert the geostrophic wind speed to mean surface wind speed. Mean wind speed will be
about 2/3 of the geostrophic wind speed during daytime period of maximum mixing (heating). The
surface wind may not be representative if the geostrophic wind is less than 8m/s.
Step 3: Adjust the geostrophic wind direction. In the Northern Hemisphere, by subtracting 10 over
ocean areas and up to minus 50 over rugged terrain (this should be determined locally).
Step 4: Now, consider the following:
Do not use geostrophic winds with nearby convection.
Use to forecast surface wind speeds after a frontal passage, but not to forecast wind shifts with
frontal passage.
Surface winds may differ considerably from the geostrophic wind under a shallow inversion.
Geostrophic winds may overestimate the actual wind when a low-pressure center is within 200 miles
of the area being evaluated.

Figure12.National Weather Service Geostrophic Wind Chart

2.5. Wind Power Technology

2.5.1. Wind Technology

Today's wind turbines are much more lightweight than the turbines used on windmills of old also, the wind
turbine is usually standard in design, depending its rotor blades. Wind turbines in operation generate their
maximum power output from two or three blades and are mounted on towers in kilowatts (kW) or megawatts
(MW).The energy output of a wind turbine is determined largely by the length of the blades, which installers
and engineers call sweep. Consequently, the availability of good wind speed data is critical to the feasibility
of any wind project. The wind turbines are the range from 3m/s and uppermost commercial wind turbines
12
operating today are at sites with average wind speeds greater than six meters/ second (m/s). A prime wind site
will have an annual average wind speed in excess of 7.5 m/s (where the wind is important). Utility-sized
commercial wind projects are usually constructed as wind farms where several turbines are erected at the same
site. A modern wind turbines capacity factor is in the range of 20-40%. A small wind farm can usually be
constructed within a year. Wind farms can be constructed as either builddown-operate facilities under long-
term power purchase contracts or as turnkey facilities, the sites with average wind speeds below 3 m/s are
normally considered as unsuitable for wind power[4].
2.5.2. Two or three-bladed wind turbines

Three-bladed wind turbines dominate the market for grid-connected nowadays using the horizontal-axis wind
turbines. However, two-bladed wind turbines have the advantage that the tower top weight is lighter and the
whole supporting structure can be built lighter and very likely in cur lower costs. Three-bladed wind turbines
have the advantage that the rotor moment of inertia is easier to understand and often better to handle than
the rotor moment of inertia of a two-bladed turbine. Furthermore; three-bladed wind turbines are often
attributed better visual a esthetics and a lower noise level than two-bladed wind turbines. And then both
aspects are important considerations for wind turbine utilization in highly populated areas [2].
2.5.3. Power control

The wind turbines reach the highest efficiency at the designed wind speed, which is usually between 12 to
16m/s.At this wind speed, the power output reaches the rated capacity. Above this wind speed, the power
output of the rotor must be limited to keep the power output close to the rated capacity and reduce the
driving forces on the individual rotor blade as well as the load on the whole wind turbine structure. The
following three options for the power output control are currently used:

2.5.3.1. Stall regulation

The principle of Stall regulation requires a constant rotational speed see Figure 13.A constant rotational speed
can be achieved with a grid-connected induction generator. Due to the airfoil profile, the air stream
conditions at the rotor blade change in a way that airstream creates turbulence in high wind speed conditions;
onthesideoftherotorbladethatisnotfacingthewind.Thiseffectisknownas stall effect.

Figure 13.Danish type of wind turbine with induction generator (constant rotational speed) [2].

The stall effect is a complicated dynamic process so that it is difficult to calculate the stall effect exactly for
unsteady wind conditions. Therefore, the stall effect was for a long time considered to be difficult to use for
large wind turbines. However, due to the experience with smaller and medium-sized turbines, blade designers
have learned to calculate the stall phenomenon more reliably.Figure 14 shows a typical power output chart
of a turbine using stall control [2].

13
 Figure 14.Typical power output chart of a turbine using stall control (BONUS 150 kW, D=23 m, 10
min means are shown [2].

2.5.3.2. Pitch regulation

By pitching the rotor blades around their longitudinal axis, the relative wind conditions and, subsequently,
the aerodynamic forces are affected in away so that the power output of the rotor remains constant after
rated power is reached. The pitching system in medium and large grid-connected wind turbines is usually
based on a hydraulic system, controlled by a computer system. Some manufacturers also use electronically
controlled electric motors for pitching the blades. This control system must be able to adjust the pitch of the
blades by a fraction of a degree at a time, corresponding to a change in wind speed, in order to maintain a
constant power output. The thrust of the rotor on the tower and foundation is substantially lower for pitch-
controlled turbines than for stall-regulated turbines.Inprinciple, this allows for a reduction of material and
weight, in the primary structure. Pitch-controlled turbines achieve a better yield at low-wind sites than stall-
controlled turbines, as the rotor blades can be constantly kept at optimum angle even at low wind speeds.

Figure15.Pitch-controlled variable speed wind turbine with synchronous generator and acdcac
power conversion[2].

Stall-controlled turbines have to be shut down once a certain wind speed is reached, whereas pitch-
controlled turbines can gradually change to a spinning mode as the rotor operates in a no-load mode, it idles,
at the maximum pitch angle. An advantage of stall-regulated turbines consists that in high winds when the
stall effect becomes effective, the wind oscillations are converted into power oscillations that are smaller than
those of pitch-controlled turbines in a corresponding regulated mode. Particularly, fixed-speed pitch-
controlled turbines with a grid-connected induction generator have to react very quickly to gusty winds. This
is only possible within certain limits; otherwise huge inertia loads counter acting the pitching movement will
be caused. Figure 16 shows the output characteristics typical of wind turbine using pitch control [2].

14
Figure16.Output characteristics typical of wind turbine using pitch control (DEBRA 100 kW, D=25m,
1 sec mean values are shown) [2].

2.5.3.3. Active stall regulation

This regulation approach is a combination between pitch and stall. At low wind speeds, blades are pitched like
in a pitch-controlled wind turbine, in order to achieve a higher efficiency and to guarantee areas on ably large
torque to achieve a turning force. When the wind turbine reaches the rated capacity, the active stall-regulated
turbine will pitch its blades in the opposite direction than a pitch-controlled machine does. This movement
will increase the angle of attack of the rotor blades in order to make the blades go into a deeper stall. It is
argued that active stall achieves a smoother limiting of power output, similar to that of pitch-controlled
turbines without their nervous regulating characteristics. It preserves, however, the advantage of pitch-
controlled turbines to turn the blade into the low-load feathering position, hence thrust on the turbines
structure is lower than on a stall-regulated turbine. Yawing is only used for small wind turbines(~5kW or
less).If the wind speed reaches the cut-out wind speed (usually between 20 and 30 m/s),the wind turbine
shuts off and the entire rotor is turned out of the wind to protect the overall turbine structure. Because of
this procedure, possible energy that could have been harvested will be lost. However, the total value of the
lost energy over the lifetime of wind turbine will usually be smaller than the investments that will be avoided
by limiting the strength of the turbine to the cut-out speed. Limiting the strength of the turbine requires
emergency or over speed control systems to protect wind turbine in case of a failure of the brakes. Typical
over speed control systems are tip brakes or patchable tips included in the rotor blades. For high wind speed
sites, the cut-out wind speed and the set point for starting up wind turbine again after wind turbine was
stopped and turned out of wind, can have a significant impact on the energy yield. Typically, a wind turbine
shuts down every time the 10 minute wind speed average is above the cut-out wind speed. Often, wind
turbines start up operation when the 10 minute average wind speed drops below 20m/s. However, the set
point can vary between 14 and24m/s, depending on the wind turbine type.Lowset points for resuming wind
power production have a negative impact on energy production [2].

2.5.4. Transmission and Generator

The power generated by the rotor blades is transmitted to the generator by a transmission system. The
number of revolutions per minute (rpm) of a wind turbine rotor can range between 40 rpm and 400 rpm,
depending on the model and the wind speed. As a result, most wind turbines require a gear-box transmission
to increase the rotation of the generator to the speeds necessary for efficient electricity production. Some
DC-type wind turbines do not use transmissions. Instead, they have a direct link between the rotor and
generator. These are known as direct drive systems. Without a transmission, wind turbine complexity and
maintenance requirements are reduced, but a much larger generator is required to deliver the same power
output as the AC-type wind turbines. Most wind turbine manufacturers use six-pole induction (asynchronous)
generators, others use directly driven synchronous generators. In general induction generators are not very
common for power production in the power industry, but induction motors are used world-wide.
The power generation industry uses almost exclusively large synchronous generators, as these generators have
15
the advantage of a variable reactive power production, i.e.voltage control [2].

2.5.4.1. Synchronous generators

An option for the utilization of synchronous generators for wind turbines is the decoupling of the electric
connection between the generator and the grid through an intermediate circuit. This intermediate circuit is
connected to a three-phase inverter that feeds the grid with its given voltage and frequency. Today, pulse-
width modulated (PWM) inverters are commonly used. The decoupling of grid and the rotor/generator
allows a variable speed operation of the rotor/generator system. Fluctuations in the rotor output lead to a
speed-up or slow-down of the rotor/generator. This results in a lower torque on the drive train as well as a
reduction of power output fluctuations. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the maximum power
coefficient occurs only at a single tip speed ratio.Hence, with a fixed-speed operation the maximum power
coefficient is only reached at one wind speed. With a variable speed operation, the rotor speed can accelerate
and decelerate in accordance with the variations in the wind speed in order to maintain the single tip speed
ratio that leads to a maximum power coefficient. The industry uses direct-driven variable speed synchronous
generators with large diameter synchronous ring generators [2].

2.5.4.2. Induction generators

Induction generators have a slightly softer connection to the network frequency than synchronous generators
due to a changing slip speed. This softer connection slightly reduces the torque between rotor and generator
during gusts.However, this almost fixed speed operation still leads to the problem that overall efficiency
during low wind speeds is very low. The traditional Danish approach to overcoming this problem is to use
two induction generators, one small and one large. Today, the same effect is achieved with pole changing
machines. With this approach, two rotational speeds are possible. The small induction machine is connected
to the grid during low wind speeds. When the wind speed increases, the small generator is switched off and
the large generator is switched on. The operating point of the larger generator lies at a higher rotational
speed. To further reduce the load on the wind turbine and to make use of the advantages of variable speed
generation with induction generators, it is reasonable to further decouple rotor speed and grid frequency.
There are various approaches to achieve a variable speed operation within a certain operational range. Today,
dynamic slip control were the slip can vary between 1 and 10%, and double fed asynchronous generators are
most commonly used by the industry. The reactive power requirements are the disadvantage of induction
generators. As a reactive power flow from the network is usually not desired by the network operators,
turbines with induction generators are usually equipped with capacitors. These capacitors usually compensate
the reactive power demand of the induction generators. Another setback of induction generators is the high
current during the start up of the generator, due to the required magnetizing of the core. Controlling the
voltage applied to the stator during the start up and thereby limiting the current can solve the problem [2].

2.5.2. Principle working of Wind Turbine

A wind turbine extracts energy from moving air by slowing the wind down.The wind power can be gained by
making it blow past the blades that will cause the rotor to twist and transferring this energy into a spinning
shaft, which usually turns a generator to produce electricity and wind turbines produce electricity by using the
natural power of the wind to drive a generator. Wind passes over the blades exerting a turning force. The
rotating blades turn a shaft inside the nacelle which goes into a gearbox; the gearbox increases the rotation
speed for the generator, which uses magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy into electrical energy. The
power output goes to a transformer, which converts the electricity from the generator to the right voltage for
the distribution system. This means that the amount of power transferred is directly proportional to the
density of the air, the area swept out by the rotor, and the cube of the wind speed.Wind is a clean and
sustainable fuel source, it does not create emissions and it will never run out as it is constantly replenished by
energy from the sun. In many ways, wind turbines are the natural evolution of traditional windmills, but now
typically have three blades, which rotate around a horizontal hub at the top of a steel tower. Most wind
turbines start generating electricity at wind speeds of around 3-4 meters per second (m/s) (Cut in) generate
maximum rated power at around 15 m/s and shut down to prevent storm damage at 25 m/s or above (Cut
out).Wind generation is often described as intermittent, as the wind does not blow continuously; this is a
16
misnomer as it implies delivery of energy. An individual wind turbine will generate electricity for 70-85% of
the time and its electricity output varies between zero and full output in accordance with the wind speed. The
electricity system is designed and operated in such a way as to cope with large and small fluctuations in supply
and demand. No power station is totally reliable and demand is also uncertain [5]

2.6. Wind Turbine components

Modern wind turbines employ four major component components: the rotor, transmission (gearbox),
generator, yaw system, and control systems. Turbines can be direct drive (no gearbox) as well. The rotor
includes blades used to harness wind energy and convert it into mechanical work, and a hub to support the
blades. Most wind turbines have a pitch mechanism to rotate and change the angle of the blades based on the
wind speed and the desired rotation speed. The nacelle is the structures that contains, encloses and supports
the components include generators, gearboxes, and control electronics that convert mechanical work into
electricity. The tower supports the rotor and nacelle and raises them to a height where higher wind speeds
maximize energy extraction [6].

2.6.1. Yaw System

The wind vane signals are used by the wind turbine's electronic controller to turn the wind turbine to face the
wind using the yaw mechanism so that it can be done passively for lower power turbines. The electronic signals
from the anemometer on nacelle tells controller which way to point rotor into the wind Yaw drive turns gears
to point rotor into wind which are used by the wind turbines electronic controller to start the wind turbine at
cut in speed and stop it at cut out speed. Yaw error means less captured power but too sensitive yawing causes
mechanical wear with small power gain. However, some yaw brake slippage is desirable so when the turbine is
in shut-down mode, turbine will be yawed passively by the wind force. Low power turbines can yaw away from
the wind as a way to shed excessive wind power [11].

Figure20.Yaw System [14]

2.7. Types of Wind Turbine

The wind turbines extract energy from moving air by slowing the wind down, and transferring this energy into
a spinning shaft, which usually turns a generator to produce electricity and they can be categorized into two
classes based on the orientation of the rotor [8].

2.7.1. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT)

Vertical-axis wind turbines are those with the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. Their key advantages of this
arrangement are that the turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind to be effective. This is an
17
advantage on sites where the wind direction is highly variable. The generator and gearbox can be placed near
the ground, so the tower doesn't need to support it, and its maintenance is easier and accessible. Drawbacks
are that some designs produce pulsating torque. VAWTs are often installed nearer to the base on which they
rest which is difficult to mount vertical-axis turbines on towers, such as the ground or a building rooftop. The
wind speed is slower at a lower altitude, so less wind energy is available for a given size turbine [8].

Figure21. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine [13]

2.7.2. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT)

Horizontal axis wind turbines are most commonly used today. The wind blows through blades, which converts
the wind's energy into rotational shaft energy and electrical generator at the top of a tower. The blades are
mounted atop a high tower to a drive train, usually with a gearbox, that uses the rotational energy from the
blades to spin magnets in the generator and convert that energy into electrical current. The shaft, drive train
and generator are covered by a protective enclosure called a nacelle, no yaw system is required and there is no
cyclic load on the blade, thus it is easier to design and offers better performance [8].

Figure22. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine [13]

2.8. Environmental impact of wind power plants

In many part of the world, there is such a dearth of electricity generation that the public welcomes wind
turbines with open arms. For Wind Turbines and the Landscape: Large turbines dont turn as fast and they
attract less attention but City dwellers dwell on the attention attracted by windmills.Where there are
alternative choices, however, environmental impact is of major significance for development. Sound from
18
Wind Turbines should be less sound by increasing tip speed and it experiences almost no noise when the
closest neighbor is usually 300 mettres.However,the Birds often collide with high voltage overhead lines,
masts, poles, and windows of buildings. They are also killed by cars in traffic. However, the birds are seldom
bothered by wind turbines. Note that these impacts may be judged as either beneficial or harmful.

