The paper presents a new concept of a vertical axis wind turbine. The idea is focused on small wind turbines, and therefore, the dominating quality is safety. Another important necessary feature is efficient operation at small winds. This implies an application of the drag driven solution such as the Savonius rotor. The presented concept is aimed at reducing the rotor size and the cost of implementation. A new wind turbine solution, its efficiency, and functionality are described. The results of numerical simulations being a proof of the concept are reported. The simulations were followed by wind tunnel tests. Finally several prototypes were built and investigated for a longer period of time. The new wind turbine concept has undergone various testing and implementation efforts, making this idea matured, well proven and documented. A new feature, namely, the wind turbine size reduction at strong winds, or in other words, an increase in the wind turbine size at low winds is the reason why it is difficult to compare this turbine with other turbines on the market. The power output depends not only on the turbine efficiency but also on its varying size.

The aim of this study is to investigate changes in the wind power plant energy production parameters under the conditions of sudden wind changes and voltage drop. To achieve these goals, a simulation of operation of wind power plants was performed. Twelve wind turbines with variable rotational speed equipped with a Fuhrländer FL 2500/104 asynchronous double-fed induction generator (DFIG) were used, each with an installed capacity of 2.5 MW. A general scheme of a wind power plant has been developed using a modular-trunk power distribution scheme. The system consists of wind power modules and a central substation, which allows total power to be supplied to the power system at a voltage of 35 kV. The central substation uses two high voltage switchgears. Four modules were used, each of them consisting of three wind turbines, with a power of 7.5 MW. The simulation of the wind turbines was performed in the MATLAB^® Simulink^® software environment. The mode of response of the turbines to a change in wind speed, a voltage drop in the 35 kV voltage system, and a one-phase short circuit to the ground in the system of 10.5 kV voltage was explored. The results show that a sudden voltage drop and the appearance of short circuits influence the wind power plant (WPP) operation in a different way independent of regulation mode. The power generation from WPP will be limited when voltage drop occurred for both AC and Voltage regulation mode and during short circuits while WPP is set on AC regulation mode.

Wind power plants are considered as an ecologically-clean source of energy. However, manufacturing processes cannot be treated that way. Manufacturing processes consume huge amounts of electrical and thermal energy and significant amount of materials, e.g., steel, polymers, oils, and lubricants. All of the above could be potentially harmful for environment. There are not many works and publications regarding life-cycle analysis of wind power plants. This study’s objective is to use LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) to the manufacturing and utilization of a specific drag force-driven wind turbine. The discussed innovative wind turbine is of the type that assures safety for prosumer application. Drag force-driven turbines become more heavy than other types of lift driven turbines, but at the same time, their characteristic provides opportunity to use easily recyclable materials instead of materials like plastics or composites. The wider look through LCA tools, may change the perspective of view at that type of wind turbines. Analyzed turbine has capacity of 15 kW and is located in Poland. LCA was carried out using Eco-indicator 99 method in eleven impact categories. Among all of the turbine components, the highest negative impact was noted in the case of the tower. The wind turbine under consideration is characterized by high recycling potential. According to the presented research, recycling provides around 30% reduction of the environmental impact.

Savonius rotors are large and heavy because they use drag force for propulsion. This leads to a larger investment in comparison to horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) rotors using lift forces. A simple construction of the Savonius rotor is preferred to reduce the production effort. Therefore, it is proposed here to use single-segment rotors of high elongation. Nevertheless, this rotor type must be compared with a multi-segment rotor to prove that the simplification does not deteriorate the effectiveness. The number of segments affects the aerodynamic performance of the rotor, however, the results shown in the literature are inconsistent. The paper presents a new observation that the relation between the effectiveness of single- and multi-segment rotors depends on the wind velocity. A single-segment rotor becomes significantly more effective than a four-segment rotor at low wind speeds. At high wind speeds, the effectiveness of both rotors becomes similar.

The process of conversion of wind kinetic energy into electricity in innovative wind power plant emits practically no harmful substances into the environment. However, the production stage of its components requires a lot of energy and materials. The biggest problem during production planning process of an innovative wind power plant is selection of materials and technologies and, consequently, the waste generated at this stage. Therefore, the aim of this publication was to conduct an environmental analysis of the life cycle of elements of a wind turbine by means of life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The object of the research was a wind power plant divided into five sets of components (tower, turbine structure, rotors, generators, and instrumentation), made mainly of steel and small amounts of polymer materials. Eco-indicator 99 was used as an analytical procedure. The impact of the subjects of analysis on human health, ecosystem quality and resources was assessed. Among the analyzed components, the highest level of negative impact on the environment was characterized by the life cycle of the wind turbine tower. The application of recycling processes is reducing the negative impact on the environment in the perspective of the entire life cycle of all studied elements of the wind power plant construction.

In order to achieve the European Union’s climate and energy goals, investments are required, mainly in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and infrastructure. Buildings are responsible for almost half of total energy consumption, and nearly 80% of them are energy and ecologically inefficient. The policy of European countries is increasingly more focused on facilities with the highest potential in the areas of energy and matter saving and the possibly circular economy. The aim of the work was to assess the environmental loads occurring in the life cycle of an existing retail and service building. The analysis was performed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. By using the IMPACT 2002+ model, it has become possible to assess the impact of the life cycle of the studied facility on human health, environmental quality, climate change and raw material resources. The highest level of negative consequences in the above-mentioned areas was recorded for the life cycle with the disposal in the form of landfill storage. The operational stage was the stage in the life cycle that caused the most harmful impacts on the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the ecological and energy consumption of resources, for example, by selecting the size and cubature of the facility for its function, maintaining good technical condition, introducing improvements in the usage processes or implementing solutions aimed at reducing media consumption. As a result of the conducted analyses, it can be noticed that in the future, the reduction in energy consumption in the operation of buildings will be of fundamental importance.