ASSEMBLY AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A WIND TURBINE IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Wind turbine technology has been growing rapidly in the past decades for varieties of application especially for agriculture and other remote uses. For the purpose of energy research, a 300W wind turbine was assembled and its performance was evaluated.The wind turbine was installed on a fabricated and adjustable tower of maximum height of 150 m. The turbine as characterized at 11m/s, 1.25 meter wind wheel diameter was installed with an instrumentation system for appropriate measurement and control. The wind turbine was tested and found suitable for generation of electricity. An experiment was carried out to determine the effect of the turbine height on the performance of the wind turbine using varying heights of 100m, 110m, 120m, 130m, 140m, and 150m. The output voltage and the current at different wind speeds were recorded by the ammeter and voltmeter respectively. The results revealed that the current and voltage increased with an increase in the turbine height. The turbine is therefore recommended for multiplication for domestic and agricultural uses.