19
Conclusion

As electricity is essential in the days today human activities to provide renewable energy which does not
contribute to global warming, leads to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. As wind energy displaces the use of
imported fossil fuels, it is the countrys economy benefit through a corresponding saving of imports, as well as
enjoys various sources of energy with electricity being a major source. In rural electrification areas as part of
its efforts to reduce poverty, transform rural economies, and improve productivity and quality of social
services.Therefore, Coal, gas and oil will not be the three kings of the energy world for ever. It is no longer
folly to look up to the sun and wind, down into the sea's waves.

Wind generation is often described as intermittent, as the wind does not blow continuously; this is a misnomer
as it implies delivery of energy. An individual wind turbine will generate electricity for 70-85% of the time and
its electricity output varies between zero and full output in accordance with the wind speed. Whilst the amount
of wind generation varies, it rarely (if ever) goes completely to zero, nor to full output. In order to maintain
security of supplies, a second-by second balance between generation and demand must be achieved. An excess
of generation causes the system frequency to rise whilst an excess of demand causes the system frequency to
fall. The electricity system is designed and operated in such a way as to cope with large and small fluctuations
in supply and demand. The most wind turbines in operation generate power from two or three blades and are
mounted on towers. Such wind turbines usually include a Gearbox, generator, and other supporting
mechanical and electrical equipment.

If you look at the climate of Rwanda as well as its regions, we can conclude that the mountain breeze can be
one of method to be applied because a nighttime feature is simply stronger case of the drainage wind in
mountainous areas. Nighttime radiation cools the air on the side of the mountain faster than the air in the
valley. As the cooler air becomes denser it sinks toward the lower elevations and collects in the valleys. We can
apply this method here in Rwanda, because it is a landlocked country of rich culture and great natural beauty.
The speed is the major characteristic defining power value of wind. The wind varies with the course of time.
In winter months wind speed usually above, than in the summer ,therefore, changes of speed of wind are
observed during the day, as a rule, near to the seas and the big lakes. In the morning the sun heats up the earth
faster than water, therefore wind blows in a coast direction. In the evening the earth cools down faster than
water, therefore wind blows from coast, this leads to the majority of regions considerable seasonal changes
of wind streams to be observed.

Wind speed depend son height over earth level, whereby close to the earth, the wind is slowed down at the
expense of a friction about a terrestrial surface.Thus,wind is stronger at the big heights in relation to the earth.

This chapter was generally based on principle of Wind which is produced via uneven heating of the earth,
wind parameters, local winds, and wind forecasting techniques, wind power technology, types of wind turbines
as well as the operation and maintenance of wind turbines.

20
References

[1]. Alena Minina, Technical, wind energy potential in Russia, Masters thesis, 2009, pp6-7.

[2]. T. Ackermann, L. Soder / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6 (2002) 67128: David, A.
Spera, Wind Turbine Technology: fundamental concepts of wind turbine engineering.
ASME Press, 1994: Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Basics: a guide to small and micro wind systems,
Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1999.
[3]. MSgt Gary Mercer & Mr. Mike Jimenez (Headquarters Air Force Weather Agency Technical Training
Branch (DNTT),<<Air Force Weather Qualification Training Package Forecasting Weather Elements
Trainee Workbook>>, 1 December 1999,QTP TW 1W0X1,pp3-12:Anders Persson, How do we
understand the coriolis force? vol79, No.7, July 1988, pp1374.

[4]. UNEP Division of Technology, <<Energy technology fact sheet>>,www.uneptie.org/energy

[5]. European Wind Energy Association (EWEA),Wind Energy-The facts. Cost and Price, Volume2,
Brussels, 27 September 2001, pp100: EWEA, Wind Power technology, B-1000 Brussels .Belgium,
May 2005
[6]. George Sterezinger and Matt Syrcek, Renewable Energy Policy Project, September, 2004, pp12

[7]. Andrew S. David, Office of Industries, Wind Turbines,ITS-02,Washington, DC 20436,June

2009,pp2:Danish Wind Industry Association Web site. http://www.windpower.org (accessed various
dates); industry official, interview by Commission staff, October 30, 2008; LM Glasfiber Web
site.http://www.lmglasfiber.com (accessed March 7, 2009); and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Web site.www.eere.energy.gov (accessed
April 1, 2009).
[8]. DNV, RIS,<<Guidelines for design of Wind Turbines>>, Second Edition, Denmark 2002, , ISBN no.
87-550-2870-5.pp2-3:S Khennas, S Dunnett& H Piggott <<Small Wind Systems for Rural Energy
Services>>, ITDG Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1 85339 5552:Hugh Piggot, Wind power Workshop:
building your own wind turbine, Centre for Alternative Technology, 1997.

[9]. Ken Youssefi, Wind Power and Wind Turbines, ENGR 10, San Jose State University, ppt: L. D.
Danny Harvey, Energy and the New Reality, Volume 2, Publisher: Earthscan, UK,Homepage:
www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=101808, ppt.

[10]. Marianne Sutton, National Weather Service, Austin/San Antonio, New Braunfels,TX 78130,ppt.

[11]. PORTA CUSD 202, Energy Savings Project,Matt Brue, Superintendent,17651Bluejay Road,
Petersburg, IL 62675,ppt.

[12] L.D.Danny Harvey, Energy and the New Reality, Volume 2,Publisher: Earthscan, UK, Chapter 3:
Wind Energy,ppt

[13] Eng Mohamed A. Ibrahim,Introduction into Wind Energy & Types of Wind Turbines,NREA,2012

[14] www.nve.no

21
CAPITERIII: ENERGY SECTOR IN RWANDA
3.1. Energy situation in Rwanda

Rwanda is a landlocked country of rich culture and great natural beauty. It is situated in central Africa
bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and The Democratic Republic of Congo. The Republic of Rwanda
Comprises Kigali City and four provinces (North, East, South and West).The Country is mainly rural with
about 90 % of the population engaged in mainly subsistence agriculture. It is the most densely populated
country in Africa with few natural resources, minimal industry of coffee and tea as the primary foreign
exchange earners. Over 40 % of the population lives in poverty with less than 1 USD per day. The energy
sector in Rwanda as well as the overall economy has gone through structural modifications since 1994, where
the role of the Government has changed, markets have been liberalized and private sector initiatives
encouraged. Domestic energy demand has grown up rapidly due to population growth and the increase in
economic activities especially during the last eighteen years, Rwanda has elaborated a number of planning
documents to guide national development over different horizons. These have an objective for the
development of energy sector in order to provide an input in the development process by establishing an
efficient energy production, procurement, transportation, distribution, and end-user systems in an
environmentally sound manner, therefore, the Energy Policy has to focus on market mechanisms and means to
reach the objective, and achieve an efficient energy sector with a balance between national and commercial
interests [1].
The biomass based fuels dominate the energy scenario, with an estimated 95% of the total energy supply made
up of firewood, charcoal, and agricultural residues as well. This is likely to remain even medium term future,
unless income levels substantially increase. Lack of investment for about 20 years in electricity generation
capacity has resulted in severe capacity deficits in electricity supply in Rwanda. At the same time, overuse of
existing hydropower capacity has added a deficit in energy resources that not only deteriorates electricity but
also water supply, due to its effect on water pumping stations. It has been clear for some time current energy
crisis that Rwanda was looming due to the necessary over exploitation of hydropower water resources in the
preceding years. However, despite identifying multiple longer term investment opportunities including Kivu
Lake for methane gas, Rusomo Falls, Nyabarongo and Rusizi 3, only limited progress has been made in
securing funding for enhanced generation capacity [1].

3.2. Vision and Mission

3.2.1. Mainstreaming energy into national development strategies

Rwanda has elaborated a number of planning documents to guide national development over different time
horizons. The nations current priority socio-economic goals form the basis of Economic Development and
Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) which covers the period 2008-2017. The EDPRS is the medium term
programmatic framework for achieving the countrys long term development aspirations as embodied in
Rwanda Vision 2020, as well as the intermediate targets in the 2015 for Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and for the energy sector. It is planned to produce 1000 MW and connect 50% of the population to
electricity by 2017[2].

During the EDPRS period, the main issues in the energy sector revolve around access to energy, costs of
supply, energy security and the institutional framework in the management of energy. The specific issues that
have been highlighted in the energy component of the EDPRS (EDPRS Outcomes) and therefore have been
addressed by the Energy Sector Strategic Plan are to:

a. Increase access to electricity for enterprises and households (10% -16%)

b. Reduce the costs of energy supply while introducing cost-reflective tariffs,
c. Diversify sources of energy supply and enhance energy security,
d. Strengthen the governance framework and institutional capacity of the energy sector.
22
 3.2.2. Increasing Access to Electricity: Generation Capacity [3]

March 2009: 56 MW available capacity from Hydropower and Diesel Generation

20 MW Jabana Heavy Fuel Oil came online in April 2009 (Financing: WB, 24 mUSD)

9.5 MW Rukarara Hydropower coming online in June 2010 (Financing: GoR, 19 mUSD)

20 MW Micro hydropower coming online from 2009 to 2012 (Financing: GoR, Belgium, EC,
Netherlands, UNIDO, and Total: ~ 75 mUSD)

28 MW Nyabarongo Hydropower coming online by early 2013 (Financing GoR, 110 mUSD)

100 MW (25 MW by end 2012 and 75 MW by 2015) Methane gas-to-power plant (Financing: Contour
Global, 325 mUSD)

100 MW Methane gas-to-power in phases by a consortium (IPS,IFC,GoR,AfDB)

Preparation of regional Hydropower projects: Rusizi III (145 MW) Rusizi IV (267 MW) and Rusumo
(62 MW).

The demand is estimated to grow to 130 MW peak load by 2012, 204 MW by 2015 and planned 1000 to
1300 MW by 2020[9]

3.2.3. Vision 2020

Vision 2020 is the countrys long-term development blueprint. It is an achievable program based on the in the
energy sector, Vision 2020 emphasizes increased production of energy from existing sources and
diversification into alternative energy sources, Hydroelectricity, Kivu Lake for methane gas, solar thermal and
photovoltaic energy, wind, geothermal and peat are emphasized. Increased access of the population to
electricity is identified as a major priority and shall reach at least 60% access rate by 2020. Contribution of
biomass energy to the overall primary energy consumption balance of the country will drop from the current
85% to 50% by the same time horizon [6].

Table1: Projected National Grid Coverage Least cost rollout plan [3]

23
 a) 2008:1652500 tones b) 2020:14,119,945 tones

Figure24a-b: Energy consumption in tone in 2008 and 2020[7]

Using energy more efficiently, moving away from biomass and using much higher levels of energy per capita
can together be characterized as an energy transition.

3.3. Energy demand and Supply

The power demand in Rwanda is constituted by the national demand and the one devoted for exportation.
The national demand is constituted by the total of power required by the national consumers. It is obtained by
taking into account the maximum peak for the whole year [5].

Table2: Analysis of the electricity supply and demand in Rwanda [5]

Composition 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

National demand (MW) 39,76 40,33 41,98 41,99 45,5 49

Export (MW) 0,1 0,12 0,16 0,97 0,38 0,21

Total demand (MW) 39,86 40,45 42,14 42,96 45,88 49,21

As these results show, one notices here, a continuous increase of electricity demand in Rwanda for a given
period of time. Even if a lot of factors may justify this increase, the most important are: the increase of the
electricity demand for the production need, as well as the demographic growth. The rural exodus is also
another major fact. The national electricity supply is constituted by the quantity produced in the country and
the quantity which is imported. The national production is made of the production of four electric stations and
two thermal stations; whereas the imported quantity comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda
and the Great Lakes Countries Economic Community [CEPGL][5].

24
 Figure25: Primary energy balance [7]
3.3.1. Households and Institutions

The household sector constitutes the largest share of the total energy consumption, mainly through its use of
wood fuel. The essential end users are heating (including cooking, brewing, smoking, firing, boiling and
ironing, lighting, and electric appliances [1].

Figure26: Existing Connections (2008), Source: CGIS-NUR, EWSA

In rural areas, firewood and human energy are the most used energy sources. Electricity, even in areas where it
is readily available, is rarely used for cooking due to its high cost. Firewood will give a radical increase in use
of electricity, be an important source of energy for households in the foreseeable future. However, this source
has other negative impacts in houses, including, indoors pollution causing both health risks and safety
problems to the end-user and is also time-consuming to collect. Lighting in rural areas is in most cases
provided by kerosene. In urban households, charcoal remains by far the most popular fuel for cooking. The
use of other energy sources such as solar, biogas and LPG is limited despite various promotional efforts [1].

25
 Figure27: Population within 5km of network, Source: CGIS-NUR, EWSA

The prevailing poverty situation both in rural and urban areas is a major obstacle for development of the
energy sector because the people's purchasing power is low. There are major differences in accessibility and
affordability of energy products within rural areas. For most of the households, the high cost of commercial
energy and the related appliances is a big constraint. There is, therefore, a need to facilitate economic growth
through employment creation; and establishing markets for energy efficient end-use technologies.

Private entrepreneurs need to be stimulated in order to address demand and a growing household market.
Among others, another factor to consider is tax incentives on end-use equipment and appliances in order to
encourage their adoption.

There is a need to change the prevailing inefficient practices in energy use, and institute basic standardization
of energy end-use appliances. In order to address issues related to standardization, safety, health, education,
awareness, and maintenance. There is a need for institutional co-operation and co-ordination is required, thus
sufficient human and financial resources would be needed [1].

3.3.2. Industry and services

The Industry and Services sector are one of the major consumers of energy, particularly electricity and
petroleum. It includes among others manufacturing industries, wholesale and retail shops, hospitals, hotels,
restaurants etc, in most manufacturing industries, energy is used inefficiently due to old equipment and
outdated technologies as well as capacity under utilization. Because of massive energy losses in the sector,
there is a necessity to promote energy audits and encourage energy efficiency and conservation measures [1].

3.3.3. Transport

In Rwanda, the energy challenge within the transport sector is to ensure efficient and safe use of petroleum
products. About 75% of all imported petroleum is consumed within the transport sector. The development of
26
the sector has both direct and indirect implications for the total energy consumption and social economic
growth. Efficient petroleum use is determined by the standard of vehicles, the quality of the transport systems
and the use of most energy efficient transport means. Thus, there is insufficient standardization and quality
control of petroleum products and inadequate enforcement and uncoordinated safety measures but
MAGERWA tries to regulate measures for improvements in licensing, storage facilities and safety standards
and pricing so as the needs for efficient use of transportation means and improvement of underdeveloped
transport infrastructure, including use of alternative systems should be fixed as well as improving mass
transport systems to reduce fuel consumption, traffic congestion and pollution. The exploration for
possibilities of fuel switch to other energy forms should be encouraged so that he switch to unleaded fuel
must be affected [2].

3.3.4. Agriculture

The economy of Rwanda is dependent on agriculture; also it is the major source of food supply and raw
materials for the industrial sector. Subsistence farming is the most common activity and women are the main
stakeholders in most agricultural activities where the total energy demand in agriculture, 90% is met from
human energy, 10% petroleum products, electricity and others which employ over 80% of the workforce. The
main energy challenge within agriculture is to ensure supply of sufficient and cost-effective energy to meet the
requirements to improve efficiency in agricultural activities, production and add value to agricultural products,
including agro-processing and irrigation. Drying and processing of agricultural products is mainly by
traditional applications of firewood. Many agricultural activities contribute towards deforestation, through
extensive farming and slash-and-burn practices.

The Agricultural Policy and Energy are both prime-mover and must be coordinated to ensure increased output
and efficiency in agricultural production, timely delivery and efficient use of energy inputs into agriculture and
increased use of tractors as well as use of renewable energy resources. This policy harmonization also includes
the promotion of environmentally friendly technologies and methods through collaboration with other
ministries and institutions. Furthermore, the methods and approaches on how to maximize the use of
alternative sources of energy such as micro-hydropower, solar, wind, biomass, and other renewable energies, is
the cornerstone and MININFRA has taken it into account [2].

3.3.5. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Nowadays, the demand for reliable electricity to support effective applications of information technology is
becoming a major concern because the fast growth of the ICT sector in Rwanda plays an important role for
sustainable development of all sectors which will facilitate efficient functioning of energy activities inter-alia
assessments, planning, policy analysis and other managerial services. Areas of improvements are overall
incentives, working conditions and how to facilitate institutions and organizations working on research in
energy and information technology, and dissemination of data and energy information [2].

