In my earlier article I have discussed about various renewable energies. Today I will discuss one of such energy. WIND POWER.
The term “wind power” refers to the process by which the
wind is being used to prepare the electricity. It is another example of a
renewable energy and a substitute to fossil fuel. In this process the power of
wind is harvested by the turbines and it generates electricity.
The wind caused by the heat of the sun, earth rotation and
different heat absorption on the surface of the earth. The flow of wind is also
not same in every place. It is modified with the presence of empty lands, sea
surfaces and presence of forests and other vegetative bodies. So the logic of
generating more electricity from the wind is to set up the wind turbines in the
places where the speed of wind is highest.
A wind turbine is an opposite of a fan. In a fan the
electric energy gets converted into mechanical energy and fan rotates. Whereas
in turbines, the mechanical energy of the wind gets converted into the electric
energy. Depending on the axis of motion the turbine can be of two types:
horizontal axis and vertical axis turbines. Most of the turbines operating
today are on the horizontal axis.
A wind turbine basically has 4 parts:
Blades(it rotates
when wind flow hit it)
A drive train
(includes a gear box and a generator)
Tower for support
And other equipments
like electric cables, ground supporting equipments etc.
The size of the turbines varies according to the requirement
of energy generation. The largest wind turbine has blades with a span of the
size of a football field and produce energy to supply 1400 houses.
Wind energy has
several benefits:
- It is free renewable source. So you will never ever run out of the energy.
- It is clean, non polluting source and in harmony with nature.
- Unlike solar you can get energy in night and cloudy days also.
- It also provide tax benefits in several countries.
As per other side of
the story:
- Lightning causes damages to turbines.
- You can not expect the same amount of wind everyday.
- Migratory birds often get killed by flying into the running blades.
- Not every place is suitable for setting up wind turbine as the flow of wind is not uniform in every place.
- Cost of the set up is also very expensive compared to solar power.
Never the less like all other renewable energies the wind
power is also booming. Germany has the most installed wind turbines in the
world followed by Spain, The USA, India and Denmark. It has been estimated that
by 2050 one third of the worlds total energy will be in the form of wind power.
