IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i13p4759-d851062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urban Wind: An Alternative for Sustainable Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Cristina Gil-García

    (Faculty of Engineering, Distance University of Madrid (UDIMA), c/Coruña, km 38500, Collado Villalba, 28400 Madrid, Spain)

  • María Socorro García-Cascales

    (Department of Electronics, Technology of Computers and Projects, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, 30202 Cartagena, Spain)

  • Angel Molina-García

    (Department of Automatics, Electrical Engineering and Electronic Techn, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, 30202 Cartagena, Spain)

Abstract

The climate emergency has intensified the search for the generation of electricity from renewable energies in order to turn cities into sustainable cities. Small-scale wind power offers new opportunities for decentralized electricity production, avoiding dependence on the grid and transmission losses. Among viable locations within the urban environment, high-rise buildings are especially promising due to the elevated height and less turbulent wind conditions. They can also be integrated into the architecture of the building or as independent units in the urban environment. In this area, this work presents a methodology for determining the annual energy production of urban wind projects. The proposal is divided into four stages: location, wind and urban indicators, turbine selection and annual production estimation, and economic/environmental analysis. The evaluation of the solution is carried out for a Spanish case study. According to the results, more than 68,000 kWh/year can be generated with an investment recovery period of less than six years.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Cristina Gil-García & María Socorro García-Cascales & Angel Molina-García, 2022. "Urban Wind: An Alternative for Sustainable Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:13:p:4759-:d:851062
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4759/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4759/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Camilo Carrillo & José Cidrás & Eloy Díaz-Dorado & Andrés Felipe Obando-Montaño, 2014. "An Approach to Determine the Weibull Parameters for Wind Energy Analysis: The Case of Galicia (Spain)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, April.
    2. KC, Anup & Whale, Jonathan & Urmee, Tania, 2019. "Urban wind conditions and small wind turbines in the built environment: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 268-283.
    3. Škvorc, Petar & Kozmar, Hrvoje, 2021. "Wind energy harnessing on tall buildings in urban environments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    4. Saeidi, Davood & Sedaghat, Ahmad & Alamdari, Pourya & Alemrajabi, Ali Akbar, 2013. "Aerodynamic design and economical evaluation of site specific small vertical axis wind turbines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 765-775.
    5. Chong, W.T. & Naghavi, M.S. & Poh, S.C. & Mahlia, T.M.I. & Pan, K.C., 2011. "Techno-economic analysis of a wind–solar hybrid renewable energy system with rainwater collection feature for urban high-rise application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 4067-4077.
    6. Xu, Wenhao & Li, Ye & Li, Gaohua & Li, Shoutu & Zhang, Chen & Wang, Fuxin, 2021. "High-resolution numerical simulation of the performance of vertical axis wind turbines in urban area: Part II, array of vertical axis wind turbines between buildings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 25-39.
    7. Yang, An-Shik & Su, Ying-Ming & Wen, Chih-Yung & Juan, Yu-Hsuan & Wang, Wei-Siang & Cheng, Chiang-Ho, 2016. "Estimation of wind power generation in dense urban area," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 213-230.
    8. Xu, Wenhao & Li, Gaohua & Zheng, Xiaobo & Li, Ye & Li, Shoutu & Zhang, Chen & Wang, Fuxin, 2021. "High-resolution numerical simulation of the performance of vertical axis wind turbines in urban area: Part I, wind turbines on the side of single building," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 461-474.
    9. Ge, Mingwei & Zhang, Shuaibin & Meng, Hang & Ma, Hongliang, 2020. "Study on interaction between the wind-turbine wake and the urban district model by large eddy simulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 941-950.
    10. Wang, B. & Cot, L.D. & Adolphe, L. & Geoffroy, S. & Sun, S., 2017. "Cross indicator analysis between wind energy potential and urban morphology," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 989-1006.
    11. Kumar, Rakesh & Raahemifar, Kaamran & Fung, Alan S., 2018. "A critical review of vertical axis wind turbines for urban applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 281-291.
    12. Millward-Hopkins, J.T. & Tomlin, A.S. & Ma, L. & Ingham, D.B. & Pourkashanian, M., 2013. "Mapping the wind resource over UK cities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 202-211.
    13. Millward-Hopkins, J.T. & Tomlin, A.S. & Ma, L. & Ingham, D.B. & Pourkashanian, M., 2013. "Assessing the potential of urban wind energy in a major UK city using an analytical model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 701-710.
    14. Simões, Teresa & Estanqueiro, Ana, 2016. "A new methodology for urban wind resource assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 598-605.
