Investigating the Feasibility and Soil- Structure Integrity of Onshore Wind Turbine Systems in Kuwait By Badriya Lafi Almutairi Doctoral Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University October 2017 © Badriya Almutairi 2017 i To the memory of my Mother, the greatest woman who I still miss every day (1946-2016) ii iii Abstract Wind energy technologies are considered to be among the most promising types of renewable energy sources, which have since attracted broad considerations through recent years due to the soaring oil prices and the growing concerns over climate change and energy security. In Kuwait, rapid industrialisation, population growth and increasing water desalination are resulting in high energy demand growth, increasing the concern of oil diminishing as a main source of energy and the climate change caused by CO2 emissions from fossil fuel based energy. These demands and challenges compelled governments to embark on a diversification strategy to meet growing energy demand and support continued economic growth. Kuwait looked for alternative forms of energy by assessing potential renewable energy resources, including wind and sun. Kuwait is attempting to use and invest in renewable energy due to the fluctuating price of oil, diminishing reserves, the rapid increase in population, the high consumption of electricity and the environment protection. In this research, wind energy will be investigated as an attractive source of energy in Kuwait. This is because of its availability and low cost, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and advanced technology compared to other forms of renewable energy. An assessment of potential renewable energy resources and technologies will be investigated for power generation and its potential economic returns, energy supply impact, and environmental benefits for Kuwait, Shagaya area will be the study area for different reasons such as high wind speeds, land availability, distance to the next grid connection, and the selection of adequate wind turbine generator (WTG) technology based on the intermediate technical, economic and environmental impact. The thesis is divided into three essential parts; 1) exploring the true cost of producing electricity from wind power to find the lowest cost and highest reliability design of a wind energy farm using a cost benefit analysis (Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE); 2) to assess the potential environmental impact and resources used throughout a product’s life-cycle by conducting an environmental analysis (Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); 3) modelling the wind turbine structure and foundation stability using 3D Finite Element Analysis (FEA). iv Different data is used in this thesis such as wind data, wind turbine types selection suitable for Kuwait, soil and foundation properties. The results show the total Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions for a turbine with steel pile foundations is greater than emissions from a turbine with concrete foundations by 18 %. The analysis also shows the average CO2 emissions from electricity generated using crude oil is 645 gCO2/kWh and the carbon footprint per functional unit for a wind turbine ranges between 6.6 g/kWh to 10 g/kWh, an increase of 98%, thus providing cost and environmental benefits by creating a wind farm in Kuwait. Using a cost-benefit analysis, it was also found that the electricity produced from wind energy in Kuwait would cost ($0.0583/£0.04/17.6fils) per kWh, which is less than the cost of electricity currently being produced using conventional methods at ($0.073/22 fils/£0.06 ) per kW, i.e. a reduction of 20%. A general finite element model of a typical 2MW-Gamesa G90 wind turbine sitting on piled foundation and sandy soil was modelled. The soil-structure-interaction was considered, using the elasto-plastic Mohr-Coulomb (MC) constitutive model. The results confirmed that the structural stability of the entire system (soil, pile, tower, turbine loads and wind loads) indicated that there were no failure points and the system structure is stable including the components of the structure. Key words Feasibility, Numerical modelling, Finite Element Methods (FEM), Renewable energy, Wind energy, GCC countries, Kuwait, Onshore wind turbine, Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT), CO2 emission, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE), Soil-structure interaction. v Acknowledgments The completion of this research would have been impossible without the support of many people, some of whom I wish to express my thanks to here. First, I would like to thank my supervisor Ashraf El-Hamalawi for his patience, availability and encouragement which have kept me going throughout this project. I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to Dr. Saleh Altwaijri, Dr.Ayman Al-Qattan, Dr. Wassel AL-Bodour, Naja Alnuumani, Eng. Bedour Alsharaah, Aziza Almusailem, Eng. Fatma Alhamlan, Eng. Wadha Alqurainy, Eng. Munira Almutairi and Eng. Ashraf Sakr. Finally, a special thanks to my family: my father for his unwavering belief in me, and for being an inspiration, my brothers (Meteb and Bader), my sisters (Maha, Huda, Awatef, Shikha and Aisha), my nephews pilot Khaled Almutairi and Bader Almutairi, my beautiful niece Rahaf and all my nieces and nephews for their encouragement and continuous support throughout my studies. I would especially like to thank my lovely sisters (Amsha and May) who are always being there for me and come all the way from Kuwait to encourage and support me. As part of my family, I would like to thank my best friend Ruqaiya Alnuumani for here love and support. The road has been bumpy and never easy, but your companionship, love, and support have constantly given me strength. vi vii Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xii List of Tables ............................................................................................................... xv 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Aim and Objectives ............................................................................. 9 2 Literature Review ................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Types of Renewable Energy ............................................................................. 11 2.2.1 Solar Energy .............................................................................................. 12 2.2.2 Wind Energy .............................................................................................. 14 2.2.3 Wave Energy ............................................................................................. 17 2.2.4 Biomass Energy ......................................................................................... 19 2.3 Solar and Wind Energy in the Middle East ....................................................... 22 2.3.1 Solar Energy .............................................................................................. 23 2.3.2 Wind Energy .............................................................................................. 26 2.4 Wind Turbine Categorisation ........................................................................... 33 2.4.1 Offshore and Onshore Wind Turbines ...................................................... 33 2.4.2 Classification of Wind Turbines ................................................................ 37 2.5 Wind Turbine Selection .................................................................................... 41 2.6 Analysis of Wind Turbines ................................................................................ 43 2.6.1 Numerical Modelling ................................................................................ 43 2.6.2 Experimental Modelling ............................................................................ 46 2.6.3 Field Modelling ......................................................................................... 48 2.7 Economic and Financial Analysis ..................................................................... 49 2.8 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ............................................................................. 52 viii 2.9 Summary .......................................................................................................... 56 3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 60 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 60 3.2 Economic and Financial Analysis ....................................................................