Potentiality of small wind turbines along highway in Malaysia

Vehicle-induced turbulent airflow by the traffic in the highways is one of the sources of wind energy which can be harvested to supply the power to the highway lighting and telecommunication signaling. This work focuses on the assessment of potentiality of implementing small scale wind turbines along the highways in Malaysia. The study was started by conducting wind speed measurements adjacent to the highway at Lebuh SPA (Sungai Udang - Paya Rumput - Ayer Keroh Highway), a major highway in Malacca state, Malaysia. Three positional parameters have been investigated for suitable placement of the wind turbines. They are: the lateral distances from the road shoulder, the heights from the ground, and the orientation of the wind turbines relatives to the road. The former two parameters were set at 0.5 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m for each position; while the latter was varied at perpendicular, 45°, and parallel to the road. The measurements were conducted using hot-wire anemometers. The results showed that the optimum positions for the wind turbine is at 1.0 m from the lateral distance and the height above the ground, respectively, and the optimum orientation is found to be 45° from the road at which the horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) can be directed. The large size vehicles such as lorries and busses were observed to produce higher wind speed as compared to the smaller ones. The results were further verified by using numerical simulation work through ANSYS Fluent.