WIND POWER

Wind Turbines

Wind Energy is related to Solar Energy due to the source of wind, which is uneven solar heating of the earth which cause air movement.

WIND TURBINES

To harness the energy created by wind, Wind Turbines are used.  Wind turbines are categorized into two types: traditional windmills (referred to as Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines, or HAWT‘s, and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines, or VAWT’s.

Wind turbines convert the wind’s motion energy (kinetic) into electric energy.  Like a fan whose blade movement occurs without power, wind pushes the turbine blade while creating a low pressure void on the back side of the blade.  This kinetic action causes dray and lift, causing the blades to rotate.  The blades are fixed to a rotating cylinder and, like the transmission of a car, is connected to a series of shafts that increase the generator rotation speed to over 1,000 RPM’s.  The rotating generator produces electricity.  Wind turbines are typically configured with braking and control devices to regulate rotation speed.

Wind Turbines are categorized into large, Industrial-sized units and small Residential units.  Wind Turbines can be considered to be, not only “clean” source of power, they can also be considered “efficient” due to their energy production being exponential to the wind speed.  When wind speed doubles, energy production increases eight times.

INDUSTRIAL WIND TURBINES

Some Wind Power groups state that Wind Farms require up to 50 acres if land to generate 1 MW of power output.  A typical 120 Megawatt plant covering 200 acres would require over 60,000 acres to generate the same power output using Industrial Wind Turbines.  This, plus the concerns of noise, ecological damage and other factors, has created controversy regarding the dep0loyment of Wind Turbines for public grid power production purposes.

RESIDENTIAL WIND TURBINES

Residential Grade Wind Turbines can be considered as a viable supplemental source electric power, in the home setting.  When installed properly, Wind Turbines have an excellent safety record.

In most cases your home is connected to the power grid.  Should you install a Residential Wind Turbine and the turbine generates more electric power than your home uses your utility company ma buy back the excess power (Net Metering or a Feed-In-Tariff).  The system contains an inverter that converts the excess electricity to your utility’s standard, creating backward energy flow through your meter so that the company will credit the homeowner for their contribution to the power grid.  Check with your utility company to receive exact details related to your specific situation.

Residential Wind Turbines may be the least expensive power option for a home not connected to the utility (an off-grid site).  This source of power is economically competitive in rural settings with other energy sources like Solar Power.

At $3,000-$5,000 installed, Residential Wind Turbines are considered a reasonable investment.  Return on investment (ROI) depends on the average wind speed and local electricity costs.  Most cost-payback scenarios are between 5-15 years.

The Wind Turbine facility in the North Sea and along the Baltic coastline, is an incredible site…1000′s of turning turbines.  Wind energy is making an impact on worldwide electrical production in many places like Denmark 20%, Spain 9%, Germany 7%, of their electrical needs are met by wind).  However, the technology requires wind, and it comes with the additional problem of aesthetics and the integration into existing electricity grids (see Reference A-6).