Benchmarking the darrieus wind turbine configurations through review and data envelopment analysis

The global demand for small and medium-scale wind energy production necessitates the development of vertical axis wind turbines for centralized and decentralized energy applications. The best performances of the Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines under specific locations and environmental conditions are obtained using performance improvements. However, several shortcomings and operational challenges restrict their on-ground implementations and scalability. One of the challenges in developing new turbine configurations with greater efficiency is the lack of benchmarking strategy for turbine configurations from past researchers. The present work utilizes a hybrid approach for the benchmark studies, consisting of qualitative and quantitative analysis of past research in the Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines. The relevant turbine configuration parameters and features are benchmarked by examining performance attributes and augmentation techniques. Bibliometric and Scientometric analysis of past research is employed to ensure the relevancy of data. A predefined sorting level is used to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative analysis is performed by capturing relevant information from the literature. In contrast, the quantitative analysis uses data envelopment analysis to identify potential configurations through models such as input-oriented Charnes Cooper Rhodes, input-oriented Banker Charnes Cooper, and output-oriented Banker Charnes Cooper models. The present study reveals that input-oriented Charnes Cooper Rhodes and input-oriented Banker Charnes Cooper models are more suitable for benchmark studies. A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis is performed, discussed, and used for benchmarking. Finally, this study concludes with highlights from the developed benchmarks. [Graphics] .