10 Mind-blowing Facts About Wind Energy

An Ever Growing Market

The market of renewable energies has been attracting more and more attention. As technology improves and it becomes cheaper, safer and more profitable to invest in wind energy, more companies and governments are turning their heads towards this drive of the energy transition.

As Europes biggest gas supplier Russia is being cut out of the picture due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Europe is investing more in sustainable energy sources that will help the continent build its independence. The declining cost of wind and a growing sensitivity towards environmental issues also help push Europes governments to invest in wind. Germany and the UK are leading the this energy transition shift. Europe now has 236 GW of wind capacity and is expected to install 116 GW of new wind farms until 2026.

Less than half of sub-Saharan Africa has access to electricity, causing a strain on economic growth and social inclusion. Wind energy is quick to install, scale and is a catalyst for large scale foreign investment and industrialisation of the continent. The technology will help reach Sustainable Development Goal 7 and insure everyone have access to affordable and clean energy. Global Wind Energy Councils director of market intelligence Karin Ohlenforst believes that Wind energy offers the opportunity of a scalable, cost-competitive and sustainable source of energy to increase electricity capacity while providing new local jobs and investments.

The Union Of Wind And Sun In Wind And Photovoltaic Energy

Seeing the wind and the sun working together is already a reality in renewables. This hybridisation between wind and photovoltaic energy consists of covering the tower of a wind turbine with flexible organic panels. The energy that it generates makes this system even more sustainable, since it is designed to cover the internal electricity consumption of the wind turbine.

Solar Plants Are Built To Last

Typically when a solar panel is placed, the power agreement you sign lasts between 20 and 25 years. However, the panels dont magically stop working when that date is reached. In most cases, solar panels will be fully functional for twice as long.

Although, by that time, you may want to think about upgrading to newer panels for better efficiency.

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Wind Power Was The First Of The Second Generation Renewables To Become Cheaper Than Coal And As A Result Its Popularity Has Absolutely Exploded In The Last 15 Years British Columbia Has Many Excellent Locations For Wind Farms But Wind Power Expansion Has Been Slow Compared To Some Other Provinces And Some Other Countries

Number of times over that wind power could supply all the world’s electricity

2 Megawatts

Generating capacity of today’s average wind turbine

1,200

Number of 2 MW wind turbines needed to replace 1,000 MW of coal or gas fired power

42%

of all electricity in Denmark provided by wind power

486 Gigawatts

Worth of wind farms in operation around the world by 2016

2,700%

Increase in total wind capacity between 2000 and 2016

Last Updated:

Humans have harnessed wind power for thousands of years, using sails to propel ships and windmills to pump water. It has, however, only been in the past 40 years that wind has been viewed as a viable way to generate electricity on a grand scale.

The appeal of deriving power from the wind is obvious: the wind is free, inexhaustible, and always blowing somewhere. The modern wind turbine, pioneered by American and Danish companies following the oil shocks of the 1970s, employed the tried and true angled propeller used by aircraft, to catch the wind, spin, and then use the rotational motion to drive an electric generator. Although other designs exist, the propeller-based Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine is the one most commonly associated with wind power. Its primacy has been cemented in recent years by its continued technological development.

Use Of Modern Technology

Wind turbines are considered by some to be incredibly attractive. The newest models dont look like the clunky, rustic windmills of old times. Instead, they are white, slick, and modern looking. That way, you dont have to worry about them becoming an eyesore on your land.

The latest advances in technology have transformed preliminary wind turbine designs into extremely efficient energy harvesters. Turbines are available in a wide range of sizes for farms, factories, and large private residences, extending the market with many different types of businesses and by individuals for use at home on larger plots and other plots of land.

Portable wind turbines are also available and can power small devices on the go. The latest models will generate even more electricity, require less maintenance, and run more quietly and safely.

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The History Of The First Wind Turbine

1888 saw the construction of what is believed to have been the first automatic electricity-generating wind turbine. It had a diameter of 17 metres, and consisted of 144 blades made from cedar wood. Despite its size, the generator produced only 12 kW and operated for 20 years charging batteries.

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State Ends Up With Surplus Money Will Send $850 To Each Resident

The Maine legislature is about to send 850,000 Mainers checks for $850 after the state found itself awash in federal spending and a robust tax year. The money should hit bank accounts in June, and it does not end there. Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill that also provides $20 million to pay for two years of free community college for class of 2020-2023 high school grads in Maine. And older and low-income Mainers will get property tax relief.

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The Wind Energy Industry Creates Jobs

The wind energy industry has boomed since wind turbines became commercially viable. As a result of this, the industry has created jobs all over the world. Jobs now exist for the manufacturing, installation, maintenance of wind turbines, and there are even jobs in wind energy consulting.

