Wind Energy

Wind energy is one of the renewable energy that ranks with Hydropower and solar energy. Wind energy is created by harnessing the wind and generating power out of it. Wind energy is usually done using windmills. If you define wind energy in a more scientific way, it is the energy that you can get from the force of winds that are blowing in the Earth’s surface.

Wind

To understand wind energy, it is important to learn a little bit about wind first. Wind occurs when there is an uneven heating on the surface of the Earth. For example, the equator part of the Earth gets more heat compared with the regions in Antarctica. When the heat moves from a hotter region towards a cooler region of the world, this is when wind occurs. The force of the wind was already harvested even centuries ago. There were already windmills a long time ago that uses wind energy to power forges, pumps, and millstones.

Turbines

Turbines are the machines that are used to harness the power of the wind. With the turbines, the wind energy system can create electrical energy. Wind energy can either be produced through stand alone applications or it can also be created centrally. Either of the two ways that the  wind energy is produced, it can be then distributed to electric grids. Wind turbines are like propellers that you can find in aircrafts. It turns with the air from the wind that passes through it. This is how the force of the wind is harnessed. As the turbine propels, it brings power to an electric generator. This electric generator can then supply electric current. The wind must be at a speed of 10 miles per hour. This is required so that the turbine will be fast enough to create energy. The turbine has the capacity to create around 50 to 300 kilowatts of electricity. When turbines are grouped together, they are called win farm. Together, they have the capacity to produce bulk energy. The electricity that comes from these wind farms will go to the local utility grid,, then it will be distributed to customers. The distribution is the same with the distribution of electricity from the traditional source.

Components

Turbines are mopunted on high towers, because the stronger force of the wind is higher from the ground. This makes the tower an important component of the wind energy. Blades are also impotant components of the wind energy. Each turbine have 2 to 3 blades. These blades are connected to a generator. The generator is another important component that transforms the wind power to electricity. The contoller and the nacelle are also important components of the wind energy. They are responsible for the controll of the turbine. To measur ethe wind speed, an anemometer is needed. This will help in cllecting data.