Physics

Wind Energy

How it works.
Wind energy has been used for pumping water and milling

grain for hundreds of years. More recently, wind energy

has also been used for electricity generation. Developing
countries can take advantage of wind power on a small
scale, both for irrigation (wind pumps) and for generation
of electricity (wind generators).
Small wind turbine systems, with a capacity ranging from
50 W to 10 kW and rotor diameter ranging from about 0.5
m to 7 m, are primarily used in battery charging.
The batteries can then be used for energy supply for
houses, hospitals, farms, telecommunication, navigation,
etc. Wind energy systems can also operate in parallel with
diesel sets or solar PV systems.

Types of Electricity Generating

Windmills
Small (10 kW)
Homes
Farms
Remote
Applications

(e.g. water
pumping, telecom
sites, icemaking)

Large (250 kW 2+MW)

Central Station Wind
Farms
Distributed Power

 Environmental benefits
No emissions
No fuel needed
Distributed power
Remote locations

Limitations of Wind Power

Power density is very low.
Needs a very large number of wind mills to
produce modest amounts of power.
Cost.
Environmental costs.
material and maintenance costs.
Noise, birds and appearance.
Cannot meet large scale and

transportation energy needs.