Technoeconomic Analysis of Ducted Wind Turbines and Their Slow Acceptance on the Market

Abstract EN

The encasing of wind turbines in a duct to enhance performance is not new.

A ducted wind turbine produces more power than an unducted wind turbine of the same parameters.

A number of approaches in studying the effects of diffusers and other wind concentrating devices have been done and have resulted in a number of prototypes produced but without any commercialization.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the failure of commercialization of ducted turbines.

A technical and economic analysis of a ducted turbine is also presented.

The work shows that traditional economic methods used to evaluate ducted wind turbines are erroneous; they do not account for external effects of power generation and individual and community benefits derived from this technology.

Failure to penetrate the market is due to negative publicity as a result of the erroneous evaluation undertaken and lack of appropriate engineering techniques to protect ducted wind energy systems in extreme wind conditions.