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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Livestock Nutrient Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97979
Title: WIND/HYBRID OPERATION WITH BIODIESEL

Author
item Clark, Ray
item Eggleston, Eric

Submitted to: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/11/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A wind/hybrid electric generating system was tested with two-fuels by the USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Bushland, TX. The wind/hybrid system consisted of a 60 kW single diesel generator set, a 50 kW wind turbine, motor loads, a resistive load bank, custom controls, and a simulated village load. The diesel generator ran all the time and was unloaded by the contribution from the wind turbine. At high wind speeds and low village load, the wind turbine produced up to 150% of the load. Fuels tested were #2 diesel fuel and biodiesel which was produced from soybean oil. The performance measured over 1000 hours was almost identical with either fuel.

Technical Abstract: Wind/hybrid operations data were collected with two fuels at the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wind/Hybrid Research Laboratory, located in Bushland, TX. The hybrid system included a single diesel generator set, an AOC 15/50 wind turbine, motor loads, a resistive load bank, custom controls, and a simulated village load. The configuration was high penetration, no storage, without allowing diesel generator shut down. Dat show that both #2 diesel fuel and biodiesel (vegetable oil) adequately powered the electrical generating system and had equivalent fuel usage. The AOC wind turbine provided 45% of the power, but only 19% fuel savings was obtained with the engine running continuously.