3.4. Energy Supply

In Rwanda, untapped resources for power generation are about 1,300 MW. Feasibility studies for potential
Hydropower sites within Rwanda include: NYABARONGO (27.5 MW), RUKARARA (9 MW),
MUKUNGWA II (3 MW), etc.; shared Hydropower sites from which Rwanda has a quota of 1/3: RUSUMO
falls (60 MW), RUSIZI 500 MW (from which 72 MW are currently exploited). Small hydropower sites can
provide 30 MW, up to 500 MW from the methane gas and 170-340 MW from geothermal resources. In
addition, Rwanda has peat reserves estimated at 155millions tons of exploitable dry peat, a daily sunshine of
5.5 KWh/m2suitable for Solar Energy exploitation and an estimated 2.3 million tons of wood fuel annually[1].

27
 2.4.1. Power sub-sector

The installed generation capacity in Rwanda is 76.73 MW from both Hydro and thermal generation facilities.
Hydro accounts for 38.73 MW, while Thermal generation is now at 37.8 MW. The demand is estimated to
grow to 130 MW peak load by 2012 and planned 1000 to 1300 MW by 2020[9].

Table3. The generation sources presently in use [9]

Plant Current Installed Available

Capacity(MW) 2009 Capacity(MW)
HYDROPOWER
Mukungwa 12 12
Ntaruka 11.25 11.25
Gihira 1.84 1.8
Gisenyi 1.2 1.2
Rukarara 9.5 3
Rugezi 2.2 2
37.99 31.25
THERMAL
Jabana(Heavy Fuel Oil) 20 20
Jabana (Diesl) 7.8 7.8
Aggreko (Gikondo) 10 10
37.8 37.8
IMPORTS
Ruzizi I (SNEL) 3.5 3.5
Rusizi II (SINELAC) 12 12
Kabale(UETCL) 1
15.5 16.5
MICRO-HYDRAUPOWER
Mutobo 0.2 0.2
Agatobwe 0.2 0.2
Nyamyotsi I 0.1 0.1
Nyamyotsi II 0.1 0.1
Murunda(ROPRO) 0.1 0.1
Rushaki 0.04 0.04
0.74 0.74
METHANE TO POWER
KP1 4.2 4.2

SOLAR POWER
Kigali Solar 0.25 0.25

TOTAL GENERATION CAPACITY 96.48 90.74

The national Hydropower Atlas project has identified 333 hydro sites in the country with a combined capacity
of 96 MW. Part of these sites is already under development. Rwandas share of hydropower potential on
Border Rivers is at least 150 MW, where both Rusumo Falls on the border with Tanzania and Rusizi III and
Rusizi IV on the border with the DRC are scheduled for joint development with Tanzania/Burundi and
Burundi/DRC respectively. As a member of the East African Power Pool and the Nile Basin Initiative,
Rwanda also has the possibility to import electricity generated from hydropower plants from further afield in
the region. Future domestic generation developments for the main grid are expected to continue from both
hydropower sources and thermal (heavy fuel oil and methane-based production from Lake Kivu growing in
importance). Hydropower will also be important for small off-grid systems, with solar playing a growing role

28
for isolated applications. Geothermal and wind power also being investigated, with initial geothermal
estimating that further investigation of geothermal potential is warranted.
The national transmission grid consists of some 383.6 high voltage lines and 4900 km of medium and low
voltage lines. The distribution system consists of both medium voltage (30 kV, 15 kV and 6.6 kV) and a low-
voltage (380 volt phase and 220 volt single-phase) network, with a significant proportion being located in and
much of that is undergrounded [9].

Since the year 2000, the number of EWSA customers has been increasing. From the 2006, has experienced a
very sharp increase in the number of customers and by Septem2010, EWSA had over 169,000 customers.
Total sales of electricity in 2009 amounted to 245,6MWh. The composition of EWSA electricity customers in
2009 was as follows:

LV customers: 141,827
MV (large) customers: 670
Total customers 142,497

The high cost of electricity and its low reliability constitutes a major challenge and hindrance, especially for the
commercial and service Industries. There is very limited access to electricity. At present, 4 % of the population
has access to electricity. In the rural area, the Electricity level is less than 1%. There are significant technical
and non-technical as well as commercial losses in the EWSA inefficient infrastructure. Electricity needs to be
made reliable and affordable to customers with very low demand, for lighting and limited domestic purposes.
A system of threshold pricing for rural areas and Industries could, therefore, be considered. In the new
emerging energy market, prices have to be monitored, and predictable as well as transparent mechanisms
established for necessary adjustments. It is necessary to encourage private investment in development projects,
based on a rational exploitation and management of resources, and protection of the environment. Security of
electricity supply needs to be enhanced through utilization of other local energy sources, including methane
gas, off grid mini hydro, other renewable energy sources and from regional grid interconnections. Reliance on
the current Hydro generation with the current environment effects coupled with unpredictability of the shared
resources of Rusizi is a major risk. There is need to liberalize and regulate the electricity sub-sector. The thrust
shall be based on private initiatives and investment for exploitation of the local energy sources while balancing
the role of the Government. The prime factors determining the magnitude and pace of economic exploitation
of energy reserves are the governance of the sector; the development of the domestic energy demand; and the
energy trade possibilities in the region. For these developments to take place there is a need to review the legal
and regulatory framework, including the empowerment of the independent regulator (RURA) [1].

3.4.2. Petroleum

The country of Rwanda is dependent on imported petroleum products where the total annual demand for
petroleum products was 102,311 tons in 2003. The import value in year 2003 was USD 39.69 million,
corresponding to 85% of the total export value of the country. The transport sector is the main user of
petroleum products with 69% of the market, followed by households 16.5% and manufacturing using 14.5%.
There is a need to supply petroleum products on a sustainable basis and cost effectively with due consideration
to environment, health and safety. Exploration for oil must be done to establish the presence or absence of oil
reserves. However, infrastructure development, including storage, distribution, retailing systems and handling
transit products will also be emphasized. Safety, health and environmental concerned should be considered in
accordance with good petroleum industry practices. There is a need to adopt, adjust and develop technical and
product quality in accordance with internationally accepted of bio-coding of petroleum products as standards
and norms [4].

3.4.3. Methane Gas

There is a high level of exploitable methane gas in Lake Kivu that can serve the country for a whole century.
Lake Kivu is estimated to have over 55 billion cubic meters of methane gas of which 29 billion are
economically exploitable. Such reserves are located at a depth of approximately 300m.This resource is
29
renewable at the rate of 100 to 150 billion cubic meters per year as far as the large-scale exploitation of this
resource is concerned. Government of Rwanda is in negotiations with a number of parties to produce methane
from the lake at an initial development of 35 MW.It is expected that the cost of generation from the Lake
Kivu IPP (Independent Power Producer) will be about 0.040.05 Cent/kWh (as compared to current diesel
generation cost of 0.17 Cent/kWh), thereby dramatically lowering the overall costs of power generation.
Switching to the proposed Lake Kivu IPP will also improve the reliability and stability of power. The pilot
plant of Kibuye Project Stage 1 (KP1) has a capacity of 4.5 MW. The project experienced considerable delays
due to technical setbacks and the dispute with Dane Associates Ltd., an Israeli-Norwegian group. Since the
end of November 2008, the plant has been producing 1.5 MW of methane gas. Furthermore, Rwanda
Investment Group (RIG) has been granted a gas concession of 50 MW. So far, it has two pilot projects under
development (totaling around 7.5 MW) expected to be commissioned in March 2009. RIG, Government of
Rwanda and the Industrial Promotion Service (IPS), part of t he Agakhan Fund for Economic Development
(AKFED), decided to join forces and form a consortium for a 100 MW project. Negotiations with an
American investor (Contour Global) for the gas concession and the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Have
been Completed early 2009. The Investor Contour Global wishes to develop a 100 MW methane gas to power
plant, starting with a first phase of 25 MW with Equity funding. The Government Has embarked on a
monitoring program in partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two governments for the monitoring of the stability of Lake
Kivu [8].
3.4.4. Renewable Energy

Over 90% of Rwandans today depend on biomass for their energy, but the Rwanda Government has given
strong emphasis on the development of hydropower whereby, other potential renewable and alternative energy
sources are Micro-hydropower, Geothermal, Solar (but the use of solar energy is still very limited) and Peat
(There are several sites with peat reserves in Rwanda. The total amount of exploitable dry peat reserves is
currently estimated at 155 million tons. However, there has been very little exploitation of peat yet due to
technical and economic difficulties and possible environmental impacts). While Rwanda has enough renewable
energy potential to sustain its energy needs, harnessing of these resources has to date been limited. Today,
there is a lack of adequate indigenous capacity to design, manufacture, market and distribute as well as install
and maintain renewable energy technologies. Furthermore, there is need to promote efficient conversion and
end-use energy technologies and practices in order to minimize health hazards primarily affecting women and
children, and environmental degradation as well. So far, due to the ongoing political and economic problems
in Rwanda and other countries bordering the lake, there has not been a full utilization of the lake's
deposits.The feasibility studies are now being commissioned into the recover ability potential of the estimated
200MW to 700MW energy output from the natural gas deposits in the Lake. Per capita, power consumption
for those connected to the grid is approximately720 kWh/person/year [10]

3.5. Rural Energy

The use of products related to wood (firewood, charcoal, and vegetable materials) is for almost all Rwandan
households. So far, the main energy source used for cooking, since it is used by 99 % of housing unit of the
country. Rural families use more firewood (90.8% of housing unit) than urban families (52.5 % of housing
units). This form of firewood demand shows an increasing pressure of the population on the forests. In rural
areas, charcoal making or production is becoming a money making activity these years, and deforestation has
increased at a giddier pace as we witness it an insidious desertification phenomenon in many areas of the
country. But this situation makes believe that, with this pace of wood resource exploitation, the stock will be
thoroughly exhausted very soon as well as the ecological balances, at the same time, the economic ones will
consequently be seceding by addressing energy requirements in rural areas so that it would be in line with the
provisions contained in the Rwanda Development Vision of 2020 in its situation of poverty. A considerable
part (64.6% of housing unit) in Rwanda use paper lantern ; a small metal tin made on the spot with second
hand metal pieces used with paraffin. This way of lighting is disadvantageous because the smoke from it
contains carbon dioxide harmful for the eyes and the respiratory tract. These accumulated consequences of
this internal pollution may in the long run constitute a serious threaten for the health of the members of the
30
family. Firewood is clearly the main source of energy for cooking in Rwanda and is being used by more than
80 % of the households. The other sources of energy used for cooking include charcoal (over 5 %) and other
vegetal materials. Even in Kigali City, some 65 % of the households are using charcoal andaround25%woodfor
cooking. This underlines the dominant role of biomass as a major energy source in Rwanda. Households with
two or more cows have the potential for a small biogas plant. A significant national domestic biogas program
has been launched, staff has been recruited and funds have been made available by Government of Rwanda.
The program is especially viable because the national zero grazing policy makes the cow dung available close to
the household. On top of that, the one-cow-per-family program will enable more people to actually benefit
from the biogas program. So far, 350 Biogas digesters have already been installed in households. These
digesters are built by local craftsmen with the support of the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer
(CITT) of the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Most of the digesters are made from stones
and cement. There is also a pilot test phase for digesters made of fiberglass with help of Chinese engineers in
Kirehe district. By December 2011, the project is aiming to install 15,000 biogas systems for cooking and
lighting. Biogas plants using human feces are in operation in six prisons with 30,000 inmates. KIST is expected
to install three more plants every year. Other players in the sector include SAM Muhiima, a community-based
organization, which collects sorts and processes garbage for high-quality biomass fuel briquettes for household
(for cooking) and industrial use (to run engines and produce electricity). This project is financed by USAID
through Associates in Rural Development Inc (ARD) [8].

31
Conclusion

The energy sector in Rwanda as well as the overall economy has gone through structural modifications since
1994, where the role of the Government has changed, markets have been liberalized and private sector
initiatives encouraged. Domestic energy demand has grown up rapidly due to population growth and the
increase in economic activities especially during the last eighteen years, a country like Rwanda, with such a
dense population and whose rural areas have almost no electric connection cannot generate revenue from
electricity to make an extension from it. This is the reason why, the public expenses in electricity should play
the role of the extension of the energy network, rather than subsiding electric consumption for those who
have already got access to it.

Rwanda is a land characterized by 1000 hills and small rivers where there is also significant potential for the
exploitation of micro-hydro power. The studies done by the Ministry of Infrastructure have identified more
than 160 sites with potential ranging from 20 KW to over 600 KW which are not sufficient. There is also wind
data indicate that, there are potential sites for wind farms. However, without rising incomes and greater
disposable incomes, it is sometimes before electricity could be affordable by the rural communities;
transmission costs for small amounts of electricity over larger distances will remain a barrier to connecting
wind turbines to the Grid. Studies have shown that there is a considerable quantity of peat existing in Rwanda,
in the order of 155 million tones. However, there has been very little exploitation of peat due to technical and
economic difficulties, and also possible environmental impacts. Other renewable energy sources, but so far not
fully tapped, which could be harnessed to meet the growing energy requirements include solar and geothermal.
Rwanda continues to rely on imported petroleum products; Electricity generation is mainly hydro-based, while
thermal plants will soon provide 15 MW. Discussions on the development of Methane gas for electricity are
ongoing. The dissemination of renewable energy technologies has been limited to the promotion of improved
stoves, improved charcoal production techniques, solar, biogas and to lesser extent photovoltaic to increase
utilization of electricity generation those are being explored. The potential for wind energy to be used is
presently unknown but the researches are underway through the wind map project. Internationally the research
for sources of alternative energy is top priority as wind energy will becoming increasingly to be used and
Rwanda is poised to gain from the technological advanced that are being made in using wind power to
produce electricity which is a basic requirement for the development of the Rwandas population economy as
well as in infrastructure, this would be essential for the development of industries, where the distribution of
potential all over the provinces of the country and the possibility of the application of the potential for power
supply of various objects is priority. Rwanda should reinforce regional cooperation aiming at the
implementation, in short term, of the regional energy projects which could support in durable way, the
national as well as the regional economic growth. These projects concern namely initiatives such as Nile River
Basin Initiative, Rusumo Falls Hydro [60MW], and Rusizi III Hydropower [200MW]. This would sustain the
economic growth to 6%, it is necessary, without any delay, to accelerate reforms in energy sector so as to
attract private investments which seem to hesitate to embark or get involved in this sector, whereas needs in
financing remain very high. These reforms are namely: efficient finance management of EWSA, when
accelerating the rehabilitation and the replacement of non functional equipment, which could be financed by
external resources; liberalization of the exploitation and distribution of energy under all its forms, mostly in
rural areas, commercialization of oil and creating other conditions particularly easier and more pleasant to
investors in this sector. Rwanda has elaborated a number of planning documents to guide national
development over different horizons. These have an objective for the development of the energy sector in
order to provide an input in the development process by establishing an efficient energy production,
procurement, transportation, distribution, and end-user systems in an environmentally sound manner.
Therefore, Energy Policy has to focus on market mechanisms and means to reach the objective, and achieve an
efficient energy sector with a balance between national and commercial interests.

Rwanda should develop the one-cow-per-family program to enable more people to actually benefit from the
biogas program. It needs also more Biogas digesters to be installed in households. These digesters should be
built by local craftsmen not experts with the support of the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer
(CITT) of the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and others.

32
References

[1]. Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy Policy for Rwanda, 2004.

[2]. Ministry of Infrastructure, National Energy Policy and National Energy Strategy 2009-2012, 2009.
[3]. Engineer Yussuf UWAMAHORO, Coordinator Energy Sector MININFRA, National Electricity
Access Scale Up Program: 2009 2012, 2009
[3]. Engineer Yussuf UWAMAHORO, Coordinator, Energy Sector MININFRA, National Electricity
Access Scale Up Program: 2009 2012, 2009
[4]. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning Statistiques Economiques et Financires, 2003.

[5]. RUSUHUZWA KIGABO Thomas and GATARAYIHA Gaetan, The impact of energy crisis on the
economic growth in Rwanda, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, 2005.
[6]. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda Vision 2020, 2000.
[7]. Ministry of Infrastructure, National Energy Policy and Strategy, 2011.
[8]. Emmanuel Kanigwa, Renewable Energies in East Africa, GtZ Gmbh, 2009.

