 Welcome!  Please get your interactive notebook and read the board!

Harnessing the Wind – we’re #1!  Current largest wind farm: Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center Current largest wind farm: Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center  421 wind turbines  735 megawatts.  47,000 acres of land in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas.

Texas’ next “cash crop”?  500,000 Texas homes currently, expanding 10 times in next decade  In 2012, wind generated 10,407 megawatts  (1 megawatt = 500 homes)  13% of state’s electricity

Interactive notebook!  Title: Wind Power  Date: May 1

How does it work?

 Area swept by blades can be size of 747 plane  Tips of blades can be going 200mph  Height – 240ft (taller than Statue of Liberty)  Nacelle – size of greyhound bus

How does it work? World’s largest German turbine: (394-feet) behemoth capable of generating 5 MW  Need 8 mi/hr winds to generate electricity; max electrical production at mi/hr winds; turbines cut off at 55 mi/hr winds  Yaw motor – nacelle moves to face turbine directly into wind

Applications  Typical wind farm: 100Megawatts (MW)  Coal fired power plant – MW  One 1.5MW turbine could power about 350 homes/year

*The Grid connects electric sources to consumers wind gridwind grid

So what if you currently have wind electricity? Do your lights go out on still days?

Best wind is in the morning, but peak demand is in the afternoon 

Advantages  No air pollution  Can use land for grazing  Renewable  Domestic  Able to use current electric grid

Disadvantages  Land use – requires space  Bird and bat deaths  Winds peak in morning and March-May

Power up! 

Research: innovative wind applications – what’s new?