Optimal wind turbine selection methodology: A case-study for Búrfell, Iceland

The selection method applied in this paper identified an optimum theoretical wind turbine design for Búrfell which decreases the Levelized Cost of Energy by 10.4% when compared to the existing E-44 turbines, manually selected by a trial and error approach. The power curve of the theoretically optimal wind turbine was then used as a search parameter in a set of real turbines, to determine the optimum real turbine model for Búrfell. The use of this real turbine would decrease the Levelized Cost of Energy by 8% when compared to the existing Enercon E-44 turbines. The approach used in this study also produced better results than previous trial-and-error based studies of turbine selection at Búrfell reported in the literature.