Effects of different wind speed databases on the performance of a vertical axis micro wind turbine integrated with a typical residential house: a comparative simulation analysis for five Italian cities

Renewable energy technologies represent a promising option to cover the building sector energy needs. In particular, micro vertical axis wind turbines are emerging as a viable solution thanks to their capability in capturing wind from all direction and efficiently converting wind energy into electric power. In this study, the performance of a 2.2 kW commercial vertical axis micro wind turbine serving a typical residential building located into five different cities in Italy (Naples, Rome, Milan, Palermo, Alghero) have been analyzed by means of the TRaNsient SYStems simulation tool (TRNSYS) allowing to evaluate the effects of climatic conditions (including wind velocity). Simulations have been performed by considering three different sources of long-term wind speed data for each city: (i) the Typical Meteorological Year version 2 weather database (TMY2), (ii) the NASA LaRC POWER database, and (iii) the Open-Meteo database. The results highlighted that (i) the selected wind speed datasets significantly affect the assessment of wind turbine performance, as well as (ii) the proposed micro wind turbine can reduce the electric energy imported from the grid, the equivalent global CO2 emissions and the operating costs up to 43.46%, 43.50% and 95.62%, respectively.