Optimal Location of Microturbines in Low-rise Building Blocks for Sustainable Wind Energy Utilization (Case Study: Qazvin City)

Small wind turbines are developed to help harvest clean wind energy within the built environment and to avoid energy losses and negative environmental effects associated with wind farms. A common issue is that the wind speed in the urban environment, especially at low altitude, does not necessarily meet the minimum speed required by the microturbines. Since the production power of the turbines has a direct relationship with the speed of the wind, it is necessary to place the turbine in a place with maximum wind speed. The purpose of this article is to identify the optimal location of the microturbine between and on the roof of buildings, so that by using the maximum available wind speed, the microturbine can show optimal performance. By comparing the wind speed at various points in 6-, 12- and 18-meters wide corridors between buildings in Qazvin City with relatively good wind potential, as well as three points on the middle axis of the rooftop, CFD simulation and 3D profiles show that it is possible to locate areas in corridors between low-rise buildings where the wind speed gets accelerated by up to 43%, which creates an opportunity for on-site use of renewable wind energy.