According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency , the renewable energy industry employed over 10 million people worldwide in 2017. Of these jobs, 1.15 million were in the wind power industry. China leads the way in providing over 500,000 of these jobs. Germany is in second place with around 150,000 jobs, and the United States is a close third with around 100,000 wind energy jobs.

Offshore Wind Resources Are In Deep Waters And Float

The majority of offshore wind resources are in deep waters. This is due to the fact that winds further into the sea are stronger, and there is no visual landscape pollution. The water is so deep that conventional large steel pipe foundations or lattice structures fixed to the seabed are not practical. That is why, many wind projects are developing a variety of different foundations suited to the unique conditions of each site. A number of companies are investing in innovative floating offshore wind platforms. There are multiple types, such as spar-buoy, tension leg platforms, semi-submerse and barge. Around 80% of projects use semi-subversive platforms.

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Solar Power Will Get Stronger As More Use It

It is a well-known fact that pollution can block the suns rays from reaching solar panels. And much of the worlds pollution comes from burning fossil fuels. Therefore, if we all use solar panels and other renewable energy sources to get rid of high polluting fossil fuels, there will be more sunlight that reaches the panels. Thus, we will have even more solar power at our fingertips.

Interesting Facts About Wind Power

With the world running out of natural resources and global warming at its peak, its extremely essential for us to realise the importance of renewable resources. Like solar panels and water turbines, wind power can also be easily generated into electricity and used as an alternate power resource. Knew about it already? Here are ten more things about wind power that you might not have been aware about.

10- Human beings have used and utilized wind power for hundreds and thousand decades. Earlier in time, windmills utilized wind to pump water and crush grains. But in the modern world now, the wind turbines help create electricity.

9- Modern wind mills are very much complex and complicated machines than the old priari windmills. A modern wind turbine has almost 8000 different parts and components.

8- These modern wind mills are massive. Each blade of a wind mill is more than 190 feet long and the tower itself is almost 295 feet tall, about the height of the statue of liberty.

7- Higher breeze speeds mean greater power, and wind turbines are getting taller to arrive at higher statures over the ground level where its considerably windier. See the Energy Departments breeze asset guides to discover normal breeze speeds in your state or old neighborhood and become familiar with promising circumstances for taller breeze turbines in a report from the Energy Departments National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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How Do Wind Turbines Work

Wind is created by the unequal heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical power that runs a generator to produce clean electricity. Today’s turbines are versatile modular sources of electricity. Their blades are aerodynamically designed to capture the maximum energy from the wind. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft connected to a generator or the generator’s rotor, which makes electricity.

The World’s Largest Wind Farms Are

– Gansu is the largest wind farm in the world, with an expected installed capacity of 20 GW. It has 7,000 wind turbines installed in the provinces of Jiuquan, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Xinjiang, Jiangsu and Shandong in Gansu, China.

– The largest offshore wind farm is the Walney Extension, in the middle of the Irish Sea, with a capacity of 659 megawatts, enough to provide energy to 590,000 households.

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Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Wind Power

Wind turbines are soaring to record sizes. The average rotor diameter of turbines installed in 2018 grew to 379 feet, up 141 percent since 19981999. | NREL

Brush up on your knowledge of wind! This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the “Top Things You Didn’t Know About Energy” series.

10. Human civilizations have harnessed wind power for thousands of years. Early forms of windmills used wind to crush grain or pump water. Now, modern wind turbines use the wind to create electricity. Learn how a wind turbine works.

9. Todays wind turbines are much more complicated machines than the traditional prairie windmill. A wind turbine has as many as 8,000 different components.

8. Wind turbines are big. Wind turbine blades average 200 feet long, and turbine towers average over 300 feet tallabout the height of the Statue of Liberty. The average nameplate capacity of turbines is also increasing, meaning they have more powerful generators. The average capacity of utility-scale wind turbines installed in 2021 was 3 megawatts , up 9% from the previous year.

6. Many of the components of wind turbines installed in the United States are manufactured here, with more than 500 wind-related manufacturing facilities across the country. , The U.S. wind industry currently employs about 120,000 people, including 23,600 in manufacturing and 43,400 in construction

Its A Technology Boost

Turning wind into electricity was a huge step in research and development, and engineers continued to work on renewable energy to make these power plants even more productive. Now a wind scale of wind turbines is available: small ones, big ones, types that you can put in good use in your backyard too.

Investing in that technology helps our planet to be greener.

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Spaniards Fight With Tomatoes

Well, at least once a year, they do. Every August, one of the worlds wackiest festivals La Tomatina turns the small Valencian town of Buñol into the biggest food fight playground.

The festival is incredibly popular, attracting nearly 40,000 people every year. While the fight lasts only about an hour, more than 150,000 tomatoes are used, turning the streets of Buñol into a scarlet Venice.

