Introduction:

Wind energy has grown rapidly in the last 20 years and sites to install full-scale wind farms are starting to run out. Small-scale wind turbines represent a feasible alternative, particularly in forested areas of low wind potential and high turbulence.

Objective:

to present a review of the aerodynamic profiles for small-scale wind turbines, to determine their possible application in wooded areas.

Materials and methods:

a review of small-scale horizontal axis wind turbines is carried out using the Web of Science and Scopus databases mainly on the journals: Energy, Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, and Renewable Energy. A classification of three large groups is defined for the aerodynamic profiles: very frequent use, medium frequency use and low frequency use.

Results:

the profiles of very frequent use are the SG6043, S809 and NACA0012, the first of them is the one having the best aerodynamic performance. Despite this, other profiles such as the SH3055 are widely used in the small-scale wind turbine field.

Conclusions:

a suitable profile for a small-scale wind turbine for forested areas should be designed for stall regulation and have low sensitivity against changes in surface roughness. The profile with the greatest potential, according to the literature for this application, is the SG6043, being 110 % y 85 % more efficient than NACA0012 and S809, respectively, for a Re of 2 x 105; however, more research is required on issues such as aerodynamic performance of the profiles at high levels of turbulence.

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