Power, Energy and Cost Models of Multi-Rotor Wind Turbine

Power output of a wind turbine increases with its rotor swept area. This in turn results in noise pollution and excessive cost. Large rotor size with high turbine cost has diverted the attention of researchers from single-rotor to multi-rotor wind turbines. Keeping it in view, the focus of the present paper is to examine the suitability of multi-rotor turbines in terms of their energy yield and cost. Power, energy, and cost models as proposed for a three-rotor wind turbine may be extended to any number of rotors. Simulation results presented in this paper justify the suitability of the multi-rotor wind turbine. Such turbines appear to be effective in terms of higher energy yield with lower installation costs compared to single rotor turbines.