Exploring Wind Energy

What Makes
Wind

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Global Wind
Patterns

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

1888 Early 1900s 1941 1979

Charles F. Brush Windmills in CA In VT, Grandpa’s First wind turbine
used windmill to generate pumped saltwater Knob turbine rated over 1 MW
electricity to evaporate ponds supplies power to began operating
in Cleveland, OH town during WWII

1985 1993 2004 2013

CA wind capacity US WindPower developed Electricity from Wind power provided
exceeded 1,000 MW first commercial variable-speed wind wind generation over 17% of renewable
turbine costs 3 to 4.5 cents per kWh energy used in US

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Why Wind Energy?
• Clean, zero emissions
• NOx, SO2, CO, CO2
• Air quality, water quality
• Climate change
• Reduce fossil fuel dependence
• Energy independence
• Domestic energy—national
security
• Renewable
• No fuel-price volatility
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Renewable Electric Capacity Worldwide

US DOE, EERE 2013 Renewable

Energy Data Book
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US Electricity Generation from Non-Hydro Renewables
300

Geothermal

250
Waste
Wood
Solar Thermal
Solar Photovoltaic
200
Wind
Million kilowatt-hours

150

100

50

0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012 2013
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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 3,548
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Annual Installed U.S. Wind Power Capacity

AWEA U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report Year Ending 2013
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Installed Wind Capacities |1999-Present
1999 Total: 2,500 MW As of 6/30/2014 Total: 61,946 MW

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Top Twenty States for Wind Energy Potential
Potential Potential
Rank State Installed Rank State Installed
Capacity (MW) Capacity (MW)
1 Texas 1,901,530 11 New Mexico 492,083
2 Kansas 952,371 12 Minnesota 489,271
3 Montana 944,004 13 Colorado 387,220
4 Nebraska 917,999 14 Missouri 274,355
5 South Dakota 882,412 15 Illinois 249,882
6 North Dakota 770,196 16 Indiana 148,228
7 Iowa 570,714 17 Wisconsin 103,757
8 Wyoming 552,073 18 Michigan 59,042
9 Oklahoma 516,822 19 Ohio 54,920
10 Alaska 494,703 20 California 34,110

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U.S. Wind
Resource
Map

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Transmissio
n
Challenges

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China Leads the World in Wind Capacity
Total Installed Generating Capacity (MW)
Top
Top 55 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

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Why Such Growth? …costs are low!
• Increased Turbine Size
• R&D Advances
• Manufacturing Improvements

1979 2000 2004 2011

40 cents/kWh 4-6 cents/kWh 3-4.5 cents/kWh Less than 5
cents/kWh

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

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Vertical-Axis Turbines
Advantages Disadvantages
• Omni-directional • Rotors generally near ground
• accepts wind from any direction where wind is poorer
• Components can be mounted • Centrifugal force stresses blades
at ground level • Poor self-starting capabilities
• ease of service • Requires support at top of
• lighter weight towers turbine rotor
• Can theoretically use less • Requires entire rotor to be
materials to capture the same removed to replace bearings
amount of wind • Overall poor performance and
reliability
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Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines
Small (<10 kW) Intermediate(10-250 kW)
• Homes • Village Power
• Farms • Hybrid Systems
• Remote Applications (e.g., • Distributed Power
water pumping, Telecom
sites, ice making)

Large (250 kW-2+ MW)

• Central Station Wind Farms
• Distributed Power
• Schools

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Large Wind Turbines
Common Utility-Scale Turbines
• 328’ base to blade
• Each blade is 112’
• 200 tons total
• Foundation 20’ deep
• Rated at 1.5-2 megawatts
• Supply about 500 homes

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Wind Turbine Components
How a Wind Turbine Operates
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

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 Offshore Wind Farms

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Residential
Wind Systems
and Net
Metering

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Potential Impacts and Issues
• Property Values
• Noise
• Visual Impact
• Land Use
• Wildlife Impact

Properly siting a wind turbine can mitigate many of these issues.

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Impacts of
Wind Power:
Noise
Wildlife
Impacts

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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

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