Energy Technology Expert

The file (697 KB) will cover the following topics:

WIND ENERGY

• An indirect form of solar energy stored in kinetic form
• Induced chiefly by the uneven heating of the earth’s crust by the sun.

Uses of Wind Energy

1. Home owners may generate electricity, charge batteries, sell excess power to utility
2. Large, modern turbines in wind farms can produce electricity for utilities
3. Remote villages can generate power, pump water, grind grain, meet their basic energy needs.

Topics – Wind Energy

• Wind Energy, Its Uses and History
• Global Wind Resource Potential
• Basic Principles of Operation & Components
• Power Output and Maximum Efficiency
• Types of Wind Mills and Examples
• Cost of Wind Power (Capital, O&M, Levelized)
• Applicability, Advantages, Disadvantages
• Environmental Impact & Risks

History of Wind Turbines

• Hero of Alexandria described a wind machine in the 1st century AD
• Arabic texts of the 9th century talked of 7th century windmill.
• Windmills spread to Europe from the Middle East for grinding grain, drainage, pumping, saw-milling, etc.
• Post mills (rotated into the wind), were known in France and England in the 12th century. Tower mills (sails on top rotated), were introduced in France around the 14th century.
• The first windmill to drive an electric generator was built by P. Lacour of Denmark in the late 19th century.
• In 1931, a propeller-type windmill was built in Crimea for low-voltage electricity that fed into the local grid.
• Experiments in 1940 led to a large Smith-Putnam machine, a twin-blade 55m diameter propeller-type rotor on a 34m tower rated at 1.25 MW ac power at 28 rpm.

Global Wind Resource

• Wind is the movement of air in response to pressure differences within the atmosphere, caused primarily by uneven heating by the sun on the surface of the earth, exerting a force which causes air masses to move from a region of high pressure to a low one.
• About 1.7 million TWh of energy each year is generated in the form of wind over the earth’s land masses, much more over the globe as a whole. Only a small fraction can be harnessed to generate useful energy because of competing land use.
• A 1991 estimate puts the realizable global wind power potential at 53,000 TWh per year.
• US, UK and China have vast wind resource potential. With only 6% of total land area available for wind, US could generate about 500,000 MW. Present US capacity is 2,500 MW.

Basic Principles and Components of a Modern Wind Turbine

• Turbine rotor captures the wind energy and converts it into mechanical energy fed via a gearbox to a generator
• Gearbox / generator housed in an enclosed nacelle with the turbine rotor is attached to its front
• Combined rotor and nacelle mounted on a tower fitted with a yawing system keeps the turbine rotor facing into the wind always

Types of Modern Wind Turbines

• Vertical-Axis Windmills – early machines known as Persian windmills; evolved from ship sails made of canvas or wood attached to a large horizontal wheel; when used to grind grain into flour, they were called windmills.
• Horizontal-Axis Windmills –first designs had sails built on a post that could face into any wind direction, and were called post mills; evolved throughout the Middle Ages and was used for grinding grain, drainage, pumping, saw-milling.

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