[9]. Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy Policy and Strategy, 2009.

[10] Country energy information Rwanda, Country Energy Information:Rwanda,2006.

33
 CHAPTER IV: METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING
WIND RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
Wind Resource assessment is the cornerstone of identifying and mitigating risks and for realizing the potential
rewards from a project. Without wind resource, no wind project will even be viable.

4.1.Wind Energy Today[10]

Wind energy is the worlds fastest-growing energy source and power industries, businesses, and homes with
clean renewable electricity for many years to come.

- In 2001, wind turbines globally produced almost 25,000 megawatts of electricity enough to supply
about 7 million homes

- 70% of global wind power is generated in Europe (Germany, Spain, and Denmark in particular)

- In 2001, the cost of wind electricity in the US was $.04 per kilowatt-hour (it was $.38 in the early
1980s)

It is half the cost of both nuclear power and coal power

This price should continue to drop in the years to come

Currently, W. European countries produce 2% of their overall electricity through wind power. Within 10 years,
these countries expect to get at least 10% of their electricity from wind turbines whereby 2025, the German
government intends to get 25% of their electricity from wind turbines.

4.1.1. World Growth Market [17]

The economic concerned have diverted attention from energy policy and limited the means of intervention,
where nuclear is facing uncertainty as well as questions about regions investment plans that have been raised.

Some key trends are pointing in worrying directions:

CO2 emissions rebounded to a record high

energy efficiency of global economy worsened for 2nd straight year and

spending on oil imports is near record highs

Coal accounted for nearly half of the increase in global energy use over the past decade,
with the bulk of the growth coming from the power sector in emerging economies,International coal markets
& prices become increasingly sensitive to developments in Asia; India surpasses China as the biggest coal
importer soon after 2020. Emerging economies continue to drive global energy demand where Global energy
demand increases by one-third from 2010 to 2035, with China & India accounting for 50% of the growth
where Renewable & natural gas collectively meet almost two-thirds of incremental energy demand in 2010-
2035.This will allow US oil imports drop due to rising domestic output & improved transport efficiency: EU
imports overtake those of the US around 2015; China becomes the largest importer around 2020 .

34
 Figure34.Total Installed Wind Capacity, Growth in total wind energy capacity and Annual additions
to wind energy capacity [12]

Total Installed Wind Capacity Growth in total wind energy capacity

Annual additions to wind energy capacity

4.2. The assessment wind resource

4.2.1. The Power

The Power in wind is proportional to Cube of wind speed (10% difference in wind speed makes about 33%
changes in wind power). This is the primary reason for wind resource assessment. [1]

Figure35.The Power in wind[2]

35
 4.2.2 Wind power terminology [2]

Turbine power rating: the maximum instantaneous power output of wind turbine, quoted in Watts.
Turbine energy production: a cumulative amount of energy produced by wind turbine for a given
period, usually a year. Quoted in kilowatt-hours (kWh) or megawatt-hours (MWh).
Capacity factor: the average power output of wind turbine, as a fraction of its power rating. This
reflects both the variability of wind at a site and the efficiency of the turbine.
Average wind speed: the long-term average speed of wind, usually quoted in meters per second.
Tower height: the height of turbine to the hub of rotor, usually quoted in meters.
Wind shear: the speed-up of wind with height, given as the exponent of a power-law equation.
Typical low value 0.15; high value 0.30.
Turbulence intensity: the roughness of wind at a site. This is a dominant criterion for specifying
wind turbine. Typical low value 0.15; high value 0.30.

4.2.2.1. Wind shears [2]

Wind shears (large differences in the mean wind speed over the rotor) give large fluctuating loads and
consequently fatigue on the wind turbine blades, because the blades move through areas of varying wind
speed.
A function of wind speed, surface roughness (may vary with wind direction), and atmospheric
stability (changes from day to night)
Wind shear exponents are higher at low wind speeds, above rough surfaces, and during stable
conditions
Typical exponent () values:
0.10 -0.15: water/beach
0.15 - 0.25: gently rolling farmland
0.25 - 0.40+: forests/mountains

Figure36.The change in horizontal wind speed with height [4]

36
 4.2.2.2. Turbulence intensity [2]

The high turbulence level cause extreme loading on wind turbine components, this means that turbulent
locations will severely limit the lifetime of wind turbines and maximum chance of their catastrophic failures. It
is the rapid disturbances in the wind speed and direction. At Low-turbulence case (Very high-quality wind-
tunnels can also reach really low turbulence levels. Typically the turbulence intensity is very low, well below
1%).At Medium-turbulence case (Typically the turbulence intensity is between 1% and 5%) and at High-
turbulence case (Typically the turbulence intensity is between 5% and 20%).The standard deviation() used for
turbulence is now a number that indicates how much wind speed changes above or below of the mean shown
as follows:

Turbulence intensity = standard deviation of wind speed/ mean wind speed

Turbulence causes dynamic loads on wind turbines. The strength of turbulence varies from place to place.
Over land the turbulence is more intense than over the sea. It decreases the effectiveness of wind turbine so
that it imposes more and more wear and tear on it.

The turbulence is classified into two groups: The Mechanical Turbulence (which Caused by air moving over
and around structures/vegetation, increases with wind speed but affected by surface roughness) and The
Thermal Turbulence(also Caused by heating/cooling of the earths surface and its flow), those are typically
vertical, whereas the convection cells of upwards of 1000 - 1500 meters[3].

4.3. Griggs Putman Wind Index [3]

This index is based on permanent tree deformation caused by wind and is useful for estimating the average
wind speed in an area.

Figures37.Use of vegetations to know the wind direction and intensity

Figure37a.Picture taken on site Figure37b.GAWEA Putman Wind Index [5]

37
 Figure38.Use of seas to know the wind direction and intensity

Figure38.Picture taken on site

4.3.1. Prevailing Wind Direction

It is important to check direction when setting up instrument; a prevailing wind is one caused by the rotation
of the earth and movement in the atmosphere. Therefore, it is simple to find the direction of prevailing winds
because they usually come from the same direction consistently over a period of time. The movement of the
earths winds starts at equator, where it is hottest. There are certain set patterns of winds called prevailing
winds, which means that direction winds travels most of the time. Wind affects the climate where it has
travelled over the: Maritime ocean as well as Continental overland [6].

Figure39. Prevailing Wind Direction: Obstruction of wind by a Building or tree of height (H) [6]

4.3.2. Frequency distribution [8]

The frequency distribution is the basic tool to estimate the energy production, because it shows the % of time
that wind is blowing at certain speed.

The wind speed is binned, meaning that speed between 0 and 1 m/s are binned as 1 m/s, wind speeds between
1 and 2 m/s are binned as 2 m/s, and so on. To assess a sites wind power production potential, wind speed
frequency distribution must be multiplied by a representative wind turbine power curve.

38
 Figure40. Frequency distribution [9]

4.3.3. Wind Rose

Wind rose is a useful graphic tool to know how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a
particular location and used for project layout and micro-siting.Wind rose gives information about wind speed
and frequency of wind blowing from various directions, the length of each spoke around the circle is related
to the frequency of time that wind blows from a particular direction; each concentric circle represents a
different frequency from zero at the center to increasing frequencies at the outer circles. This could help you to
analyze wind rose to determine the prevailing wind direction and frequency [6].

Figure41 .Wind rose chart [6]

Longitude =-74.92, Latitude=38.94, Cercle center=0.0%, Inner cercle=7.5%, Outer cercle=15.0%

Blue color is the percent of total wind energy and the gray is the time.

This example of prevailing winds comes from the south southwest and the northwest with additional input
from a variety of directions.

39
 4.3.4. Local Site Wind Availability [2]

Once a region of persistent winds is located, an area of interest is defined by local reconnaissance, land
inquiries made, dissenters prospected, etc.Since trees act to block wind or cause turbulence, a distance to the
nearest tree of less than 200-300 feet (500 feet is better) will significantly impact the free wind.

A wind rose for that area will define the principal directions of arrival; seek local advice as to storm history as
well; look for flagging of vegetation. Place an anemometer or small temporary turbine about 20 ft away from
the intended tower site so that the anemometer can be retained there when the main turbine is installed;
choose the direction of least likely wind from where the turbine would be placed.

4.3.5. Wind Variation [2]

Since wind velocity (speed and direction) varies over a year and over many years, long-term data are required
the velocities may be estimated using one years data or climate (long-term weather data) may be obtained from
climate agencies. While wind direction varies, most wind turbines will track in azimuth (yaw) to maximize
energy extracted, and wind arrival direction knowledge is more important in determining upwind blockage or
obstruction. The wind speed, average, one-minute gust, and extreme, are sufficient for most energy assessment
purposes. The top 30% of wind speed regime will provide~70% of energy; (87.9% of statistics are made up
on the spot).

4.3.6. Regional Wind Resources

Naturally, w i n d energy developers are very interested in energy that can be extracted from wind, and how
this varies by location. Wind is ubiquitous, and in order to make the choice of potential project sites an
affordable and manageable process, some indication of the relative size of wind resource across an area is
very useful. The wind resource is usually expressed as wind speed or energy density, and typically there will
be a cut-off value below which energy that can be extracted is insufficient to merit a wind farm
development. The best and most accurate indication of wind resource at a site is through on-site
measurement, using an anemometer and wind vane. However, this is, fairly costly and time- consuming
process [13].

4.4. Wind Atlas

A wind atlas contains data on wind speed and wind direction in a region, also time series or frequency
distributions. A climatologically wind atlas covers hourly averages at a standard height (10 meter) over even
longer periods (30 years). But depending on the application that there are variations in averaging time, height
and period. Wind maps and atlases provide wind energy resource estimations for the areas of interest and
indicate general areas where high wind resource may exist; this information is valuable to wind energy
developers and potential wind energy users because, it allows them to choose a general area of estimated high
wind resource for more detailed examination [13].

4.4.1. Wind Site assessment [14]

The Wind Resources assessments are the cornerstone of identifying and mitigating risks and for realizing the
potential rewards from a project, moreover, it is really important area for installing wind turbine, whether
domestically or part of a large project. Once this assessment is completed, an accurate picture of wind resource
at the site should be clear; where there are a number of key areas that customer needs to understand before
making a buying decision. At Logic Energy, can provide with all tools and knowledge necessary to make the
right choice.

If the site looks good, the next considerations are turbine location, height, and blade diameter and rotor rpm:

40
 Location: It is important to identify the area for any obstacles that may interfere with wind flow in
the surrounding area and consequently affect wind turbine performance. If there is a lot of turbulence
on wind turbine path, its performance should be compromised.
Height: The taller wind turbine tower, the better. The turbine blades need to be as high as possible to
minimize risk of obstruction.
Diameter: The wider diameter, the more wind energy, the turbine will capture and the more time it
will spend spinning. However there may be other drawbacks for having a large diameter so that it is
good to keep an open mind when choosing wind turbines.
RPM: RPM of wind turbine can vary a lot from machine to machine and depending on wind profile
of the provided site where some machines may be better suited than others.

An Anemometer must be high quality, durable and reliable and it is essential that they remain so throughout
the period of wind measurement. Anemometers with at least 1% accuracy are highly recommended and can
maintain the ratio during a period of at least one year. More intensive wind turbulence and wind direction
changes so as to identify potentially windy areas that will lead to difficult of making projections, Small and
medium size wind turbine sitting and assessment needs to be carried out in professional manner as industrial
wind assessment. Some of the basic things to look for include measured wind shear, turbulence intensity,
energy availability and changes in wind direction. It is crucially important to get this data right. Often the
performance of smaller systems is coupled to complex wind profiles, making projections difficult due to [16];

Hill tops and ridges tend to be much windier,

Some valleys or passes can have strong local winds,
Sheltered basins and valleys have low winds,
Plateau and high plains may be very windy,
Exposed coasts may also be very windy.

4.4.2. Turbine Siting and location [15]

Ultimately, micrositing is used to position one or more wind turbines within a given land area to maximize the
overall energy output of the wind plant. The location of wind turbine is fundamental to its performance, but
other factors come up so that it should be taken into account when deciding the best position of wind turbine,
where possible, and particularly in relation to significant landscapes, the turbines should be located to avoid
visual corridor planes. This means that one km2 of the windy land can host 5-7 MW of potential installed
capacity. So that 100 MW wind farm needs (15-20 km2).This would allow wind speed to be maximized by
using higher towers and by sitting the turbine away from obstructions. Wind turbines are not silent and can
often be heard above the background noise. It is recommended that smaller turbines should be at least 50
meters from any dwelling or offices, and larger turbines at least 500m.Shadow flicker may occur under when
the sun passes behind the rotors of wind turbine and casts a shadow over neighboring properties. As the
blades rotate, the shadow flicks on and off, the effect known as shadow flicker. The effect occurs inside
buildings, where the flicker appears through window opening. The wind turbines are typically arranged in rows
perpendicular to prevailing winds. If the wind is consistently from one direction then within-row spacing is less
and row-to-row spacing is greater. Within rows the spacing can vary from 1.5 to 5 times the rotor diameter.
Row-to-row distances typically vary from 10 to 20 times the rotor diameter. Because of this, we cannot place
one turbine slightly behind the other. The winds speed is reduced behind the rotor blades and turbulence
(wake) is caused. Thus, there must be sufficient space so that the wind can recover before it strikes the next
turbine.

There are, however, some elementary practical guidelines. For example, a simple rule of thumb is to space the
turbines with horizontal & vertical spacing of so many rotor diameters. For the farm pictured below, the
turbines follow the spacing rule of 3 rotor diameters apart horizontally and 12 rotor diameters apart vertically
(in the winds direction). Typical array losses for a wind farm are 2~4 %.
41
 Figure42. Position for wind turbine and spacing [18]

Generally, the lay of the land and the direction of the prevailing wind will determine how the turbines will be
placed. On ridgelines or off-shore at a particular water depth, it is not uncommon to see a long row of
turbines. When more than one turbine is installed, the distances between the turbines have a strong effect on
the energy output of the wind park.

Table4.Zone dimensioning [15]

Zone Zone dimensions Guidance

1 Mast height Exclusion zone, marked and protected using low fence where appropriate in
public places
2 Mast height plus blade Low occupancy zone, maximum 4 person hours per day, no benches or
length shelters to encourage congregation.
3 50 meters Average occupancy zone, typical occupation of 240 person hours per day

4.5. Software Tools for Siting[1]

Wasp, Microsoft Excel Wind Analysis Software Program as well as other software tools can be used to find the
optimum sitting of the wind turbines within the wind farm; these softwares are used to measure wind speed,
wind direction as well as the local data for landscape and obstacles.

WAsP (Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program) is a PC program for predicting wind climates, wind
resources, and power productions from wind turbines and wind farms. WAsP is used for; wind farm
production, wind farm efficiency, micro-sitting of wind turbines, power production calculations, wind resource
mapping, wind climate estimation, wind atlas generation, and wind data analysis. The predictions are based on
wind data measured at stations in the same region. WAsP is developed and distributed by the Wind Energy
Division at RisDTU, Denmark.

42
Conclusion

It is important to check direction when setting up instrument; a prevailing wind is one caused by the rotation
of the earth and movement in the atmosphere. Therefore it is simple to find the direction of prevailing winds
because they usually come from the same direction consistently over a period of time. The movement of
earths winds starts at the equator, at the hottest point. The wind rose also is a useful graphic tool to know how
wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location and used for project layout and micro-
siting. A wind rose gives information about the wind speed and frequency of wind that is blowing from
various directions. The length of each spoke around the circle is related to the frequency of time that wind
blows from a particular direction; each concentric circle represents a different frequency from zero at the
center to increasing frequencies at the outer circles.

Wind energy has not yet been given priority in Rwanda because of the lack of detailed and reliable
information regimes and potential exploitation sites. A wind atlas has to be developed which requires
detailed meteorological measurement, in collaboration with the Belgian Government, wind project is to
develop wind atlas in the country .A contract has been awarded to an international company to install wind
metering equipment at a limited number of points with the highest potential in the country. It was expected
that the first results of these measurements will beavailablebymid-2010 but not yet.

