1. Wind Energy!!!

2. Wind Energy
Winds are caused by uneven heating of the Earth (landmass and water body together) by solar radiations generating air movement. These air movements are know to many of us as land breeze and sea breeze. This movement of air can be used to do work. This energy is harnessed with the help of a windmill and electricity is generated from it.

3. Energy in the Wind 3

4. How does a wind turbine work?

5. Wind Energy Technology
At it’s simplest, the wind turns the turbine blades, which spin a shaft connected to a generator that generates electricity. Large turbines can be grouped together to form a wind power plant, which feeds power to the electrical transmission system. 5

6. Inside a Wind Turbine 6

7. Conversion of Wind Energy to Electricity

8. Wind Turbine Perspective
Workers
Tower
3 sections
Nacelle
56 tons
Blade
112’ long

9. Modern Windmills 9

10. Orientation
Turbines can be categorized into two classes based on the orientation of the rotor.
Vertical Axis Horizontal Axis
Turbine can spin on a vertical axis or a horizontal axis 10

11. Types of Electricity Generating Windmills
Small (10 kW)
Homes
Farms
Remote Applications
(e.g. water pumping, telecom sites, ice making)
Intermediate
( kW)
Village Power
Hybrid Systems
Distributed Power
Large (250 kW - 2+MW)
Central Station Wind Farms
Distributed Power 11

12. Very Low Maintenance Requirements
Modern Small Wind Turbines: High Tech, High Reliability, Low maintenance
Technically Advanced
Only 2-3 Moving Parts
Very Low Maintenance Requirements
American Companies are the Market and Technology Leaders.
10 kW
50 kW
400 W
900 W
When teachers build their Basic PVC Turbines they are more like a small wind turbine, simple direct drive systems.
Emphasize high RPM…these things spin fast RPM.
Many of these are sent to villages offshore as they can provide power for an entire village…here in the US is hard to justify the cost for one household. $$ on small wind turbines 10K-100K 12

13. Close Up of a Bergey XL 1 a 1kW wind turbine
Close Up of a Bergey XL 1 a 1kW wind turbine. Produces 1000w at peak output. 13

14. U.S.’s largest Windmill Manufacturers
General Electric
Clipper 14

15. Impacts of Wind Power: Noise
Modern turbines are relatively quiet
Rule of thumb – stay about 3x hub-height away from houses
Many people think wind turbines are noisy.
While this may have been true in the past (it is still somewhat true on older smaller devices)…newer larger devices are much quieter. 15

16. Wind Farms The largest Wind Farm in India,
situated in Madurai, Tamil Nadu

17. Off-Shore Wind farms
Many developers would like to move wind farms offshore because the wind are faster, smoother and they can be close to major population centers on the coast. This is very controversial in the US….we have a few planned offshore farms…Cape Wind and Long Island…but nothing installed.
Major complaints about offshore are related visual impact, navigation impact and lack of history. 17

18. There are quiet a few offshore wind farms in Europe near Holland, England, Ireland, Sweden and the Denmark.
This one is off the coast of Copenhagen.
Middelgrunden 18

19. Ancient Wind Farms

20. Early “WINDMILL” in Afghanistan (900AD)20

21. 21

22. 22

23. Older Technology + Lower Elevations + Poorly Sited = Bad News!
1980’s California Wind Farm
Older Technology
+ Lower Elevations
+ Poorly Sited
= Bad News! 23

24. Jacob’s Turbine – 24

25. Smith-Putnam Turbine
Vermont, 1940's 25

26. The End