Wind Energy

Winds are generated due to unequal heating of different rates of cooling of the earth’s land and water bodies. This differential heating causing the building convection currents that extends up to the stratosphere. It has been estimated that wind power can provide 72 TW of energy in wind power. The concept of using wind to power systems was certainly prevalent since ancient times, when boats and ships depended predominantly on the winds to take them ashore. The Babylonians, Afghans and ancient Europeans have used wind power. There are records of several early wind mill designs with vertical axes, vertical driveshaft with rectangular shaped blades, mills with six to twelve sails covered with reed or cloth. Such mills were often used for pastoral purposed like drawing water, grinding corn and so on. In the USA windmills were first used to draw water and this actually helped he railroads, as trains were then powered by steam.

Technology in harnessing wind energy has come a long way since then and have gained importance because of the possibility of converting them into electricity (principle utility). Totally windmills produced 94.1 Gigawatts of electric power in 2007 data. Wind energy supplies 19% of electricity demand in Denmark, 9% of electric demands in Spain and Portugal and 6% in Germany. The renewed interest in windmills has much to do with need for renewable energy that would also be environmentally friendly.

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The age of the modern windmill technology began with Danish manufacturers making small windmills with a capacity of producing 20-30kW of electricity. Currently, thousands of windmills produce over 73000 m watts of electricity in Europe. Wind energy accounted for 65% of electricity in Europe. The top five countries using wind energy are Germany, USA, Spain, India and China. Although the are less number of windmill installation in the USA compared to Germany, the USA’s capacity to generate electricity through this technology is greater (due to more favorable wind conditions), making it the largest producer of wind power. Mexico, Canada, S. Africa and Brazil are some of the other countries where a rapid growth in windmill installations has been seen. While all of this accounts for large-scale electricity generation, with huge mills being connected to grids, small mills powering isolated areas are becoming very popular in the USA and UK. Each of these can produce between 1-10 KW of power. A study done in the UK has shown that small windmills can generate 1.5 Tera Watts of energy (0.4% of electricity consumption in the UK). The study also indicates that if 10% of households made the shift, it would save 0.6 millions of carbon-di-oxide emission in a year.

Despite the merits of wind power as a renewable power, only 1% of the world’s power needs are being met by wind technology. This is because wind energy is undependable for uninterrupted power supply. The technology rests heavily on the hope of strong winds blowing to turn the blades, which in turn would turn the turbines. Wind power varies from place to place and at different times in the same place and also occurs in short bursts, making it difficult to assess the possible capacity of an installation. A sampling study of wind frequency shows that half the wind energy arrived in 15% of operating time. Due to this inconsistency, there is always a difference between theoretical maximum productivity and actual productivity (Capacity factor). Capacity factors are usually in the ranges of 20-40% that often remain typical for a location. A study by Stanford University recommends cross connection of grids from various wind power sources to improve capacities to 33%-47% and also better consistency.

Positioning or placement site of turbines is critical for economic viability of wind power, with land acquisition costs, availability of transmission lines, costs of construction and operation of wind farms being other considerations. For these reasons, offshore wind installations are being found to be more productive and cost effective.

The inconsistency sparks the need for more consistent storage technologies; therefore wind-power systems have induction generators along with capacitor banks. Transmission of wind power can be tricky, as turbines powered by wind cannot handle transmission grid disturbances particularly faults. For this reason, care is taken to optimize the transmission process for safety and good performance.

The high capital outlay related to land acquisition and equipment installation, however, the operational expenses are marginal as there is no fuel consumption involved. The life of an installation is also over 20 years. The return on investment is also attractive (a little over a year), but cost of wind power will depend on marginal costs incurred and the capacities generated. The price of power is regulated in many countries, making it difficult for windmill operators to realize profits in the near-term and also compete effectively with other sources of power. Apart from a few studies suggesting damage to migratory birds, no major environmental impacts are seen with wind energy generation.

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