What is wind energy?

Wind on our planet is the movement of air caused by the unequal heating of large zones of Earth’s surface by the sun. What is wind energy? It is the ability of air movement to do work. Today, wind energy turbines are used mainly for production of electricity. It is a clean and renewable energy source that can produce enough electricity to power huge areas.

The simplest way to think about the process of producing electricity from the movement of air is to imagine that a wind turbine works in exactly the opposite way to a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, turbines use the wind to make electricity.

The generator is a machine that produces electrical energy from mechanical energy.

Wind energy turbines

Today’s wind turbines could be put into two main categories based on the direction of the axis. The most common type of wind turbines used today are the horizontal-axis wind turbines. Horizontal-axis wind turbines have turbine blades that look like airplane propellers, while vertical–axis wind turbines have blades that go from top to bottom. A small percentage of wind turbines used today are vertical-axis wind turbines but they are constantly increasing popularity as they are very suitable for small-scale installations..

Size and capacity of Wind Turbines

The size of wind turbine differs widely. Small turbines are used to provide power to a single home or business and the capacity of these small wind turbines are less than 100 kilowatts. Larger commercial sized wind turbines can have a capacity of 5 megawatts. These larger turbines are frequently grouped together into wind farms providing power to the electricity grid. Wind farm normally has dozens of wind turbines that are scattered over a large area. They are lined in a way that allows the utilization of the windflow.

History of wind energy

The wind energy was the natural power that allowed the humans to exploit the surface of the planet. Sails of the ships were the wind-catchers used for transportation of men and goods over a large water areas. The windmill blades converted the wind power into physical for different purposes. One of the first electricity generating systems was constructed of 144 blades made out of cedarwood. It functioned for 20 years and charged the batteries in the basement of its inventor. During WWII, a Danish company began manufacturing bi and tri-blade aerogenerators and in the 50´s, the first alternating current turbines were developed. The first oil crisis generated a real interest in wind energy.

Large Wind Turbine Manufacturers

Small and Vertical axes wind generators