Technology for Wind Energy Production

In this article, the principle of energy conversion is described as well as ways to connect the windmills to the power grid. There are various potential applications of energy derived from wind, and one widely spread is a source of energy for the household.

Optimal Locations

Wind energy from the stanpoint of physics, is basically transformed solar energy. Due to the uneven sun radition on the Earth surface, different air pressures occur. Consequently, wind is a result of the tendency to equalize air pressure. Some parts of Earth are quite favorable when wind is concerned due to the constant blowing. These areas are the most cost-effective, thus optimal locations to build wind parks.When it comes to the choice of ideal location for wind installation, ocean coast and offshore are in the narrowest circle due to the constant winds. However, drawnacks are costs of installation and difficult energy transportation. When the conversion of kinetic energy into mechanical energy (rotation axis of generator), only difference of the wind speed at the entrance and at the exit. We can transform less than 60 % of the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy using wind turbines. This is of course the theoretical maximum, and what is reallistic is conversion between 35% and 45% wind energy.

Pros and Cons of Wind Energy

There are many advantages on the side of wind energy, and we will list following: high reliability of the plant, no fuel costs and no pollution. However,  high construction costs and the variability of wind speeds are the negative sides of wind energy.

Possible Applications of Windmills

One of the most widespread applications of the wind energy is in households. Especially small windmills up to 50 kW are highly applicable. They can be either an additional source of energy or a primary source of energy in remote areas (Off-grid system). When windmills are used as a primary source of energy, batteries (accumulators) are needed to store enrgy when some energy excess is produced. than spending. Large windmills are often installed in a wind park and through transformers connected to the power grid. Large industrial turbine can be operated at 750 KW, and up to 5 MW, and even more.

Basic Principle

Windmills are based on generators driven by a huge three-bladed turbines located at the top of tall towers. Windmills share same principle of work as fans, but in reserve direction. The principle of operation is as follows: wind power turbine starts to rotate the shaft connected to the generator. By turning rotor of generator, electrical energy is produced. It is also crucial to emphasize that these turbines work upwind, given that some other types of turbines might work downwind.

The last two decades have indeed been pivotal to the wind and made huge progress in the construction of turbines. Old turbines had a much smaller diameter than today's turbines. Just 20 years ago, turbines had a diameter of about 20 meters, compared with today's turbines which can have 100 or more meters in diameter.

Conclusion

The current development of wind energy is increasingly moving in the direction of building wind farms. Wind farm is a large group of windmills that are linked together in a huge wind power and efficiency of such a grouping windmill is growing every day. Despite high efficiency, a major problem remains that there is not a lot of good locations for wind farms since they require a large area where winds are relatively strong. For each possible location is needed before construction do extensive research of annual wind capacity to be able to calculate the amount of energy that can be produced at a given location. The amount of available energy is the main reason for using detailed research before the final investment in a particular wind farm. To obtain the amount of available energy investors must cooperate with meteorologists to obtain meteorological model sites that are later used to calculate the efficiency of a wind farm project possible and to ultimately obtain an answer to the question whether the project at all cost in a given location. To classify the suitability of individual sites for wind energy there are wind power class. In order to constuct wind farms must be in wind power class three or more. Small wind turbins usually belongs to  a wind power class of two, mainly used for household.