Wind power

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Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm, at the entrance to the River Mersey in northwest England.

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Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind
turbines to produce electrical power,windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water
pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships.
Large wind farms consist of hundreds of individual wind turbines which are connected to
the electric power transmission network. For new constructions, onshore wind is an inexpensive
source of electricity, competitive with or in many places cheaper than fossil fuel plants. [1][2]Small
onshore wind farms provide electricity to isolated locations. Utility companies increasingly buy
surplus electricity produced by small domestic wind turbines.[3] Offshore wind is steadier and
stronger than on land, and offshore farms have less visual impact, but construction and
maintenance costs are considerably higher.
Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean,
produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little land.[4] The effects on the
environment are generally less problematic than those from other power sources. As of
2011, Denmark is generating more than a quarter of its electricity from wind and 83 countries
around the world are using wind power to supply the electricity grid. [5] In 2010 wind energy
production was over 2.5% of total worldwide electricity usage, and growing rapidly at more than
25% per annum.
Wind power is very consistent from year to year but has significant variation over shorter time
scales. As the proportion of windpower in a region increases, a need to upgrade the grid, and a
lowered ability to supplant conventional production can occur.[6][7] Power management techniques
such as having excess capacity storage, geographically distributed turbines, dispatchable
backing sources, storage such aspumped-storage hydroelectricity, exporting and importing
power to neighboring areas or reducing demand when wind production is low, can greatly
mitigate these problems.[8] In addition, weather forecasting permits the electricity network to be
readied for the predictable variations in production that occur.[9][10] Wind power can be considered
a topic in applied eolics.[11]

Wind Energy

Modern wind turbines tower above one of their ancestors-an old windmill used for pumping water. Credit: Warren Gretz

We have been harnessing the wind's energy for hundreds of years. From old Holland to farms in the United States, windmills
have been used for pumping water or grinding grain. Today, the windmill's modern equivalent - a wind turbine - can use the
wind's energy to generate electricity.
Wind turbines, like windmills, are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 100 feet (30 meters) or more aboveground,
they can take advantage of the faster and less turbulent wind. Turbines catch the wind's energy with their propeller-like blades.
Usually, two or three blades are mounted on a shaft to form a rotor.

A blade acts much like an airplane wing. When the wind blows, a pocket of low-pressure air forms on the downwind side of the
blade. The low-pressure air pocket then pulls the blade toward it, causing the rotor to turn. This is called lift. The force of the lift
is actually much stronger than the wind's force against the front side of the blade, which is called drag. The combination of lift
and drag causes the rotor to spin like a propeller, and the turning shaft spins a generator to make electricity.
Wind turbines can be used as stand-alone applications, or they can be connected to a utility power grid or even combined with
a photovoltaic (solar cell) system. For utility-scale sources of wind energy, a large number of wind turbines are usually built
close together to form awind plant. Several electricity providers today use wind plants to supply power to their customers.
Stand-alone wind turbines are typically used for water pumping or communications. However, homeowners, farmers, and
ranchers in windy areas can also use wind turbines as a way to cut their electric bills.
Small wind systems also have potential as distributed energy resources. Distributed energy resources refer to a variety of small,
modular power-generating technologies that can be combined to improve the operation of the electricity delivery system.

Wind Power

Wind turbines on a cloudy day

Photograph by Medford Taylor

Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats the
surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the void. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind
blows, people will harness it to power their lives.
Ancient mariners used sails to capture the wind and explore the world. Farmers once used windmills to grind their grains and pump water. Today,
more and more people are using wind turbines to wring electricity from the breeze. Over the past decade, wind turbine use has increased at more
than 25 percent a year. Still, it only provides a small fraction of the world's energy.
Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a 20-story building and have three 200-foot-long (60-meter-long) blades. These
contraptions look like giant airplane propellers on a stick. The wind spins the blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator that produces
electricity. Other turbines work the same way, but the turbine is on a vertical axis and the blades look like a giant egg beater.
The biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity to supply about 600 U.S. homes. Wind farms have tens and sometimes hundreds of these
turbines lined up together in particularly windy spots, like along a ridge. Smaller turbines erected in a backyard can produce enough electricity for
a single home or small business.

Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero
once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to
spur wind-energy development.
Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise the machines make. The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and
bats, but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do. The wind is also variable: If it's not blowing, there's no electricity
generated.
Nevertheless, the wind energy industry is booming. Globally, generation more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2006. At the end of last year,
global capacity was more than 70,000 megawatts. In the energy-hungry United States, a single megawatt is enough electricity to power about 250
homes. Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark. Development is also
fast growing in France and China.
Industry experts predict that if this pace of growth continues, by 2050 the answer to one third of the world's electricity needs will be found blowing
in the wind.

