Renewable Sources of Energy: Wind Power Technology

These examples suggest that wind power will be used in ways that correspond to each needed capacity and purpose. In the article “Wind Energy: An Untapped Resource,” the Wind Energy Association estimates the potential amount of wind power generation capacity in the U.S.A. at 10,777 billion kW/h, which is three times the electricity generated in the U.S.A. today. However, it also predicts that we are unlikely ever to use even half of that potential. In fact, in 2000, the U.S.A. was using less than 1% of that potential! This is because wind power is not always the superior method, and there are some problems still to be solved.

While America West became settled, wind power played an important part because it has a lot of underground aquifers, but diminutive surface water. The water that was pumped for farmers and ranchers to settle the land was delivered by the energy of the winds propelling through the prairies. Almost all farms and/or ranches west of Mississippi River had one windmill. What successfully killed the wind power expansion and moved electrical development to fossil fuel-burning power plants and great dams was The Rural Electrification Act of 1935. The wind power industry sparked interest in the 1970s due to the surprising boost of oil prices. The US used to be a world leader in wind power in the 1980s with California accommodating 90% of all wind power

We are facing an energy crisis on Earth. Burning fossil fuels are harming the atmosphere; this global warming and affects produces chemicals that hurt our body. People are starting to think about using alternative energy. Wind power would be our first choice, because it’s clean, inexhaustible and renewable. Today, wind power is mainly used in Europe. We believed wind power would be the main source of alternative energy for world use.

This paper discusses how scientists can help bring wind power into urban areas with limited space such as London, and make wind energy a sustainable energy resource. Three-blade wind turbines are a dominant method of harnessing wind power, but this technology has drawbacks which make it unsuitable for placement in London. Small Wind Turbines, owned by individuals and/or communities have attempted to fill the gap, but are only capable of supplying lower levels of power than a city demands. This paper assumes that wind power will continue be used in combination with other (renewable) energy sources, such as solar, tidal or nuclear power to meet the UK’s future energy needs and sustain at least an equivalent lifestyle to now.

In 1986, the National Renewable Energy Laboratories developed a wind resource assessment for the U.S. Department of Energy. The assessment consisted of surface wind data and upper-air data. The results of this project help today’s developers determine the best location for a wind farm, as shown in

While wind power is currently more expensive per unit of energy (the initial cost of construction is spread across a turbine’s lifetime, generally around 20-30 years) than alternatives such as coal; wind power lacks the negative externalities that other energy

Founded in 1981, Wind Technologies (WT) has been a supplier of many different varieties of weather related radar and instrumentation. In 1986 the company focused its production on wind profiling radar systems that measure wind and atmospheric conditions. Management of Wind Technologies felt as though this consolidation would position the company as an industry leader in the future in a market that would have little competition. This consolidation was mainly due to being purchased by Vaitra, a high technology European firm. Vaitra made it possible for Wind Technologies to focus its operations mainly due to its large financial support. Since commercial sales were less than stellar since the buyout Vaitra’s financial support

In addition to being a virtually inexhaustible renewable resource, wind energy has the advantage of being modular; that is a wind farm’s size can be adjusted by simply adjusting the number of turbines on the farm. A major disadvantage of wind is that the amount of energy available from the generator at any given time is dependent on the intensity of the wind resource at the time which is very difficult to predict. This intermittency of intensity reduces the wind generator’s value both at the operational level and also at the system capacity planning level where the system planner needs information about how much energy they can depend on from a generator at a future planning date, i.e., when the wind intensity cannot be perfectly predicted. Another disadvantage of wind energy is that good wind sites tend to be located far from main load centers and transmission lines. Concerns have also been raised about the death of birds and bats flying into wind turbines, the possibility of turbines causing radar interference, and potential adverse effects of the shadow flicker5 on people living in close proximity.

