What is Wind Energy? Complete Guide

What is Wind Energy?

The process of generating electricity using wind or naturally occurring air flows in the earth’s atmosphere is called Wind Energy. In the world of today, electricity is generated by capturing kinetic energy from the wind into the advanced wind turbines.

There are mainly three different type of wind energy:

  1. Utility-scale wind:Wind turbines varying from 100 kilowatts to multiple megawatts in which electricity is supplied to the power grid by the electricity or system operator and distributed to the end-user.
  2. Offshore Wind: Wind turbines, normally installed on the continental shelf, in large bodies of water. Offshore wind turbines are significantly bigger and can produce more power than land turbines.
  3. Distributed Wind: Small wind turbines of size below 100 kilowatts which are used to provide electricity directly for small scale use, which includes homes, small business, or even farm and they are not connected to any grid,

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How Wind Turbines Work?

The wind blowing past a wind turbine captures and rotates the wind, converting it into mechanical energy. The rotation turns the inner shaft connected to a transmission mechanism, which increases the rotating speed by a factor of 100. That is how a generator spins which results in electricity production.  It turns an energy generator.

The tubular steel towers usually stand at less than 80 meters (262 feet ) high to support a hub, with three fitted blades and a nacelle that contains the shaft, generator, gearbox and control. Wind measurements are being taken to rotate the turbine, face the most powerful wind and refine the angle or “pitch,” for power generation.

Modern turbines may produce usable electricity more than 90 % of the time over the course of a year. If, for instance, the wind at the turbine has a cutting speed of six to nine mph, the turbine starts producing electricity. Electricity production increases as wind speeds rise.

Capacity factor is another common indicator for the output of wind energy. This measures the electricity produced by a wind turbine concerning its maximum potential for a given time period (typically a year).

For example, if the two megawatts wind turbines have a projected potential output of 17,520-megawatt hours in one year, this would be 2 times 8,760 hours per year. Nevertheless, only 7,884-megawatt hours may be produced during the year because winds aren’t always blowing hard enough that the turbine could produce maximum electricity.

 Note – this does not only mean that 45% of the time the turbine generates electricity. The strengths of modern wind farms frequently reach 40 per cent, similar to some types of coal or natural gas power stations.

Wind Turbines Vs WindMills:

There are often similar uses of the words “windmill” and “wind turbines.” For centuries people have used windmills to grind grain, pump water and do other things. Mechanical energy, but not electricity, is provided by windmills. On the other hand,  Modern wind turbines, indeed, are highly-developed machines with over 8,000 components that capture and turn wind energy into electricity.

Wind Farm:

An area where a large number of wind turbines are built altogether is called a wind farm or wind project. It works as a single power generation unit and supplies electricity to the grid.

How Do You Get The Wind Energy?

In the wind farm, turbines are connected to the power grid so that they produce electricity from the wind farm. Power operators or electric utilities can supply the electricity in areas where needed when wind energy is on the main grid.      

Smaller transmission lines which are known as distribution lines, capture electricity generated in the wind power plant and carry it to larger transmission lines, where the energy can be transmitted from long distances to the areas of need. Eventually, smaller distribution lines supply your area, home or business directly with electricity.

Wrapping It Up:

Having said that we come to the end of our guide. Hope that you liked this small but informative guide about wind energy. Make sure that you visit www.semprius.com to get the best wind turbines for home.