How a wind turbine works

Wind power involves converting wind energy into electricity by using wind turbines. A wind turbine is composed of 3 propellerslike blades called a rotor.The rotor is attached to a tall tower. The tower looks like a very tall pole. On average wind
towers are about 20m high. The reason why the tower is so tall is because winds are stronger higher from the ground.

Vertical and horizontal axis turbines used for residential electricity generation
Buy wind turbines online in our secure store!

Wind comes from atmospheric changes; changes in temperature and pressuremakes the air move around the surface of the
earth; all of which is triggered by the sun. So in a way, wind energy is another form of solar power. A wind turbine captures the
wind to produce energy. The wind makes the rotor spin; as the rotor spins, the movement of the blades spinning gives power to
a generator which makes energy. The motion of the wind turbine turning is called
into electricity.

The conversion of wind into electricity

kinetic energy, this power is converted

Wind power is converted into electricity by magnets moving past stationary coils of wire known as the

stator. As the magnets

pass the stator, AC electricity is produced. It is then converted into DC electricity which can be used to charge batteries which
store the electrical energy or can also be fed into a grid interactive inverter for feeding power into the electricity grid.

The benefits of wind power

Wind power is a clean energy source that can be relied on for the long-term future. A wind turbine creates reliable, costeffective, pollution free energy. It is affordable, clean and sustainable. One wind turbine can be sufficient to generate energy for
a household. Because wind is a source of energy which is non-polluting and renewable, wind turbines create power without
using fossil fuels, without producing greenhouse gases or radioactive or toxic waste. Wind power reduces global warming.

How are wind turbines installed

Wind turbines can be installed on properties, on boats, or caravans. Getting a wind turbine depends entirely on the amount of
wind generated in your area. The first thing you need to do is to find out the average speed in your area. While using freely
available data gives an indication, the most reliable method is a reading taken at your site. Once a terribly expensive exercise,
this can now be done economically using the Power Predictor.

NEW! Power Predictor

Before you spend a bundle on a wind turbine; play it safeand test the wind resources at
your location first.

The economical Power Predictor anemometer measures solar and wind energy at your
site. It comes with a data logger and access to online analysis software that compares
the most popular wind turbines and solar panels on the market!

The average wind speed needs to be above 5m/s (18km per hour) to make installing a wind turbine worthwhile. Ideal locations
for wind turbines are in the country, on farms, or on the coast: basically anywhere away from built-up areas. The more buildings
around the wind turbine, the less wind there is. Energy Matters can do full installations of hybrid, wind and solar energy
systems. Setting up a wind turbine is a big job that takes time but it can be a very cost effective way of creating power as long
as the average wind speed is high enough.

In certain cases, installing a wind turbine can be even better than installing solar panels because it can create a bigger mass of
the energy required. Learn more about wind energy vs. solar power or read our guide - Is Wind Power Right For You?

Buy wind turbines online in our secure store! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate in contacting our friendly team!

Wind Energy Facts

Enjoy a range of interesting wind energy facts which help explain how we use wind power to create electricity and other useful forms of
energy.
Learn how long humans have been using windmills, how big wind turbines can be, how much of the worlds electricity is generated from
wind power and much more.

Wind power involves turning energy from the wind into other forms of useful energy.

Wind power can be harnessed in a number of different ways. For example, windmills create mechanical energy, sails move boats and wind turbines generate
electricity.

Windmills have been around for a long time, they were used in Persia (Iran) as far back as 200 B.C.

Wind energy is clean and renewable.

Large groups of wind turbines are called wind farms.

Around 80 different countries use wind power to generate electricity commercially (as of 2009).

In 1997 wind power generated only 0.1% of the worlds electricity, this increased to 1.5% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2010.

In some countries such as Denmark and Portugal, wind power contributes around 20% of the total electricity production.

The large blades of wind turbines can interfere with some radar systems used by weather stations or air traffic controls, at times being mistaken for planes or
various weather patterns.

Smaller turbines are sometimes used to charge batteries or as backup power in caravans and sailing ships.

Modern wind turbines usually have 3 blades which can reach speeds at the tip of over 320 kph (200 mph).

The tips of large wind turbines can reach heights up to 200 m (650ft).

Wind turbines can even be installed offshore on floating structures, sending the electricity generated back to land with the help of undersea cables.