The wind maps developed provide reasonable estimations of areas in which good wind resources could be
found in Rwanda .The information System mapping tools from meteorological tower data provide more data,
where the higher horizontal resolution of these maps allows for more accurate depiction of the overall wind
resource and has led to the identification of new wind development areas where wind resource was previously
considered unsuitable. The first task consisted of identifying five sites on which wind measuring equipment
could be installed. To do this, a mean wind speed map for the whole of Rwanda was prepared with the
MeteoDyn fluid flow software, based on ECMWF climatic data for one year (July 2007 to June 2008). This
map enabled a priori identification of the windiest zones and was used during the search for potential sites to
install the wind measuring equipments.

It was leading also to the methodology for determining the wind resource assessment in Rwanda and shows
the methods used to produce the output of this assessment as well as the pictures taken on site in order to
identify and mitigate risks and for realizing the potential rewards from a project of the wind direction.

43
References

[1]. Paul Gipe& Assoc.,Fundamentals of Wind Energy, ppt.

[2]. Patrick Quinlan, Associate Director, Site Considerations: What Makes a Site Desirable for Wind
Development?, UMass Wind Energy Center, Amherst, Massachusetts, Renewable Energy at Closed
Landfills, June 17 and 24th, 2009.pp5-7:Frank R. Leslie, Wind Energy Theory and Data
Processing,Part2, B. S. E. E., M. S. Space Technology, LS IEEE, 2010, Rev. 2.0.0,pp6-11.

[3]. Paul Breeze, Power Generation Technologies, Elsevier, ISBN0750663138, 2005, pp156.

[4]. Eric White, Wind Resource Assessment and Energy Production: From Pre-Construction to Post
Construction, May 2008, ppt, pp6: NREL (Tony Jimenez, Neil Kelley),Wind Resource, June 19
20, 2007, ppt.

[5]. www.windpowersystemsllc.com/Griggs- Putman Wind Index.

[6]. Roger Dixon, Wind Energy Site Assessment, certified wind site assessor Sky lands Renewable
Energy, LLC, ppt, pp7-10.
[7]. Plan Halifax Regional Municipality, Draft HRM Wind Energy Generation Master,JW Project
no.1008690, Jacques Whit ford,April 11, 2006, pp13-16.
[8]. The Mc Graw Hill Companies, Inc,Describing, Exploring and Comparing Data, Chapter2, 2000
[9]. Power: Energy Options for a Global Society, Renewable Energy Principles and Applications II:
Wind & Geothermal Power, ppt, pp21
[10]. AP Environmental Science Naomi Iser and Rachel Weinblatt, Wind Energy, pp12,
http://eereweb.ee.doe.gov/windandhydro/wind_history.html

[11]. DOE/NREL (Palmer Carlin, Tony Jimenez, Pat Moriarty), Burton, Sharpe, Jenkins, and Bossanyi.
Wind Energy Handbook. Wiley, 2001, pp17.

[12]. L. D. Danny Harvey, Energy and the New Reality, Volume 2, Earthscan, UK, and Homepage:
www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=101808,pp2-4.

[13]. European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Wind Energy-The fact, Part1,

[14]. AWS Scientific, Inc.,Wind resource assessment handbook, NREL Subcontract No. TAT-5-15283-01,
1997.

[15]. Scottish Natural Heritage, Siting and designing wind farms in the landscape, version1, 2009, pp20-
36

[16]. D.Elliott,G.Scott Wind Resource Assessment, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, WEATS,
NREL, Golden Colorado,2006,pp37.

[17]. Dr. FatihBirol World Energy Outlook 2011, 2011, ppt.

[18] Eng.Ashour A.M, Wind Resource Assessment Program, NREA, 2012, ppt

44
CHAPTER V. MEASUREMNT CAMPAIGN RESULTS
Naturally, wind energy developers are very interested in energy that can be extracted from the wind, and how
this varies by location. Wind is ubiquitous; in order to make the choice of development site both an affordable
and a manageable process, some indication of the relative size of the wind resource across an area is very
useful. The wind resource is usually expressed as a wind speed or energy density and, typically, there will be a
cutoff value below which the energy can be extracted is not sufficient to merit a wind farm development. The
detailed results of wind measurement campaign is presented and summarized as follows:availability,monthly
mean speeds at the highest measurement level, corrected for mast effects,pressure,temperature,solar
radiation(if sensor installed) and air density.

The first task consisted of identifying five sites on which wind measuring equipment could be installed. To do
this, a mean wind speed map for the whole of Rwanda was prepared with the MeteoDyn fluid flow software,
based on ECMWF climatic data for one year (July 2007 to June 2008). This map enabled a priori identification
of the windiest zones and was used during the search for potential sites to install the wind measuring
equipments.

5.1. Identification of potential sites in Rwanda

The wind maps developed provide reasonable estimates of areas in which good wind resources could be
found in Rwanda .The information System mapping tools from meteorological tower data provide more data,
where the higher horizontal resolution of these maps allows for more accurate depiction of overall wind
resource and has led to the identification of new wind development areas where wind resource was previously
considered unsuitable.

5.1.1. Preliminary Area Identification

The area identification in Rwanda careens a relatively large region (e.g. state or utility service territory) for
suitable wind resource areas based on information such as airport wind data, topography, flagged trees, and
other indicators.Atthisstagenewwindmeasurementsitescanbeselected.MININFRA provided technical
assistance in wind resource assessment including the development and validation of high-resolution wind
maps. The focus is to provide wind policy makers with applied wind resource data, information products
(Wind atlas) that would be possible from development of the available windy land area, therefore, identifying
five zones that could have wind power resources, and performing detailed wind studies.

5.1.2. Area Wind Resource Evaluation

The area wind resource evaluation applies to wind measurement programs in Rwanda to characterize the
wind resource in a defined area or set of areas where wind power development is being considered. The
most common objectives of this scale of wind measurement are to:

Determine or verify whether sufficient wind resources exist within the Rwandan area
to justify further site-specific investigations,
Compare areas to distinguish relative development potential in Rwanda,
Obtain representative data for estimating the performance and/or the economic viability
of selected wind turbines in Rwandan territory,
Screen for potential wind turbine installation sites in Rwanda.

45
The following three wind turbine types were used to present the electrical production (Source EWSA, 2010):

Vergnet GEV MP-275: 275 kW, 55 m hub height

Enercon E58, 1 MW, 70 m hub height
Enercon E82, 2 MW, 100 m hub height
5.1.3. Relief

The SRTM contour data were used in order to find the altitude difference between two contours this gave 100
meters, thus the relief was modeled throughout Rwandan territory.

5.1.4. Roughness

The roughness curves were generated from the Global Land Cover database (resolution: 1km), where the
roughness was modeled throughout Rwandan territory too. The climatologically data used are those of the
ECMWF reanalysis for the period from July 2007 to June2008. This gives rise to the map in Figure 46 on
which the windiest zones (in red) can be identified. These are the zones in which the installations of
measurement masts are envisaged. However, it must be noted that despite the large uncertainty of this
preliminary analysis, the wind speeds expected at 100m above ground level are less than 5 m/s, which is very
low compared to the Countries of Western Europe where a speed of 6m/s at 100m and is considered as
normal.

Figure46: Preliminary map of mean wind speeds at 100m above ground level in Rwanda
(Meteorological data source: ECMWF 07/2007-06/2008).

46
 5.1.3. Installation of measurement equipments

The measurement points were situated in locations with the following coordinates (degrees, minutes) located
on the map below:

Mast 1: S 1o 47.335 E 30 o 36.148

Mast 2: S 2o 09.644 E 30 o 34.344
Antenna 1: S 01o 39.980 E 29 o 31.626
Antenna 2: S 01o 39.999 E 29 o 59.028
Antenna 3: S 02o 23.315 E 29 o 35.978

Figure47: Location of the 5 Measurement points (Source EWSA, 2010)

The project sites are located in NYAMAGABE, NYABIHU, GICUMBI, NGOMA and KAYONZA Districts
from the provinces of Rwanda.

This is a summary of important points:

On the two masts: two NRG anemometers and wind vane at 40m, one NRG anemometer at 30m,
one NRG anemometer and wind vane at 20m were installed,
On the antennas: two anemometers and wind vane at the highest level were installed,
On mast 1, antenna 1 and antenna 3: a solar radiation sensor was installed,
On each site: temperature and pressure sensors and a GPRS data transmitter were installed.

The GPRS data transmitter allows the recorded data to be received every week so as to ease data collection
and detect any problem with the equipment more rapidly.

The measurements are sampled at 1 Hz and recorded every 10 minutes. The recorded values for the last 10
minutes and for each channel are as follows:
47
 the mean,
the standard deviation,
the minimum value,
the maximum value.

In addition to these five installations, the measurement data recorded by DeutscheWelle at its Kigali radio
transmission station at heights of 60m and 100m were obtained. For this installation, a single WENTO-IND
type anemometer made by LAMBRECHT was installed at each height.

5.2. Measurements campaign

Wind resource measurement campaigns involve the use of equipment such as meteorological towers
instrumented with anemometers, wind vanes, and temperature sensors. Alternatively, remote sensing devices,
which emit either sound pulses (sodar) or lasers (lidar) to measure the wind. This equipment measured and
recorded weather information (e.g., wind speed, wind direction, gusts, temperature) along with long-term
meteorological reference data, to characterize the long-term wind resource at the site. The proper design of
wind resource assessment campaign was critical to obtain the best possible understanding of wind resource
across the project area. Factors such as the location and height of meteorological towers, instrumentation
configuration, and maintenance procedures, among others could have a significant influence on the results of
the measurement campaign. The wind farm energy production was typically estimated by performing wind
measurements, with one or more met masts located within close to the potential wind farm, it was
advantageous to measure as close to turbine hub height as possible in order to reduce uncertainty of the
subsequent of annual energy production calculations, and the main results were summarized below: availability,
monthly mean speeds at the highest level, corrected for mass effects, pressure, temperature, solar radiation and
air density.

5.2.1. Mast 1.NGOMA (South East)

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on Mast 1 site. The period covered is from
04/11/2009 to 12/11/2010.

Figure48.A picture taken at Ngoma site, where the measurements were done.

5.2.1.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table5 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for wind speed at the summit (corrected for mast
effects), the temperature, the pressure, the solar radiation and the air density.

48
 Table5. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Mast1 at 40 m

(04/11/2009-12/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Solar radiation Air density
rate 40m
(%) (m/s) (hPa) (oC) (W/m2) (kg/m3)
Nov-09 100 3.3 828.1 19.2 189.3 1.001
Dec-09 100 3.1 828.5 19.3 175.7 1.001
Jan-10 100 3.3 828.8 20.4 206.3 0.997
Feb-10 100 3.5 828.3 20.5 190 0.997
Mar-10 100 3.2 829.1 20.3 179 0.998
Apr-10 100 3.2 829 20.2 196.2 0.999
May-10 100 3.5 829.4 20.5 187.3 0.998
Jun-10 100 4 830.4 20.7 197 0.998
Jul-10 100 4.1 829.8 20.8 204.2 0.997
Aug-10 100 4.5 829 22 212.2 0.993
Sep-10 100 3.9 828.2 20.5 170.3 0.997
Oct-10 100 3.8 827.6 20.2 169 0.997
Nov-10 100 3.9 827.1 20.2 176 0.996
Mean 100 3.6 828.7 20.4 188.7 0.998

5.2.1.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

The wind speed distribution is obtained by dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals whereby typically
1m/s for each of which the frequency of occurrence is calculated (Figure49). Since the energy content of the
wind varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (and not the mean speed)that is
important for wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. This case shows that the wind rose indicates a
relatively homogeneous distribution in the different sectors, although the South South East sector is dominant.
The mean wind speeds are highest in the North East and South East quadrants. As a consequence, the major
part of the recoverable energy is located in the South South East sector.

Figure49: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
Mast 1 at 40m (04/11/2009-12/11/2010)

Figure49a: Frequency histogram Figure49b.Roses for energy

49
 Figure49c.Mean wind speeds Figure49d.Frequencies

5.2.2. Mast 2: KAYONZA (East)

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on Mast 2 site. The period
covered is from 08/11/2009 to 12/11/2010.

Figure50.A picture taken at Kayonza site, where the measurements were done

5.2.2.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table 6 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for wind speed at the summit (corrected for mast
effects), the temperature, the pressure and the air density.

The means for pressure and air density were calculated for the period November 2009 to March 2010.The
solar radiation datas are not calculated because the sensor was not installed for this mast site.

50
 Table6. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Mast 2 at 40m

(08/11/2009-12/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Air density
rate 40m
(%) (m/s) (hPa) (oC) (kg/m3)
Nov-09 100 3.5 824.5 19.3 0.996
Dec-09 100 3.2 785.1 19.2 0.949
Jan-10 100 3.5 799.3 20.5 0.962
Feb-10 100 4 792.4 20.7 0.953
Mar-10 100 3.7 798 20.5 0.96
Apr-10 100 4.3 / 20.5 /
May-10 100 4.8 / 20.6 /
Jun-10 100 5.3 / 20.9 /
Jul-10 100 5.3 / 20.9 /
Aug-10 100 5.1 / 21.8 /
Sep-10 100 4.4 / 20.5 /
Oct-10 100 3.9 / 19.9 /
Nov-10 100 3.9 / 19.7 /
Mean 100 4.2 799.9 20.4 0.964

5.2.2.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

By dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals the wind speed distribution was obtained where by typically
1m/s for each of which the frequency of occurrence was calculated (Figure51). Since the energy content of
wind varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (not the mean speed) that is important
for wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. In this case, the wind rose indicates that the dominant
sector is the South South East. In addition, the mean wind speeds are highest in the same sector. As a
consequence, the major part of the recoverable energy is located in the South South East sector.

Figure51: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
mast 2 at 40m

Figure51a: Frequency histogram Figure51b.Roses for energy

51
 Figure51c.Mean wind speeds Figure51d.Frequencies

5.2.3. Antenna 1 MTN at 40m (North at Bicumbi)

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on the antenna 1 site. The
period covered is from 07/11/2009 to 24/11/2010.

Figure52.A picture taken at Bicumbi site, where the measurements were done.

5.2.3.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table 7 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for the wind speed at the summit (corrected for
mast effects), the temperature, the pressure, the solar radiation and the air density.

52
 Table7. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 1 MTN

(07/11/2009-24/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Solar radiation Air density
rate 40m
(%) (m/s) (hPa) (oC) (W/m2) (kg/m3)
Nov-09 100 3.3 744.8 14.4 178.4 0.915
Dec-09 100 3.3 745.1 14.7 167.8 0.915
Jan-10 100 3.3 745.5 15.6 177.2 0.912
Feb-10 100 3.1 745.2 15.5 147.9 0.912
Mar-10 100 3.1 745.8 15.2 155.6 0.914
Apr-10 100 3.7 746.1 14.8 152.2 0.915
May-10 100 3.6 746.3 14.5 147.3 0.917
Jun-10 100 3.8 747.0 14.0 151.1 0.919
Jul-10 100 4.0 746.3 14.0 165.0 0.918
Aug-10 100 4.2 746.2 15.4 181.9 0.914
Sep-10 100 3.5 745.4 14.7 157.0 0.915
Oct-10 100 3.2 745.0 15.2 147.9 0.913
Nov-10 100 3.6 744.1 15.2 147.9 0.912
Mean 100 3.5 745.6 14.7 159.8 0.915

5.2.3.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

The wind speed distribution was obtained by dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals typically 1m/s
for each of which the frequency of occurrence was calculated (Figure 53). Since the energy content of wind
varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (not the mean speed) that is important for
wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. In this case, the wind rose indicates a clear
predominance for the East South East sector. The mean wind speeds are also highest in the same sector. As a
consequence, the major part of the recoverable energy is located in the East South East sector.

Figure53: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
Antenna 1 MTN (07/11/2009-24/11/2010)

Figure53a: Frequency histogram Figure53b.Roses for energy

53
 Figure53c.Mean wind speeds Figure53d.Frequencies

5.2.4. Antenna 2 MTN at 54m (West at Nyabihu)

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on the antenna 2 site. The
period covered is from 05/11/2009 to 24/11/2010.

Figure54.A picture taken at Nyabihu site, where the measurements were done.

5.2.4.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table 8 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for wind speed at the summit (corrected for mast
effects), the temperature, the pressure and the air density. The solar radiation datas are not calculated because
the sensor was not installed for this mast site.

