Wind, a sustainable energy resource for rural applications

Before the energy crisis of the 1970's, wind as an energy resource was not given much attention for development and application in the Philippines. The use of wind pumps in the past was abandoned as water pumping by conventional energy resources still proved cost efficient. To date, as the government is working to fully electrify the whole country, many areas have yet to receive dependable electricity even for lighting. The wind can potentially supply a significant portion of this energy requirement. In 1990's, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Bureau of Energy Development (BED) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) accumulated local wind data for application to the establishment of wind energy conversion systems. Later, in 2000, the US Department of Energy (DOE), though National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the USAID made comparative analysis of several sites having apparent wind energy development potential. Their data also showed many areas of good-to-excellent wind resource for utility-scale applications or excellent wind resource for village power applications in the country including the area of the North Wind Bangui Bay Project in Ilocos Norte. Following the concept of the decentralized systems advocated during the era of the 1970s when the first energy crisis occurred, household or village scale systems can be developed and used to sustain decent livelihood in rural Philippines. The development of wind energy conversion systems as a source of rotary mechanical energy is expected to find applications in water pumping for domestic, irrigation and livestock use. The current state of manufacturing technology of fabrication and operation of this kind of machine remains low in the country. For electricity generation, small and imported commercial units for stand-alone applications in residences are available but their costs are highly prohibitive. There is potentially a huge market for this kind of systems in the rural communities. Small-scale wind energy conversion applications may use the vertical axis meters such as the Varrieus and the Savonius rotors, and horizontal axis rotors such the Cretan, the Americans multi-bladed and the two- or three-bladed high-speed wind rotors. Modern approaches to the design and development of improved wind energy conversion systems may use computational fluid mechanics and microcomputer. Designers must face two important problems that relate to the characteristics of the wind, i.e. the prevalence of low speed rates and the occurrence of typhoons.