Wind Turbine in Waterloo

A research wind turbine was erected on the west side of the city of Waterloo in the Region of Waterloo in the same geographical area as the UW Wind Lab to research wind energy, blade aerodynamics, aeroacoustics and the amount of energy that can be harnessed from the wind speeds in Waterloo. It is a commercial turbine, manufactured in Ontario by Wenvor Technologies and sponsored in part by Ontario Centres of Excellence.

The turbine has a tilt-down tower which allows us, as researchers, to create experiments, design instruments and monitoring equipment in the lab, lower the turbine and install the experiments while the turbine is on the ground. For example, if you want to see a data acquisition and control system designed in our group have a look at the Grid connected page or Youtube videos of blade performance.

The wind turbine is connected to the electrical grid and is monitored and controlled at the University. The turbine is heavily instrumented with data logging of many aspects of the turbine performance. Wind speed, turbine output, blade angle, stall level, yaw, etc... Research is underway on optimum performance, blade design, aeroacoustic measurements, more innovative blade design and ways to increase the performance of the turbine.

The turbine is fully instrumented and all data is logged.