WIND ENERGY

WIND POWER

• What is it?
• How does it work?
• History
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
 WHAT IS WIND ENERGY?
• Wind Energy is the energy contained in the
force of the winds blowing across the
earth’s surface.

• Wind is created when air that has been

warmed over sun-heated land rises ,
leaving a vacuum in the space it once
occupied.

• Cooler surrounding air then

rushes in to fill the vacuum.
This movement of rushing air is
what we know as wind.
• Winds are influenced by the ground surface at altitudes up
to 100 meters.

• Wind is slowed by the surface roughness and obstacles.

•A typical 600 kW wind turbine has a rotor

diameter of 43-44 meters, i.e. a rotor area of
some 1,500 square meters.
• The rotor area determines how much energy
a wind turbine is able to harvest from wind.
WINDMILL DESIGN
• A Windmill captures
wind energy and then
uses a generator to
convert it to electrical
energy.
• The design of a windmill
is an integral part of
how efficient it will be.
• When designing a
windmill, one must
decide on the size of the
turbine, and the size of
the generator.
LARGE TURBINES:

• Able to deliver electricity at lower cost

than smaller turbines, because
foundation costs, planning costs, etc. are
independent of size.

• Well-suited for offshore wind plants.

• In areas where it is difficult to find sites,

one large turbine on a tall tower uses the
wind extremely efficiently.
SMALL TURBINES:
 Local electrical grids may not be able to handle the large
electrical output from a large turbine, so smaller turbines may be
more suitable.
 High costs for foundations for large turbines may not be
economical in some areas.
 Landscape considerations
 Sizes and Applications

Small (10 kW)

• Homes Intermediate
• Farms (10-250 kW)
• Remote Application • Village Power
• Hybrid Systems
• Distributed
Power

Large (660 kW - 2+MW)

• Central Station Wind
Farms
• Distributed Power
• Community Wind
 Theory of Wind
Generalized Global Wind Patterns
• Air leaves the HP region at
the ground and is replaced
from above – descending
air is warmed adiabatically
and becomes dry & clear.

• Air arrives at LP region,

rises, and is cooled
adiabatically – can result in
clouds/precipitation.
 Wind power and energy
• Power output from
wind turbines: A
c3
Power     A 
2
C
• Energy production
from wind turbines:
Energy  Power  Time
Where:
P = Power [W]
r = Density [kg/m3]
c = Velocity [m/s]
A = Area [m2]
h = Efficiency [ - ]
Wind velocity, power and energy
1000

900

800

700
c3
Power     A 
Time [h/year]

600

500
2
400

300

200

100

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Energy  Power Time Velocity [m/s]

600

500
Energy [kWh/m ]

400
2

300

200

100

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Velocity [m/s]
 HISTORY OF WIND
Early Middle Ages
The first practical windmills were built in Sistan, a region between
Iran and Afghanistan, since at least the 9th century, or possibly
earlier in the 7th century. These were vertical-axle windmills, which
had long vertical driveshafts with rectangle shaped blades. Made of
six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these
windmills were used to grind corn and pump water, and were used
in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries . Windmills were in
widespread use across the Middle East and Central Asia, and later
spread to China and India from there.
Late Middle Ages
By the 14th century Dutch windmills were in
use to drain areas of the Rhine River delta .
18th century
Windmills were used to pump water for
salt making on the island of Bermuda,
and on Cape Cod during the American
revolution.
19th century
In Denmark by 1900 there were about
2500 windmills for mechanical loads such
as pumps and mills, producing an
estimated combined peak power of
about 30 MW.
20th century
Development in the 20th century might be
usefully divided into the periods:
1900-1973, when widespread use of
individual wind generators competed
against fossil fuel plants and centrally-
A 19th-century American knock-off of the
generated electricity .1973-onward, when Persian panemone that probably made a
the oil price crisis spurred investigation of wonderful clothes dryer.
non-petroleum energy sources.
•The first offshore wind farm is in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts.
•The world’s largest wind farm is the Horse Hollow Wind
Energy Center, in Texas, with 421 wind turbines that have
the capability to provide electricity for 220,000 homes per
year.
 Advantages
• Wind energy is renewable.
• Wind Energy is widely distributed and cheap
source of electricity generation.
• It also reducing toxic gas emissions.
• Wind Energy may soon be the cheapest way
to produce energy on a large scale.
• Wind Energy is also said to diminish the
greenhouse effect.
• Wind energy generates no pollution.
• Wind Energy is also a more permanent type of
energy. The wind will exist till the time the sun
exists, which is roughly another four billion
years.
 Disadvantages
• Though wind power is non-polluting, the turbines may create
a lot of noise, which indirectly contributes to noise pollution.

• Wind can never be predicted . Since wind energy will require

knowledge of the weather and wind conditions on long term
basis, it may be a bit impractical. Therefore, in areas where a
large amount of wind energy is needed, one cannot depend
completely on wind.

• Wind Energy is non- dispatchable . Wind energy depends

upon the wind in an area and therefore is a variable source of
energy. The amount of wind supplied to a place and the
amount of energy produced from it will depend on various
factors like wind speeds and the turbine characteristics.
THANK YOU