The story says that the festivals origin was in 1945 when a street fight broke out between a rowdy local and a group of young people. Next year they repeated the battle , and a tradition was born.

Wind Turbine Pros And Cons

One of the biggest pros of wind power from turbines is that the wind energy generated from a wind turbine is a clean energy source and does not harm the environment at any cost.

It is a great option to be used as a domestic energy source for electricity in different households and commercial locations. But with good things come specific cons as well. The initial cost for installing wind turbines is really quite expensive, especially if you want to connect it with your power lines. Another con that often gets ignored about wind power generated from turbines is that they can negatively harm the wildlife.

If we talk again about the pros, wind turbine energy is sustainable, cost-effective, free fuel, and has low operating costs. All these pros also help in contributing to local and rural communities. As it works with the supply of wind, there is no expense of fuel cost. However, all these wind turbines are only available in remote areas as they are a bit noisy. In fact, many people do not like the way they look, and thus they do not choose to install wind turbines in their wind farms.

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We Can Never Run Out Of Solar Energy

Unlike fossil fuels, we can never run out of solar energy. In fact, it is largely thanks to the oil crisis of 1970 that many governments put resources into researching renewable energy sources. That is until our sun fizzles out. But when that happens, humanity will no longer be able to live on Earth. So its really not a problem.

Private Wind Turbines Could Become Popular In The Future

In the United States some homeowners, ranchers and small businesses can have small wind turbines installed on their property to generate wind power for the premises. While this is not common in Australia and not suitable for cities and highly populated areas, its the kind of renewable energy development we could see in the future.

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Wind Energy Information By State

Choose a state to find state-specific data and information about wind energy, including maps, capacity, ordinances, and more.

____Adjusted for obstacles and wind shading

____Completed adjusted wind speeds

____Adjusted energy estimation for losses

5. Other Requirements

____Reviewed interconnection and examined service panel

____Checked zoning and permitting requirements

____Checked for Federal Aviation Administration/aviation impact

____Checked environmental requirements , observed potential issues

____Prepared U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service materials for review

6. Report

____Recommended turbine options and tower options with estimated net annual energy production for each scenario

____Recommended prime location with secondary options

____Completed checklist and report information

____Included educational section.

Wind Energy Site Assessment

1. Motivation

Customer goals: __Energy __Independence __Marketing __Save World __Other _______

Electricity usage: ____Low ____High ____Avg kWh/mo ____Peak demand ____kVAR

Electricity rate : ____Tariff ____Base $/kWh ____

Electric cost adjustment/Fuel cost adjustment $/kWh ____$/kW-mo ____$/kVAR ____Fixed costs ____Taxes ____ Other

2. Site Description

Displacement height: ______Mature Canopy Height ______Displacement Height

Obstacles: List here:

Access: ___________________________________

Soils: ______Class ______Strength ______Water Depth___________________Description

Potential Hazards: ________________

Existing utilities:

Wind maps:

How Turbines Harvest Maximum Energy

If you’ve ever stood beneath a large wind turbine, you’ll know that they areabsolutely gigantic and mounted on incredibly high towers. The longerthe rotor blades, the more energy they can capture from the wind. Thegiant blades multiply the wind’s force likea wheel and axle, so a gentle breeze is often enough to make the blades turn around. Even so, typical wind turbines stand idle about 14 percent of thetime, and most of the time they don’t generate maximum power.This is not a drawback, however, but a deliberate feature of their designthat allows them to work very efficiently in ever-changing winds.Think of it like this. Cars don’t drive around at top speedall the time: a car’s engine and gearbox power the wheels as quickly or slowly as we needto go according to the speed of the traffic. Wind turbines are analogous:like cars, they’re designed to work efficiently at a range of different speeds.

A typical wind turbine nacelle is 85 meters off thegroundthat’s like 50 tall adults standing on one another’s shoulders! There’sa good reason for this. If you’ve ever stood on a hill that’s thetallest point for miles around, you’ll know that wind travelsmuch faster when it’s clear of the buildings, trees, hills, and otherobstructions at ground level. So if you put a turbine’s rotorblades high in the air, they capture considerably more wind energythan they would lower down. And capturing energy is what wind turbinesare all about.

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Wind Energy Can Be Used To Power Vehicles

In the course of your research, you must have run across wind-powered vehicles. If you havent, then know that there are vehicles powered chiefly by the wind. A typical example is the widely documented wind-powered car that completed a 3100-mile journey through Australia.

Although it wasnt totally powered by wind, its a perfect example of how vehicles can be moved by alternative sources of energy. Precisely, the car used a combination of batteries, wind, and kite. For the entire journey, the car used an estimated $10 to $15 of energy, which underlines the cost-effective nature of wind energy.