    15. Matthew Gough & Mohamed Lotfi & Rui Castro & Amos Madhlopa & Azeem Khan & João P. S. Catalão, 2019. "Urban Wind Resource Assessment: A Case Study on Cape Town," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Balduzzi, Francesco & Bianchini, Alessandro & Carnevale, Ennio Antonio & Ferrari, Lorenzo & Magnani, Sandro, 2012. "Feasibility analysis of a Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine installation in the rooftop of a building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 921-929.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luca Salvadori & Annalisa Di Bernardino & Giorgio Querzoli & Simone Ferrari, 2021. "A Novel Automatic Method for the Urban Canyon Parametrization Needed by Turbulence Numerical Simulations for Wind Energy Potential Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Xu, Wenhao & Li, Gaohua & Zheng, Xiaobo & Li, Ye & Li, Shoutu & Zhang, Chen & Wang, Fuxin, 2021. "High-resolution numerical simulation of the performance of vertical axis wind turbines in urban area: Part I, wind turbines on the side of single building," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 461-474.
    3. Yi Song Liu & Tan Yigitcanlar & Mirko Guaralda & Kenan Degirmenci & Aaron Liu & Michael Kane, 2022. "Leveraging the Opportunities of Wind for Cities through Urban Planning and Design: A PRISMA Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-78, September.
    4. Daniel Micallef & Gerard Van Bussel, 2018. "A Review of Urban Wind Energy Research: Aerodynamics and Other Challenges," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-27, August.
    5. Xu, Wenhao & Li, Ye & Li, Gaohua & Li, Shoutu & Zhang, Chen & Wang, Fuxin, 2021. "High-resolution numerical simulation of the performance of vertical axis wind turbines in urban area: Part II, array of vertical axis wind turbines between buildings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 25-39.
    6. Li, Shoutu & Chen, Qin & Li, Ye & Pröbsting, Stefan & Yang, Congxin & Zheng, Xiaobo & Yang, Yannian & Zhu, Weijun & Shen, Wenzhong & Wu, Faming & Li, Deshun & Wang, Tongguang & Ke, Shitang, 2022. "Experimental investigation on noise characteristics of small scale vertical axis wind turbines in urban environments," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 970-982.
    7. Dar, Arslan Salim & Armengol Barcos, Guillem & Porté-Agel, Fernando, 2022. "An experimental investigation of a roof-mounted horizontal-axis wind turbine in an idealized urban environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 1049-1061.
    8. Juan, Yu-Hsuan & Rezaeiha, Abdolrahim & Montazeri, Hamid & Blocken, Bert & Wen, Chih-Yung & Yang, An-Shik, 2022. "CFD assessment of wind energy potential for generic high-rise buildings in close proximity: Impact of building arrangement and height," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    9. Kumar, Rakesh & Raahemifar, Kaamran & Fung, Alan S., 2018. "A critical review of vertical axis wind turbines for urban applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 281-291.
    10. KC, Anup & Whale, Jonathan & Urmee, Tania, 2019. "Urban wind conditions and small wind turbines in the built environment: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 268-283.
    11. Fan, Xiantao & Ge, Mingwei & Tan, Wei & Li, Qi, 2021. "Impacts of coexisting buildings and trees on the performance of rooftop wind turbines: An idealized numerical study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 164-180.
    12. Li, Gang & Li, Yidian & Li, Jia & Huang, Huilan & Huang, Liyan, 2023. "Research on dynamic characteristics of vertical axis wind turbine extended to the outside of buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    13. Zahra Sefidgar & Amir Ahmadi Joneidi & Ahmad Arabkoohsar, 2023. "A Comprehensive Review on Development and Applications of Cross-Flow Wind Turbines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-39, March.
    14. N. Aravindhan & M. P. Natarajan & S. Ponnuvel & P.K. Devan, 2023. "Recent developments and issues of small-scale wind turbines in urban residential buildings- A review," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(4), pages 1142-1169, June.
    15. Pagnini, Luisa C. & Burlando, Massimiliano & Repetto, Maria Pia, 2015. "Experimental power curve of small-size wind turbines in turbulent urban environment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 112-121.
    16. Zhang, Lijun & Li, Ye & Xu, Wenhao & Gao, Zhiteng & Fang, Long & Li, Rongfu & Ding, Boyin & Zhao, Bin & Leng, Jun & He, Fenglan, 2022. "Systematic analysis of performance and cost of two floating offshore wind turbines with significant interactions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    17. Acarer, Sercan & Uyulan, Çağlar & Karadeniz, Ziya Haktan, 2020. "Optimization of radial inflow wind turbines for urban wind energy harvesting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    18. Yoshihide Tominaga, 2023. "CFD Prediction for Wind Power Generation by a Small Vertical Axis Wind Turbine: A Case Study for a University Campus," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    19. Toja-Silva, Francisco & Lopez-Garcia, Oscar & Peralta, Carlos & Navarro, Jorge & Cruz, Ignacio, 2016. "An empirical–heuristic optimization of the building-roof geometry for urban wind energy exploitation on high-rise buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 769-794.
    20. Tran, Thomas T.D. & Smith, Amanda D., 2017. "fEvaluation of renewable energy technologies and their potential for technical integration and cost-effective use within the U.S. energy sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1372-1388.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:13:p:4759-:d:851062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.