54
 Table8. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 2 MTN

(05/11/2009-24/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Air density
rate 54m
(%) (m/s) (hPa) (oC) (kg/m3)
Nov-09 100 2.2 792.7 17.4 0.964
Dec-09 100 2.1 793.1 17.8 0.963
Jan-10 100 2.2 793.5 18.8 0.961
Feb-10 100 2.2 793 18.6 0.96
Mar-10 100 2.2 793.6 18.4 0.962
Apr-10 100 2.3 793.6 18.2 0.963
May-10 100 2.3 794 18.1 0.963
Jun-10 100 2.4 794.9 18 0.965
Jul-10 100 2.8 794.2 18.1 0.964
Aug-10 100 3.3 794 19.4 0.959
Sep-10 100 2.6 793 17.9 0.963
Oct-10 100 2.4 792.5 18.2 0.961
Nov-10 100 2.4 791.8 17.8 0.962
Mean 100 2.4 793.4 18.2 0.962

5.2.4.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

The wind speed distribution was obtained by dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals typically 1m/s
for each of which the frequency of occurrence was calculated (Figure55). Since the energy content of the wind
varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (and not the mean speed) that is important
for wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. In this case, the wind rose indicates dominance
in the West North West, East South East and South South East sectors. The mean wind speeds are highest in
the South East quadrant. As a consequence, the major part of the recoverable energy is located in the South
East sector.

Figure55: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
Antenna 2 MTN (05/11/2009-24/11/2010)

Figure55a: Frequency histogram Figure55b.Roses for energy

55
 Figure55c.Mean wind speeds Figure55d.Frequencies
5.2.5. Antenna 3 MTN at 35m (South at Nyamagabe)

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on the antenna 3 site. The
period covered is from 06/11/2009 to 26/11/2010.

Figure56.A picture taken at Nyamagabe site, where the measurements were done.

5.2.5.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table 9 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for wind speed at the summit (corrected for mast
effects), the temperature, the pressure and the air density.

56
 Table9. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at Antenna 3 MTN

(06/11/2009-26/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Solar radiation Air density
rate 35m
o
% m/s hPa C W/m2 kg/m3
Nov-09 100 2.9 797.4 17.5 159.5 0.97
Dec-09 100 3 797.6 17.7 147 0.969
Jan-10 100 3.1 797.9 18.9 165.2 0.966
Feb-10 100 2.9 797.3 18.5 149.1 0.966
Mar-10 100 2.8 797.9 18.3 169.5 0.968
Apr-10 100 3.2 797.8 18.3 181.7 0.967
May-10 100 3.3 798 18.1 165.3 0.968
Jun-10 100 3.7 799 18.1 183.5 0.97
Jul-10 100 3.9 798.4 18.1 192.8 0.969
Aug-10 100 4.3 798.1 19.4 198.9 0.964
Sep-10 100 3.8 797.2 18.2 172.6 0.967
Oct-10 100 3.5 796.7 18.6 158.9 0.965
Nov-10 100 3.3 796 17.9 147.6 0.967
Mean 100 3.4 797.6 18.3 168.6 0.967

5.2.5.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

The wind speed distribution was obtained by dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals (typically 1m/s)
for each of which the frequency of occurrence was calculated (Figure 57). Since the energy content of the wind
varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (and not the mean speed) that is important
for wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. In this case, the wind rose indicates a clear
predominance for the East sector. The mean wind speeds are highest in the North East and South East
quadrants. As a consequence, the major part of the recoverable energy is located in the East sector.

Figure57: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
Antenna 3 MTN(06/11/2009-26/11/2010)

Figure57a: Frequency histogram Figure57b.Roses for energy

57
 Figure57c.Mean wind speeds Figure57d.Frequencies
5.2.6. DeutscheWelle Mast at 60 mat Kigali

This section presents a statistical analysis of the meteorological data measured on the DeutscheWelle site in
Kigali. The period covered is from 23/09/2009 to 22/11/2010.

Figure58.A picture taken at DeutscheWelle site, where the measurements were done.

5.2.6.1. Monthly means of measured quantities

The table 9 gives the availability ratios, the monthly means for wind speed at the summit (corrected for mast
effects), the temperature, the pressure and the air density. The solar radiation datas are not calculated because
the sensor was not installed for this mast site.

58
 Table10. Monthly means of measured quantities measured at DeutscheWelle Mast

(23/09/2009-22/11/2010): Data from EWSA

Availability Mean Speed at

Month Pressure Temperature Air density
rate 60m
% m/s hPa oC kg/m3
Sep-09 84.9 2.6 845.6 21.1 1.015
Oct-09 76 2.4 845.1 20.2 1.018
Nov-09 94.1 2.1 845.4 19.8 1.02
Dec-09 96.5 2 845.9 19.9 1.02
Jan-10 67.6 2.4 845.9 21.3 1.015
Feb-10 69.1 2.3 845.3 21.4 1.014
Mar-10 74.1 2.1 846.2 20.6 1.018
Apr-10 63.4 2.1 846.1 20.9 1.017
May-10 97.3 2 846.5 20.8 1.018
Jun-10 96.5 2.1 847.6 20.9 1.018
Jul-10 96.4 2.2 847.1 20.9 1.018
Aug-10 96.4 2.5 846.5 22.2 1.013
Sep-10 95.6 2.5 845.8 20.6 1.017
Oct-10 92.9 2.3 845.1 20.7 1.016
Nov-10 92.5 2.3 844.5 19.9 1.018
Mean 86.2 2.3 845.9 20.7 1.017

5.2.6.2. Wind speed distribution, wind and energy roses interpretation

The wind speed distribution was obtained by dividing the spectrum into wind speed intervals (typically 1m/s)
for each of which the frequency of occurrence was calculated (Figure 59). Since the energy content of the wind
varies with the cube of the speed, it is the wind speed distribution (and not the mean speed) that is important
for wind energy production calculations.
A wind rose shows the directional distribution of winds. In this case wind rose indicates dominance in the
South South East and North sectors. The mean wind speeds are highest in the South East sector. As a
consequence, the major part of the recoverable energy is located in this sector.

Figure59: Frequency histogram and roses for energy, mean wind speeds and frequencies measured at
DeutscheWelle Mast (23/09/2009-22/11/2010)

Figure59a: Frequency histogram Figure59b.Roses for energy

59
 Figure59c.Mean wind speeds Figure59d.Frequencies

5.3. Summary tables

The table 11 gives the mean annual speeds, whilst. Figure 60 summarizes the mean monthly speeds measured
at 5 sites.
We can also observe at slight seasonal the variation in wind with the mean speed being generally higher
between May and September.

Table11.The annual measured mean speed

Sites Height Mean Speed
(m) (m/s)
Mast 1 40 3.6
Mast 2 40 4.2
Antenna 1 MTN 40 3.5
Antenna 2 MTN 54 2.4
Antenna 3 MTN 35 3.4

Figure60. The mean monthly speeds measured at 5 sites

60
The geographic variation of wind power resource is more important with mean speed varying between 2.4
m/s and 4.2 m/s, and the highest potential seems to be located (Kayonza and Ngoma) in East province,
where the two masts installed recorded the highest wind speeds.

5.4. Production calculations

The energy generated by windmill depends on the power generation as indicated above and how often or how
many hours the wind blows or more scientifically the wind speed frequency distribution at the actual location.
The total energy generated over a year can be calculated by summarizing the power generation for all velocities
(ranging from the actual windmill cut-in speed to the shut-down speed) multiplied with the number of hours
the wind blows at the actual speeds. A typical wind speed frequency distribution diagram with energy produced
at the different velocities is indicated below.

Figure61: A typical wind speed frequency distribution diagram (Source: Engineeringtoolbox.com)

It details the methodology that enabled the calculation of long-term expected production for3 types of turbine,
on each of the 6 measurement sites (5 sites + the DeutscheWelle site in Kigali).

5.4.1. Methodology

To estimate the expected production for wind turbine, it is necessary to know the local wind regime at the
wind turbine axis height, which is then combined with its power curve adapted to the mean density of the
surrounding air. Wind measurement instruments were placed on each of the 6 sites and so enabled wind data
collection over a period of twelve months (one year).

The WAsP software was then used to reconstruct the wind at the hub height of the 3 types of turbine
envisaged (vertical speed extrapolation).The principle of WAsP is shown schematically in Figure62. WAsP uses
the meteorological data for a measurement station, corrected for local effects, to calculate the geostrophic
wind, and representative of the regional wind. Also WAsP is a PC program for predicting wind climates and
power productions from wind turbines and wind farms. The predictions are based on wind data measured at
stations in the same region. The on-site wind is then reconstructed by applying the terrain characteristics to the
regional wind. The local effects taken into account by WAsP are the relief, the roughness and obstacles [1].

61
 Figure62.WAsP methodology [1]

There are also various important wind speeds to consider:

Cut-in speed: It is the speed at which the turbine first starts to rotate and generate power. It is typically
between 3 and 4m/s [2].
Rated output power and rate output wind speed: As the wind speed rises above the cut-in speed, the
level of electrical output power rises rapidly as shown on figure 63. However, typically somewhere between 12
and 17m/s, the power output reaches the limit that the electrical generator is capable. This limit to the
generator output is called the rated power output and the wind speed at which it reached is called the rated
output wind speed [2].
Cut-out speed: As the speed increases above the rate output wind speed, the forces on the turbine structure
continue to rise and, at some point, there is a risk of damage to the rotor. As a result, a braking system is
employed to bring the rotor to a standstill. This is called the cut-out speed and is usually around 25m/s[2].
The figure 63 below shows how the typical wind turbine power output from a wind turbine varies with steady
wind speed.

Figure63.The typical wind turbine power output versus steady wind speed [3]

62
 5.4.2. Calculation of wind power

There are many complicated calculations and equations involved in understanding and constructing wind
turbine generators and the power in the wind is proportional to:
the area of windmill being swept by the wind
the cube of the wind speed
the air density which varies with altitude

5.4.2.1. Wind Turbine Principles

The wind turbine working principle relates to the revolution process. For this, there are the blades. A wind
turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, wind turbines use
wind to make electricity. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft and connects to a generator and
produces electricity. Wind turbines, like windmills, are usually mounted on tower to capture the most energy.
Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades
around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a generator to create electricity. Wind
turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 30 m or more above ground, they can take
advantage of faster and less turbulent wind. A blade acts much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a
pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls
the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift is actually much stronger
than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called drag. The combination of lift and drag
causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to produce electricity. Wind
turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building, or they can be connected to the
electricity grid for more widespread electricity distribution. Wind speed and the height of the blades both
contribute to the amount of energy generated [3].

Figure64.The conversion of one form of energy to another [3]

Overall: 42 50% Efficient Today Theoretical Maximum is 59.3% (no losses)

5.4.2.2. Calculation of the power of wind hitting wind turbine generator [4]

As wind strikes the rotor, the kinetic energy of the wind is converted into mechanical energy as the rotor
turns. The amount of kinetic energy with a moving amount of air has is given by:

63
 1 2
Ekinetic mv
2 5.1

Where, m mass and v velocity .

The mass of flowing air per unit time (mass flow rate) that strikes our rotor is given by;
Mass Av air _ density * ( area of rotor ) * velocity 5.2

Substitute the value of mass flow rate into our kinetic energy equation we get the available power of wind [5]:

Pavailable Av v Av
1 2 1 3
2 2 5.3

Where;
P = the power of the wind in Watt, = the density of air, in kg/m3,v = speed (velocity), in m/s, and A = the
area that is swept by the rotor blades, in m2

In 1919, Albert Betz concluded that no wind turbine can convert more than 16/27 (about 59.3%) of the
kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy at the rotor. This means that the theoretical maximum
power efficiency of any design of wind turbine is about 59%. This is called the Betz Limit or Betz Law. In
reality, current wind turbines are only capable of extracting somewhere between 35 45% of the winds power
by the turbine. Taking into account the gearbox, bearings, generator, and other elements, only about 30% of
the winds power is actually converted into usable electricity [6].

Let derive the Betzs Limit

Consider the diagram shown below:

Figure65. Idealized fluid Betz model for a wind rotor[5]

As wind moves from left-to-right, Betz proved that the mass of air passing through the rotor N is given by;

v v2
m A 1 5.4
2
v1 v2
Where is the air density, A is the area swept out by the rotor, and is the wind velocity at the rotor
2
Note: Betz showed that this is just the average velocity of the undisturbed wind velocities before and after the
rotor [5].

64
The wind change in kinetic energy is given by:

1 2 1 2 1 2
KEin KEout mv1 mv2 m v1 v2
2 2 2
2
5.5

Figure66. The energy converted by the turbine blades into mechanical energy [9]

Using equations (5.4) and (5.5) from above, show that the power extracted by the rotor is given by.

Pextracted
A 3
4
2
2
v1 v1v2 v2 v1 v2
3
5.6

The equation above shows that the power extracted from wind is determined by the density of the air ( ),
the area swept out by the rotor (A), and the velocity of the moving air before and after the rotor ( v1 & v2 ).It
also Shows that the ratio of the power extracted from wind to the power of undisturbed wind is given by:

1 v2 v2
2 3

Pextracted v2
C v1, v2 1 2
Pwind 2 v1 v 3
v1 1 5.7

We call C v1 , v2 the power coefficient and Betz established that, this value is maximal at 16/27. Each
turbine design has a power coefficient associated with it.

The useful mechanical power obtained is expressed by means of the power coefficient C p

1 3
Puseful C p Av1 5.8
2

The wind velocity suffers retardation due to the power conversion to a speed Vavg behind the wind turbine, see
figure 65.

The velocity in the plane of the moving blades is of t h e average value e q u a l s t o : V2 = (V1 + Vavg)/2 [5].

According to the Betz (1966) calculation, the useful power is maximum when Vavg/V1=1/3 and power
coefficient Cp 0.59.Really wind turbines power coefficient maximum values Cp, max=0.4 -0.5. That because
of profile loss, tip loss and wake rotation loss. The tip-speed ratio is an important parameter of wind turbines.

65
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the peripheral velocity of the turbine blade tips and the wind speed [5].

u
D0 * 5.9
v1 2 v1

Where: D-outer turbine diameter, -the angular rotor speed

According to the power concept, the power of rotation mechanical system is torque multiplied by angular
speed.

P T * 5.10

Hence the torque coefficient CTcan be calculated:

C p ( )
CT ( ) 5.11

Then the torque equation is as follows:

D
T CT Av12 5.12
2 2

Power coefficients C p ( ) for different types of rotor is presented on figure 67.The figure shows both
constant Betz maximum value and revised curve C p calculated by Schmitz and Glauert [5].
The power actually get from wind turbine is most often written as:

1 3
Pextracted C p Av 1 5.13
2

where,
C p turbine power coefficient : where C p Betz Limit
the turbine mechanical & electrical efficiencies : 75 85%

Figure67. The typical power coefficient of different wind turbine types over tip-speed ratio [5]

66
The reference of three-blade HAWT is understood from figure 67and figures 68.It is called fast running
turbines show the larger values of Cp and the poor starting torque capability. The turbines are usually designed
to tip-speed ratio values =5-8[5].

Figure68.A typical torque coefficients of different horizontal axis rotor [5]

5.5. Energy production

5.5.1. Types of Wind Turbine Envisaged

The selected three typical wind turbines types are covering the power range from 275kW to 2MW, with hub
height from 55 to 100 meters. The table12 bellow shows the technical characteristics, but this wouldnt say that
there arent other technical characteristics of wind turbine models to be used.

To increase the energy production of a wind farm of a specific design, there are two possibilities available have
been studied and envisaged:

The position of wind turbine at a greater height above ground (this option involves a wind turbine
price increase and it is therefore necessary to study whether the increased energy production
compensates the extra price).

To optimise the wind farm design by re-locating turbines or removing the ones that produces less.

