Exploring Wind Energy

What Makes Wind

Global Wind Patterns

History of Wind Energy

5000 BC
500-900 AD
1300 AD
1850s
Late 1880s
Sailboats used
First
First
Daniel Halladay and Thomas O. Perry
on the Nile
windmills horizontal-axis John Burnham build conducted 5,000
indicate the
developed in windmills in
Halladay Windmill; wind experiments;
power of wind
Persia
Europe
start US Wind
starts Aermotor
Engine Company
Company

1888
Charles F. Brush
used windmill to
generate electricity
in Cleveland, OH

Early 1900s
Windmills in CA
pumped saltwater
to evaporate ponds

1941
In VT, Grandpas
Knob turbine
supplies power to
town during WWII

1985
1993
2004
CA wind capacity
US WindPower developed Electricity from
exceeded 1,000 MW first commercial variable- wind generation
speed wind turbine
costs 3 to 4.5
cents per kWh

1979
First wind turbine
rated over 1 MW
began operating

2013
Wind power provided
over 17% of
renewable
energy used in US

Why Wind Energy?

o Clean, zero emissions
- NOx, SO2, CO, CO2
- Air quality, water quality
- Climate change

o Reduce fossil fuel dependence

- Energy independence
- Domestic energynational security

o Renewable
- No fuel-price volatility

Renewable Electric Capacity

Worldwide

The NEED Project 2015

US DOE, EERE 2013 Renewable Energy

Data Book

US Electricity Generation from

Non-Hydro Renewables
300

Geothermal
Waste
Wood

250

Solar Thermal
Solar
Photovoltaic
200
Wind

Million kilowatt-hours

150

100

50

0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013

Top Wind Power Producing States,

2013
Rank

State

Thousand
MWh

Rank

State

Thousand
MWh

1 Texas

35,937

14

Indiana

3,483

2 Iowa

15,571

15

Pennsylvania

3,339

3 California

13,230

16

South Dakota

2,688

4 Oklahoma

10,881

17

Idaho

2,545

5 Illinois

9,607

18

Michigan

2,524

6 Kansas

9,430

19

New Mexico

2,188

7 Minnesota

8,065

20

Nebraska

1,799

8 Oregon

7,452

21

Montana

1,661

9 Colorado

7,382

22

Wisconsin

1,562

10 Washington

7,008

23

West Virginia

1,391

11 North Dakota

5,530

24

Missouri

1,168

12 Wyoming

4,415

25

Ohio

1,137

13 New York

The NEED
3,548 Project 2015

Annual Installed U.S. Wind Power Capacity

AWEA U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report Year Ending 2013

Installed Wind Capacities

1999-Present

Total: 61,946 MW
As of 6/30/2014

1999
Total: 2,500 MW

Top Twenty States for

Wind Energy Potential

Rank

State

Texas

Potential
Installed
Capacity
(MW)

Rank

State

Potential
Installed
Capacity
(MW)

1,901,530

11

New Mexico

492,083

Kansas

952,371

12

Minnesota

489,271

Montana

944,004

13

Colorado

387,220

Nebraska

917,999

14

Missouri

274,355

South Dakota

882,412

15

Illinois

249,882

North Dakota

770,196

16

Indiana

148,228

Iowa

570,714

17

Wisconsin

103,757

Wyoming

552,073

18

Michigan

59,042

Oklahoma

516,822

19

Ohio

54,920

Alaska

494,703

20

California

34,110

10

U.S. Wind Resource Map

Transmission Challenges

China Leads the World in Wind Capacity

Total Installed Generating Capacity
(MW)
Top
Top 5
5 Countries
Countries for
for 2013
2013
New
New Installed
Installed Capacity
Capacity
1.
1. China
China
2.
2. Germany
Germany
3.
3. United
United Kingdom
Kingdom
4.
4. India
India
5.
5. Canada
Canada

Why Such Growth?

costs are low!

1979
40 cents/kWh

2000
4-6
cents/kWh

Increased Turbine Size

R&D Advances
Manufacturing
Improvements

2004
3-4.5 cents/kWh

2011
Less than 5
cents/kWh

Modern Wind Turbines

Turbines can be categorized into two classes
based on the orientation of the rotor.

The NEED Project 2014

Vertical-Axis Turbines
Advantages

Disadvantages

o Omni-directional
- accepts wind from
any direction
o Components can be
mounted at ground
level
- ease of service
- lighter weight
towers
o Can theoretically use
less materials to
capture the same

o Rotors generally near

ground where wind is poorer
o Centrifugal force stresses
blades
o Poor self-starting
capabilities
o Requires support at top of
turbine rotor
o Requires entire rotor to be
removed to replace
bearings
o Overall poor performance
and reliability

Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines

Small (<10 kW)

Intermediate(10-250 kW

oHomes
oFarms
oRemote
Applications
(e.g., water pumping,
Telecom sites, ice
making)

oVillage Power
oHybrid Systems
oDistributed Power

Large (250 kW-2+ MW)

oCentral Station Wind Farms

oDistributed Power
oSchools

Large Wind Turbines

Common UtilityScale Turbines
o
o
o
o

328 base to blade

Each blade is 112
200 tons total
Foundation 20
deep
o Rated at 1.5-2
megawatts
o Supply about 500
homes

Wind Turbine Components

How a Wind Turbine Operates

The NEED Project 2014

Installation of Wind Turbines

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Wind Turbine Perspective

Workers

Blade
112 long

Nacelle
56 tons

Tower
3 sections

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Wind Farms

Offshore Wind Farms

Residential Wind Systems and Net Metering

Potential Impacts and Issues

Property Values
Noise
Visual Impact
Land Use
Wildlife Impact

Properly siting a wind turbine can mitigate many of these

issues.

Impacts of Wind Power: Noise

The NEED Project 20

Wildlife
Impacts

For More Information

The NEED Project
www.need.org
info@need.org
1-800-875-5029

Energy Information Administration

U.S. Department of Energy
www.eia.gov

The NEED Project 2014

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