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The first thing to do in wind turbine blade design is to select tip speed ratio. Generally speaking, the speed ratio depends on the profile type used and the number of blades. Various speed ratios could be chosen for different types of profiles with different number of blades. Therefore, an optimization procedure should be applied to find the best ratio since this directly affects the energy generated from the turbine and in turn the investment made. This study presents a procedure to assess the optimum speed ratios for various profile types used in practice with various numbers of blades.

Wind energy applications and turbine installations at different scales have increased since the beginning of this century. As wind energy is an alternative clean energy source compared to the fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere, systems that convert wind energy to electricity have developed rapidly. Turkey’s domestic fossil fuel resources are extremely limited. In addition, Turkey’s geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of wind power. In this context, renewable energy resources appear to be one of the most efficient and effective solutions for sustainable energy development and environmental pollution prevention in Turkey. Among the renewable sources, Turkey has very high wind energy potential. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Turkey theoretically has 166 TWh a year of wind potential. However the installed wind power capacity is approximately 14% of total economical wind potential. In this study, Turkey’s installed electric power capacity and electric energy production are investigated and also the current situation of wind energy in Turkey is examined. The wind data used in this study were taken from Turkish Wind Energy Association (TUREB) for the year 2012. This paper reviews the assessment of wind energy in Turkey as of the end of July 2012 including wind energy applications.