Table12.The technical characteristics of wind turbine models studied (Source EWSA, 2010)

Constructor Vergnet Enercon Enercon

Type GEV MP-275 E58 E82
Rated power(kW) 275 1,000 2,000
Rotor diameter (m) 32 58 82
Hub height(m) 55 70 100
Cut in wind speed(m/s) 3 3 2
Nominal wind speed (m/s) 14 13 13

67
 5.5.2. Annual Energy Output (AEO)

A wind turbine manufacturer can help to estimate the energy production that could be expected. They will use
a calculation based on the particular wind turbine power curve, the average annual wind speed at the site, the
height of tower that is planned to use and the frequency distribution of wind and estimate of number of
hours that the wind will blow at each speed during an average year. They should also adjust this calculation for
the elevation of the site by contacting wind turbine manufacturer or dealer for assistance with this calculation
[7].

To get a preliminary estimation of performance of a particular wind turbine, the formula below is used.
8760 3
AEO 0.48 * * Cp * V * D 2
1000 5.14
Where:
AEO = Annual energy output, kWh/year, D = Rotor diameter (m), V = Annual average wind speed, (m/s)
and Cp = efficiency factor of the wind turbine.

5.5.3. Method of calculation [8]

The calculation method used is mainly suited for horizontal axis wind turbines and delivers only a rough
estimation of the annual energy output for this type of wind turbines. In practice big differences can occur,
depending on the brand and type of the actual wind turbine.

The energy of wind can be expressed with the formula 5.3: For a wind turbine with diameter D and operating
at sea level and 15 degrees Celsius (an air density of 1,225 kg/m3) the power of the wind is now:

3
P 0.48 * v * D 2
wind 5.15

Betz law says that a wind turbine can extract a maximum of 16/27 (in other words 60%) of the energy from
the wind:
16
PBetz * Pwind
27 5.16

To get an estimation of the annual energy output of a wind turbine in kWh, the following formula is used:

8760 3
E 0.48 * * Cp * v * D 2( kWh)
1000 5.17

Where:

E (kWh) = annual energy output in kWh,Cp = efficiency factor of the wind turbine,v = wind speed in m/s
and D = rotor diameter of wind turbine in meters.

68
For this calculation an efficiency factor Cp and power of the wind of each turbine are used. Also to get a result
in kWh the number of hours in a year (8760) is divided by 1000.

Using wind map to determine the mean wind speed in Rwanda, the mean wind speed vary between 2.3 m/s
and 4.2 m/s and it is applicable in an open landscape as well.

5.5.4. Calculations of annual energy production

These are calculations of one site (Mast1) chosen. The calculation is now:

Use equation 5.17, replace the values of Cp from table 12 and power of the wind data from table 13
respectively, we get:

8760 5.4
E ( kWh ) 275 * 1000 * 100 130kWh

8760 6.8
E ( kWh ) 1000 * 1000 * 100 596 kWh

8760 9.6
E ( kWh ) 2000 * 1000 * 100 1682kWh

The production predictions are finally obtained by coupling the meteorological data at hub height for each
turbine, to the machine's power curve. The operating losses are generally estimated at 5 % for large
installations (several MW).

The table 13 and figure 69 below summarize the efficiency factor and annual production for each of the three
wind turbine types at each of the sites.

Table13: The annual production datas and capacity factors for the three turbine types envisaged at
each site

275KW Turbine, 1MW Turbine, 2MW Turbine,

HH=55 m HH=70 m HH=100 m
Gross Efficiency Gross Efficiency Gross Efficiency
production Factor production Factor production Factor
(kWh) (%) (kWh) (%) (kWh) (%)

Mast1 130 5.4 596 6.8 1682 9.6

Mast2 192 8 849 9.7 2254 12.9
Antenna1 92 3.8 418 4.8 1174 6.7
Antenna2 49 1.9 204 2.3 551 3.1
Antenna3 86 3.6 370 4.2 967 5.5
Mast DW 42 1.8 203 2.3 602 3.4

69
 Figure69: The graphical summary of efficiency factors for the three turbine types envisaged
(Measurement campaign data)

The efficiency factors varying from 1.8% to 12.9% are noted. A 10% efficiency factor means that over one
year, the machine will produce what it would produce when operating at full power for a tenth of the time; in
some respects of this mean turbine load. Also the air densities used in the simulations are the means for the
measurement period and lie between0.915 and 1,225 kg/m depending on the location. Power curves adapted
to this air density were used in the calculations and are given. In the production calculations, operating losses
(unavailability, electrical loss) and wake-effect losses (which are observed in the case of several turbines
installed close to each other) were not considered.

5.6. Selection of site and wind turbine to be used in Rwanda

5.6.1. Wind turbine site selection

The selection of the right site for wind turbine is the most important decision to make throughout the
installation. The location plays a vital part in the performance and efficiency of wind turbine so get it wrong
and it could be disastrous, but get it right the turbine will have a long and profitable future. The best sites for
turbines are those where the wind is least obstructed, which is often the highest point on a property. The
bottom of the turbine rotor should clear the highest wind obstacle (rooftop, mature tree, etc.) within a 150m
radius by at least 10m. Doing so ensures that the turbine reaches consistent, fast wind speeds and prolongs the
life of the turbine by avoiding stressful air turbulence [10].

According to the calculation made, it seems that at the best location of (Mast 2-Kayonza) comes at the top,
where the annual mean wind speed is 4.2m/s, the rate of use of 2MW turbine with hub height of 100m is
about 13% for an annual production of 1140kWh/kW/year. In comparison, the capacity factors in Western
Europe are about 25% for average onshore sites. But for smaller turbines with axis height of 70m (1MW) or
55m (275kW), the capacity factor is fall to 9.7% and 8% respectively, with associations of 860Wh/kW/year
and 710kWh/kW/year.

70
 Figure70.A turbine used at Mast2-Kayonza (Source EWSA, 2010)

5.6.2. Selection of wind turbine

After deciding that there is appropriate wind for a wind turbine, the first thing coming in mind is to start
thinking about components: the kind and size of turbine, how tall the tower [11].

5.6.2.1. Logarithmic Law

The wind speed usually increases with an increase in elevation. This phenomenon is called wind shear. There
are also specific roughness values for different types of ground surfaces. There exist several mathematical
models to determine the speed of wind at varying heights above the ground [12].

Figure71.The logarithmic velocity profiles [13]

Where U is plotted as a straight line on semi-log paper, with slope U*/k and Z0 is the height at which U
extrapolates to zero.

5.6.2.2. Wind shear

The wind shear refers to a change in wind speed or direction with height in the atmosphere. It can also be
referred to a rapid change in winds over a short horizontal distance experienced by aircraft, conditions that can
cause a rapid change in lift and thus the altitude of the aircraft. It is designed as the wind speed profile trends
to lower speed as we move closer to the ground level. Then the wind speed at a certain height above ground
can be estimated as a function of height above ground Z and the roughness length Z 0 from the figure below
[14]:

71
 Figure72. The change in horizontal wind speed with height [14]

Two very common formulas for predicting how a change in elevation will affect the speed of wind are the
Wind Speed Logarithmic Equation 6.1 and the Wind Speed Power Equation 6.2.

The Wind Speed Logarithmic Equation

The wind speed profile may be better approximated by a logarithmic profile in which the constants have a real
physical significance; it is shown in the equation below:

z
ln
z
V (z) V 0
ref zref
ln
z 6.1
0

Where;

The reference speed Vref is a known wind speed at reference height Zref, the speed V (z) is an unknown wind
speed at height Z, the value, Z0 is called the roughness constant and has typical values shown in the table
below.

5.6.2.3. Roughness Length

The earth surface with its vegetation and buildings are the main factors reducing the wind speed. This is
sometimes described as roughness of the terrain. Moving away from the earths surface, roughness decreases
and the laminar flow of air increases. Expressed another way, increased height means greater wind speeds.
High above ground level, at a height of about 1 kilometre, the wind is hardly influenced by the surface of the
earth at all. In the lower layers of the atmosphere, however, wind speeds are affected by the friction against the
surface of the earth [14].

72
 Figure73. The effect of surface roughness on velocity profiles [13]

The higher roughness of the earths surface of the wind power utilisation, the more wind will be slowed down.
Wind speed is slowed down considerably by forests and large cities, while plains like water surfaces or airports
will only slow wind down a little. Buildings, forests and other obstacles are not only reducing wind speed, but
they often create turbulence in their neighbourhood. The lowest influence on wind speed has the water
surfaces [14].

Table14. The surface roughness length.

Terrain Description Surface Roughness Length Z0(m)

Very smooth, ice or mud 0.00001

Calm open sea 0.0002

Blown sea 0.0005

Snow surface 0.003

Lawn grass 0.008

Rough pasture 0.01

Fallow ground 0.03

Crops 0.05

Few trees 0.1

Many trees, hedges, few buildings 0.25

Forest and woodlands 0.5

Suburbs 1.5

Centers of cities with tall 3.0

buildings

Source: M.Ragheb, June 2012

73
The Wind Speed Power Equation

For neutral conditions present then when wind speeds are high, a simple power law has been found to provide a
reasonable fit to the data. When simple estimates of the distribution of the mean wind speed with height are required,
some engineers prefer to use the empirical power law:

z
V ( z ) V re f
z re f
6.2

1
Where the exponent, or is called the wind shear exponent, and depends on the surface roughness.
7
Typical values of are given in table15 below:

Table15. The common wind shear exponent values

Terrain Description Wind Shear Exponent,

Smooth, hard ground, lake or ocean 0.10

Short grass on untilled soil 0.14

Level country with foot-high grass 0.16

Tall row crops, hedges, a few trees 0.20

Many trees and occasional building 0.22 0.24

Wooded country small towns and suburbs 0.28 0.30

Urban areas with tall buildings 0.4

Source: M.Ragheb, June 2012

5.6.3. Design implications

The application of Wind Speed Data Logger Kit with automatic Weibull parameter calculation (Barani Design)
requires working with the statistical parameters for wind speed and direction distributions. This enables
Weibull parameters to be calculated for each height, as shown in Table 16 .If in doubt use 2 or obtain a wind
data logger that can calculate it. The minimum wind speed should be set to zero unless you are in a location
of strong trade winds and zero wind speed may never occur, use 2.4m/s [15].

74
 Figure74.The weibull wind speed probability distributions [13]

According to the design calculations made, using formula 6.1 and Table11 of the annual measured mean
speed, the mean wind speed at the hub height is calculated with Z0=1.5m where the terrain location is suburbs
from the table 15.

The wind speeds is calculated for each hour of the year and used for turbines, upon which the optimization is
performed. This procedure is repeated for different hub heights used for turbines 1, 2 and 3.
The examples of design calculation of desired mean wind speed at the hub height at measurement locations:

55
ln
Vdesered ( Mast 2) 4.3
1.5 4.7 m / s
40
ln
1.5

70
ln
V desered ( M ast 2 ) 4.3
1.5
5m / s
40
ln
1.5
100
ln
V desered ( M ast 2 ) 4.3
1.5
5.5 m / s
40
ln
1.5
The results of the design calculation of desired mean wind speed at the hub height at measurement locations
are shown in the table 16 below:

75
 Table16: The vertical wind profile (Weibull parameters) at measurement locations
Location Hub Height Mean Wind Speed Weibull A
(m) (m/s) (m/s)
55 3.9 4.40
Mast 1 70 4.1 4.63
100 4.5 5.08
55 4.7 5.19
Mast 2 70 5 5.42
100 5.5 5.98
55 3.8 4.29
Antenna1 70 4.1 4.63
100 4.4 4.96
55 2.4 2.71
Antenna2 70 2.6 2.93
100 2.8 3.16
55 3.8 4.29
Antenna3 70 4.1 4.63
100 4.4 4.96
55 2.3 2.60
Mast 70 2.4 2.71
DeutscheWelle 100 2.6 2.93

5.6.4 .Configurations and sizes

The nature provides then the different wind conditions and wind speed which is continuously changing. The
winds turbines are specially build to make use of wind which range in speed between 3 to 30 m/s. At the other
hand, higher wind speed can damage the turbine that is why the large turbines are equipped with the brakes.
Smaller turbines can make use of wind speeds lower than 3m/s [18].

The chosen best site in 6 measurements location is now Mast2 (Kayonza) where the wind speed of 5.5m/s is
taken into consideration after design calculation, this is found in the table17 bellow:

Table17. The Wind speed scale (Source: Spera, 1994 and Gipe, 1999)
Wind speed m/s Type of wind

0.0-1.8 Calm

1.8-5.8 Light

5.8-8.5 Moderate

8.5-11 Fresh

11-17 Strong

17-25 Gale

25-43 Strong Gale

>43 Hurricane

76
While the wind energy is already economic in terms of good onshore locations, it is currently about to cross
the economic frontier set by shorelines: The offshore wind energy is becoming competitive with other power
generating technologies. The offshore wind energy is a promising application of wind power in particular, in
countries with high population density and thus with difficulties in finding suitable sites on land.

Table18. The classification system for wind turbines.

Scale Rotor diameter Power rating

Micro Less than 3m 50kWto 2kW

Small 3m to 12m 2kW to 40kW

Medium 12m to 45m 40kW to 999kW

Large 46m and larger More than 1.0MW

Source: Spera, 1994 and Gipe, 1999

The choice of rotor is characterized by the load and hence of the end users. Some common rotor types and
their characteristics are shown in Table 18 above and Table 19 below:

Table19: The comparison of Rotor Types

Type Speed Torque Cp Solidity Use
(%)

Horizontal Axis
Multi blade Low High 0.25 - 0.4 50 - 80 Mechanical Power
Three-bladed aerofoil High Low up to 0.45 Less than 5 Electricity Production

Vertical Axis
Panemone Low Medium less than 50 Mechanical Power
0.1
Darrieus Moderate Very 0.25 - 0.35 10 - 20 Electricity Production
low
Source: Spera, 1994 and Gipe, 1999

5.6.5. Levelized cost of energy

Levelized Energy Cost (LEC, also known as Levelized Cost of Energy, abbreviated as LCOE) is the price at
which electricity is generated from a specific source to break even over the lifetime of the project. It is an
economic assessment of the cost of energy generating system including all the costs over its lifetime: initial
investment, operations and maintenance, cost of fuel, cost of capital, which are very useful in calculating the
costs of generation from different sources. The Levelized Cost of Energy equation shows below [16]:

( F C R * IC C ) L R C A O M
LCO E 6.3
AEP

LCOE = Levelized cost of energy, Frw/kWh, LRC = Levelized replacement cost, Frw /year (major repairs),
ICC = Initial capital cost, Frw, FCR = Fixed charge rate, per year, AEP = Annual energy production, kWh
and A0M = Annual operation & maintenance, Frw /kWh.

77
The calculations made

AEP expected power * availability * time

Case 1: 5.5 m/s 50% of the time

AEP 2, 000 kW * 0.97 * 8760 * 0.5 8, 497, 200 kWh / year 8.5MWh / year

Case 2: 4.7 m/s all of the time

AEP 275 kW * 0.97 * 8760 * 1.0 2, 336, 730 kWh / year 2.34 MWh / year

5.6.6. Turbine capital cost [11]

Hardware Cost: 415,400Frw/kW, Turbine: 341,000Frw/kW, Tower: 74,400Frw/kW, Installation Cost

62,000Frw/kW, Foundation, erection, interconnection Shipping: 43,400Frw/kW, other 62,000Frw/kW and
Round number: 620,000Frw/kW.
However the costs are impacted by the market. In 2005 the cost of installed wind turbines has increased
between 806,000Frw and 868,000Frw per kW due to high steel prices and demand caused by the Production
Tax Incentive.