One fact that investors will likely consider, is the debate over the effect of wind inconsistency, as well as wind speed on the effectiveness and overall power generation by a wind farm. This is a significant consideration that many may not think of upon first learning of wind power as a potential resource. Research on the effect of wind speed on wind power generation was performed by Eric Wright who states that wind speed had little effect on power generation on South African wind turbines (Wright 2017). In fact, although climate change has led to an overall decrease in wind speeds globally, the power generation was affected, at most 3.8 percent, and at the least 0.9 percent, which overall does not account for a large enough percentage to cause concern over when considering investment (Wright 2017). Consistency is another aspect of wind power which makes it yet more alluring over fossil fuels, which are dwindling in supply, and lacking in consistency.

Wind energy described as the process by which wind is used to generate electricity. Wind is a part of renewable energy. Renewable energy is the one, which cannot be depleted when used. Globally, the use of power plants has increased, due to the overpopulation, urbanization since past years. Since then, renewable resources have played a vital role in maintaining balance worldwide in various forms. For instance, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydropower and other renewable energy resources help in balancing the environment. Nowadays, the leading problems such as climate change, melting of glaciers is leading to a change in the environment. Wind energy is one of the sources, which can replace the use of the non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels; oil and natural gas, hence take billions of year to replenish again, once finished. According to, the situation described in India, the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and other non-renewable resources is increasing day by day, and the negative consequences linked in resulting in the rising of greenhouse gases, not only increasing the global temperature but also overusing the resources.

In the graph, there is the capital cost average, the fixed operations and maintenance average, the variable operations and maintenance average and the fuel cost average. The fixed operations and maintenance average is how much the power source needs to be checked up in its lifetime. The variable operations and maintenance average is when something unexpected happens and they have to go and fix it or check it. The wind energy is the one that costs the least money, and it falls well below average costs for alternative energy sources. The only energy source that comes close to the cheap cost of wind is the Gas Combined Cycle, however, it is still a little bit more expensive. You can see that basically wind energy’s cost is all in the building

During the course of history, this country has been seeking new forms of energy that will provide clean energy and also preserve Earth’s lifespan. The use of renewable and non-renewable resources has been a major controversy throughout history. Renewable energy such as wind power has been a main focus of this issue. Many believe wind energy is the best renewable power source over many others because it is the cleanest and most efficient, whereas, others view wind energy as a time bomb that will soon destroy the planet. Alternative energy sources should replace non-renewable energy with wind energy.

The greatest problem for wind power production integration into the electrical grid is intermittency. The wind is variable on different timescales, as turbulent gusts change the hourly production, and climate/temperature fluctuate the daily and sometimes seasonal power contained by the wind. This instability needs regulation and different operational reserves, in order to maintain grid stability and avoid electricity spillage/shortage.

Alternate energy resources are being developed to compete against the fossil fuel power stations. Fossil fuel such as coal and oil are drilled and shoveled out of the ground and then processed to be turned into electricity. Problems with fossil fuels are that they produce hazardous air emissions and give off by-products that will harm the area. Some well-known alternate renewable energy resources are wind, solar, and hydro power. These are all sources that are in abundance and will be around for billions of years. Hydropower provides substantial amounts of electricity to the world by exploiting water, it totals about one fifth of the electricity worldwide (Renewable). While hydropower has its flaws, some environmentalists disclaim that hydropower is a widespread renewable energy source. However, this is a misconception because water is renewed in the water cycle, dams are environmentally sustainable to the ecosystem, and the only discharge from hydropower is unpolluted water.

When speaking of re-dispatch costs, it is often concerned with congestion management. On the one hand, the development of RE relieves the pressure of electricity supply due to constrained amount of conventional energy and escalating consumptions. On the other hand, because of the nature of randomness (or unpredictability) of RE, the electricity generation of RE especially PV and wind are dominated by natural force which is hardly human-manipulated. The electricity dispatch, nevertheless, is the complicated systematic work based on historical consumptions and future predictions. In this case, the RE generation can rarely correspond to