Calculation made of LCOE or COE

2 MW Turbines

FCR=10% = 0.10
ICC 620, 000 Frw / kW 620, 000 Frw / kW * 2000kW 1, 240, 000, 000 Frw 1, 942, 508USD
LRC=3,410,000Frw=5,341.897USD
AOM=6.2Frw/kWh availability elevation
AEP=2,000kW, 98%, 82 m

(0.1*1, 240, 000, 000) 3, 410, 000 6.2

COE 54.52 Frw / kWh 0.085USD / kWh
2, 336, 730
Now the price at which electricity to be sold including initial investment, operations and maintenance, cost of
fuel, capital and VAT 18% to the end users is 64.35Frw/kWh=0.1USD/kWh (Exchange rate from BNR at
the time of writing 1USD= 638.35Frw).
5.6.7. Direct cost of wind energy [13]
The cost per kWh is the annual revenue requirement per kW of capacity divided by the number of kWh sold
per year per kW of capacity.
That is,
(C RF O M ) * C C w t
C 6.4
( s * f a * 8760 * C F )

78
Where CRF=cost recovery factor

i
CRF 6.5
( N )
(1 (1 i ) )
i= interest rate (expressed as a fraction per year),N = number of years over which the wind project is financed
OM = annual operation and maintenance cost as a fraction of the initial capital cost CCwt,CCwt= initial capital
cost given as Frw/kW (Frw per kW of turbine capacity or USD/kW (USD per kW of turbine capacity)),8760
= number of hours in a year,s is an efficiency that takes into account various losses that are not accounted in
the turbine power curve (such as dirt on the blades, imperfect tracking of the wind direction by the yaw
mechanism, or wake effects in wind farms),fa is the fraction of time that the turbine is available and CF =
capacity factor (the average power output as a fraction of the peak output or capacity).Also a 1kW turbine
running full out all the time would produce 1kW x 8760 hr/yr = 8760 kWh/year of electricity Units in the
previous equation :( year)-1 (for OM and CRF) x Frw/kW, divided by kWh/kW/year gives Frw/kWh or (
year)-1 (for OM and CRF) x USD/kW, divided by kWh/kW/year gives USD/kWh.
C 54.52 F rw / kW h 0.085U SD / kW h

According to electricity tariff (excluding VAT 18%) for EWSA on the market the following prices are
established (Source EWSA):

Industries :

96Rwf/kWh : Off Pick hours (23 h00 - 07h00)

126Rwf/kWh : Mid Pick hours (07 h00 - 17h00)
168Rwf/kWh : On Pick hours (17 h00 - 23h00)

Ordinary consumption :134 Rwf/kWh

Now the price of EWSA at which electricity to be sold including initial investment, operations and
maintenance, cost of fuel, capital and excluding VAT 18% to the end users is
134Frw/kWh=0.21USD/kWh at the time of writing.

5.6.8. Factors used for setting up Turbine for Kayonza site

The Kayonza site requirements:

Wind Speed An annual mean wind speed of 5.5m/s.

Proximity to neighbors- More than 50 m100 m from the nearest neighbor property. This effect eliminates
many urban environments.

Location - Good clear run of open ground without trees or building to the south west these would maximize
the wind speed & minimize turbulence too.

79
Conclusion

The first task consisted of identifying five sites on which wind measuring equipment could be installed. Two
40m masts and three MTN telecommunication antennas were then fitted with wind measuring equipment in
November 2009. The available measurement period is from the start of November 2009to mid-November
2010. In addition to these datas, the measurement data recorded by DeutscheWelle at its Kigali radio
transmission station are obtained, at a height of 60m for the period end of September 2009 to mid-November
2010.Then the WAsP methodology was used to calculate, for three types of wind turbine with different
powers as well as the expected annual production. It appeared that only the Eastern province offered
sufficiently clear flat spaces to erect a 40 m measurement mast. The geographic variation of wind power
resource is more important with mean speed varying between 2.4 and 4.2 m/s, and the highest potential seems
to be located (Kayonza and Ngoma) in East province, where the two masts installed recorded the highest wind
speeds.

There are many complicated calculations and equations involved in understanding and constructing wind
turbine generators. The calculation method used is mainly suited for horizontal axis wind turbines and delivers
only a through estimate of the annual energy output for this type of wind turbines. Here in Rwanda the wind
map is yet established so our mean wind speed was calculated and varies between 2.3 m/s and 4.2 compared to
the Western Europe mean wind speeds which vary between 3.5 m/s and 7.5 m/s. On most wind maps the
mean wind speed is obtained at a height of 10 meter in an open landscape.

By changing in hub height and roughness affect the mean wind speed. If we move further away from ground
level, wind speed increases. And wind speed decreases if there are more obstacles in the neighborhood of the
wind turbine, for example buildings. The annual energy output is calculated for a given rotor diameter,
location, hub height and roughness length. For reference: the annual electricity consumption of a typical West-
European household is approximately 4,300 kWh/year, but varies for different countries where here in
Rwanda, it is seen that the annual electricity consumption is approximately 2,254kWh/year. The production
that obtained over the measurement period was calculated for the 3 types of turbine envisaged.

At Kayonza has the potential to build at least 2MW of wind generation systems by now, offering close to 30%
of Australias renewable energy target. (Greenhouse reduction).The wind generation in Kayonza is far more
efficient than other sites, because the wind is stronger and more consistent. Kayonza wind site has 40%
efficiency compared with approximately 32% elsewhere.At the best location (Mast 2-Kayonza) where the
annual mean wind speed is now 5.5m/s after design calculation, the rate use of 2MW turbine with hub height
of 100m is about 13% for an annual production of 1140kWh/kW/year. In comparison, the capacity factors in
Western Europe are about 25% for average onshore sites.

The Cost of electricity generated from this project that the consumer should pay is
64.35Frw/kWh==0.1USD/kWh with 18% VAT including. This price is cheaper than the electricity tariff
(excluding VAT 18%)for EWSA on the market which is 134Frw/kWh=0.21USD/kWh for ordinary
consumption.

80
References

[1]. Helmut P. Frank, Ole Rathmann, Niels G. Mortensen, Lars Landberg The Numerical Wind Atlas,
Ris National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark, ISBN8755028500; ISBN 87-550-2909-4 (internet),
ISSN 01062840,June 2001,pp10.
[2]. European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Wind Energy-The facts. Cost and Price, Volume2,
Brussels, 27 September 2001.
[3]. Aaron Barr, Introduction to wind turbine technology, GE Energy, March 24, 2011, Virginia
Mountain Section IEEE.
[4]. Boyle G. Renewable energy. Power for a sustainable future, 2ndedition. Oxford: Oxford
UniversityPress, 2004.
[5]. Stiebler M,Wind Energy Systems for Electric Power Generation. Green Energy and Technology.
Berlin: Springer- VerlagBerlin Heidelberg,2008.
[6]. Betz, A, I ntroduction to the Theory of Flow Machines. Translated from German by
Randall,D.G.Oxford:PergamonPress, 1966.
[7]. http://www.smallwindtips.com/2010/01/how-to-calculate-wind-power-output.
[8]. http://www.sustainableenergyworld.eu/calculate-windturbine-annual-energy.
[9]. www.ftexploring.com.
[10]. Paul Breeze, Power Generation Technologies, Elsevier, ISBN0750663138, 2005, pp156.
[11]. Mick Sagrillo, Apples and Oranges 2002: Choosing a Home-Sized Wind Generator, Home Power
Magazine #90, Aug. /Sept.2002.
[12]. Cook, N.J., The designer's guide to wind loading of building structures: Part1.Butterworths, 1985.
[13]. L.D.Danny Harvey, Energy and the New Reality, Volume 2, Publisher: Earth scan, UK, Chapter 3:
Wind Energy, ppt.
[14]. M.Ragheb, Wind shear, roughness classes and turbine energy production, June 2012: Eric White,
Wind Resource Assessment and Energy Production: From Pre-Construction to Post Construction,
publisher NREL, May 2008.
[15]. http://wind101.org.
[16]. Paul Gipe, Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small and Micro Wind Systems.
[17]. Altem Power limited, Wind Energy, ppt.
[18]. ROGER A. Mc EOWEN, Wind Farm Legal Issues, Kansas State University, Manhattan, ppt.
[19]. http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/pdfs/2012_dg_icoe_data.pdf.

81
CHAPTER VI.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1. Conclusion

This research work is done in the country of Rwanda and leads to study the climate of this country, in order
to establish whether this climate could be used to produce energy from air and to implement the first wind
turbine for serving the nation in future. The main attention of the research work is devoted to the assessment
of wind energy potential of Rwanda, with the aim of determination of the most suitable place for wind power
plants and give the estimation of wind energy resources of Rwanda with definite results for each region, the
more efficient sites than other, because the wind is stronger and more consistent.The Potential wind in
Rwanda has not been fully exploited for Power Generation. A study of wind speed distribution has been made
before. The results have been found for the average wind speeds and used in 2010; this wind system was put in
place to serve the Rwanda office of information ORINFOR on Mount Jali overlooking Kigali. The potential
wind power that Rwanda has in some areas may provide with possible solutions such as water pumping,
windmill and electricity generation. Based on the plans of EDPRS period, the main issues in the energy sector
revolve around access to energy, costs of supply, energy security and the institutional framework in the
management of energy. After this research, it appeared that only the Eastern province offered sufficiently clear
flat with mean speed of 5.5 m/s, and the highest potential located at Kayonza in East province with the
highest wind speeds to build at least 2MW of wind generation systems by now, Kayonza wind site has 40%
efficiency compared with approximately 32% elsewhere.At the best location (Mast 2-Kayonza) is near
Akanyaru river ,where the annual mean wind speed is now 5.5m/s after design calculation, the rate use of
2MW turbine with hub height of 100m is about 13% for an annual production of 1140kWh/kW/year. As the
name of research said, it is the Utilization of wind in Rwanda, so after calculation, the study was to see the
cost of electricity generated that the consumer should pay, it is found that it is
54.52Frw/kWh=0.082USD/kWh. This price is cheaper than the electricity tariff for EWSA on the market
which is 134 Rwf/Kwh for ordinary consumption.

6.2. Recommendation

Based on the results from the present work, recommendations are addressed to the government of Rwanda,
EWSA and end users of electricity.

To the government of Rwanda and EWSA it is recommended to build this first wind turbine in order to
produce electricity, the domestic energy demand has grown up rapidly due to population growth and the
increase in economic activities especially during the last eighteen years, a country like Rwanda, with such a
dense population and whose rural areas have almost no electric connection cannot generate revenue from
electricity to make an extension from it. This is the reason why, the public expenses in electricity should play
the role of the extension of the energy network, rather than subsiding electric consumption for those who
have already got access to it. This will cope the goal of the country of Rwanda which is 2020 vision through
the plans of EDPRS II period.

To the end users of electricity, care should be taken while using this energy because it is very cheap at the cost
of 64.35Frw/kWh with 18% VAT including, compared to that EWSA delivers on the market which is 134
Rwf/Kwh for ordinary consumption.

82
ANNEXES
Annex I

Table20: The power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of Vergnet
Data used in calculation, Air density=0.998kg/m3, Hub Height=55.0m
Stop wind speed=20.0m/s, Power control=Pitch, Ct curve=Standard Pitch

Wind speed Wind

(m/s) Power (kW) Ce speed(m/s) Ct curve
2 0 0.13 4 0.93
3 0 0.32 5 0.86
4 4.2 0.36 6 0.78
5 19.6 0.38 7 0.7
6 38.4 0.4 8 0.86
7 63.6 0.4 9 0.8
8 101.4 0.4 10 0.74
9 145.4 0.38 11 0.6
10 194 0.33 12 0.45
11 233.9 0.28 13 0.37
12 256.8 0.24 14 0.29
13 270.1 0.2 15 0.21
14 273.5 0.17 16 0.18
15 275 0.14 17 0.15
16 275 0.12 18 0.12
17 275 0.1 19 0.11
18 275 0.09 20 0.09
19 275
20 275

Figure75.Power curve Figure76: Ce and CT curve

300 1
0.9
250
0.8
200 0.7
Power [kW]

150 0.6
0.5 Ce
100 0.4
Ct curve
50 0.3
0.2
0 0.1
-50 0 10 20 30 0
Wind Speed [m/s] 1 4 7 10 13 16

83
Annex II

Table21:The power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of ENERCON
Data used in calculation, Air density=0.998kg/m3, Hub Height=70.5 m
Stop wind speed=25.0m/s, Power control=Pitch, Ct curve=Standard Pitch
Wind speed Power Ce Wind
(m/s) (kW) curve speed(m/s) Ct curve
1 0 0 1 0.1
2 0 0 2 0.1
3 3.8 0.11 3 0.1
4 23.3 0.28 4 0.8
5 58.9 0.36 5 0.82
6 114.2 0.4 6 0.84
7 190.5 0.42 7 0.79
8 310.6 0.46 8 0.72
9 444.7 0.46 9 0.66
10 605.4 0.46 10 0.59
11 805.3 0.46 11 0.53
12 933.5 0.41 12 0.46
13 1000 0.35 13 0.4
14 1000 0.28 14 0.33
15 1000 0.22 15 0.28
16 1000 0.19 16 0.23
17 1000 0.15 17 0.2
18 1000 0.13 18 0.16
19 1000 0.11 19 0.13
20 1000 0.09 20 0.12
21 1000 0.08 21 0.12
22 1000 0.07 22 0.11
23 1000 0.06 23 0.11
24 1000 0.05 24 0.11
25 1000 0.05

Figure77.Power curve Figure78: Ce and Ct curve

1200 0.9
0.8
1000
0.7
800 0.6
Power (kW)

0.5
600 0.4
Ce
400 0.3
0.2 Ct
200 0.1
0 0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22
-200 0 10 20 30
Wind Speed (m/s) Wind Speed (m/s)

84
Annex III

Table22: the power curve come from the nominal speed of the wind models of ENERCON
Data used in calculation, Air density=0.998kg/m3, Hub Height=98.3 m
Stop wind speed=25.0m/s, Power control=Pitch, CTcurve=Standard Pitch
Wind speed Power Wind
(m/s) (kW) Ce speed(m/s) Ct
1 0 0 1 0
2 3 0.12 2 0.79
3 25 0.29 3 0.79
4 82 0.4 4 0.78
5 174 0.43 5 0.79
6 321 0.46 6 0.79
7 532 0.48 7 0.79
8 815 0.49 8 0.78
9 1180 0.5 9 0.78
10 1612 0.53 10 0.78
11 1890 0.5 11 0.78
12 2000 0.44 12 0.49
13 2050 0.35 13 0.36
14 2050 0.28 14 0.28
15 2050 0.23 15 0.23
16 2050 0.19 16 0.19
17 2050 0.16 17 0.15
18 2050 0.13 18 0.13
19 2050 0.11 19 0.11
20 2050 0.1 20 0.1
21 2050 0.08 21 0.08
22 2050 0.07 22 0.07
23 2050 0.06 23 0.07
24 2050 0.06 24 0.06
25 2050 0.05 25 0.05

Figure79.Power curve Figure80: Ce and Ct curve

2500 0.9
0.8
2000 0.7
0.6
Power (kW)

1500 0.5
0.4
1000 Ce
0.3
500 0.2 Ct
0.1
0 0
0 10 20 30 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
Wind Speed (m/s) Wind Speed (m/s)

85
 Annex IV

Figure81.NRG #40C Anemometer

Specifications

Sensor type 3-cup anemometer

wind resource assessment
Applications meteorological studies
Description environmental monitoring
Sensor range 1 m/s to 96 m/s (2.2 mph to214 mph) (highest recorded)
Instrument compatibility all NRG loggers
Signal type low level AC sine wave, frequency linearly proportional to winds peed
m/s = (Hz x 0.765)+ 0.35
Transfer function
[miles per hour = (Hz x 1.711) +0.78]
within 0.1 m/s (0.2 mph) for the range 5m/s to 25 m/s (11 mph to 55
Output signal Accuracy
mph)
each anemometer individually calibrated, calibration reports provided
Calibration
via electronic download
Output signal range 0 Hz to 125 Hz (highest recorded)

86
 Annex V

Figure82.NRG #200PWind Direction Vane

Specifications
Sensor type continuous rotation potentiometric wind direction vane
wind resource assessment
Applications meteorological studies
Description environmental monitoring
Sensor range 360 mechanical, continuous rotation
Instrument compatibility all NRG loggers
Analog DC voltage from conductive plastic potentiometer, 10K
Signal type
ohms
Transfer function Output signal is a ratio metric voltage
Output signal
Accuracy potentiometer linearity within 1%
Dead band 8 Maximum,4 Typical
Output signal range 0 V to excitation voltage (excluding dead band)
Power requirements Supply voltage Regulated potentiometer excitation of 1 V to 15 V DC
Response
Threshold 1 m/s (2.2 miles per hour)
characteristics
onto a 13 mm(0.5 inch) diameter mast with cotter pin and set
Mounting
Installation screw
Tools required 0.25 inch nut driver, petroleum jelly, electrical tape
Environmental Operating temperature range -55 C to 60 C (-67 F to 140 F)

87