Chapter 4

Wind Energy

1
Wind Energy

 Wind – Atmospheric air in motion

 Differential heating of the earth’s surface and atmosphere
induces vertical and horizontal air currents that are affected by
the earth’s rotation and contours of the land  WIND
 Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the
sun, variations in the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth.
 All renewable energy (except tidal and geothermal power),
ultimately comes from the sun.

2
Wind Energy

 The earth receives 1.74 x 1017 Watts of power (per hour) from
the sun.
 About one or 2 percent of this energy is converted to wind
energy (which is about 50-100 times more than the energy
converted to biomass by all plants on earth.
 Wind energy is the use of air flow through wind turbines to
mechanically power generators for electricity..
 A Windmill captures wind energy and then uses a generator to
convert it to electrical energy.
3
Wind Energy
 Energy obtained from harnessing the wind with windmills or wind
turbines.
 The amount of energy which the wind transfers to the rotor
depends on the density of the air, the rotor area, and the wind
speed.
 Wind power gives variable power which is very consistent from
year to year but which has significant variation over shorter time
scales.

4
 Wind Energy

Force Strength km/h Effect

0 Calm 0-1 Smoke rises vertically

1 Light air 1-5 Smoke drifts slowly
2 Light breeze 6-11 Wind felt on face; leaves rustle
3 Gentle breeze 12-19 Twigs move; light flag unfurls
Moderate Dust and paper blown about; small
4 20-29
breeze branches move
5 Fresh breeze 30-39 Wavelets on inland water; small trees move
Large branches sway; umbrellas turn inside
6 Strong breeze 40-50
out

5
 Wind Energy
Force Strength km/h Effect
Whole trees sway; difficult to walk against
7 Near gale 51-61
wind
8 Gale 62-74 Twigs break off trees; walking very hard
Chimney pots, roof tiles and branches
9 Strong gale 75-87
blown down
10 Storm 88-101 Widespread damage to buildings
102-
11 Violent Storm Widespread damage to buildings
117
Over
12 Hurricane Devastation
119

6
Wind Velocity with Height

7
History of Wind Energy
 Over 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used wind to sail
ships on the Nile River. Later, people built windmills to grind
wheat and other grains.

 The earliest known windmills were in Persia (Iran). These early

windmills looked like large paddle wheels.

 Centuries later, the people of Holland improved the basic design

of the windmill.

 They gave it propeller-type blades, still made with sails.

8
History of Wind Energy

 Holland is famous for its windmills.

 As late as the 1920s, Americans used small windmills to
generate electricity in rural areas without electric service.
 The oil shortages of the 1970s changed the energy picture for
the world.

9
Working Principle
 Like old fashioned windmills, today’s wind turbines use blades to
collect the wind’s kinetic energy.
 Although, we talk about “wind turbines,” the turbine is only one of
the three main parts inside these giant machines.
 Turbines – The first part of course, is the turbine. The giant
blades and the rotor (hub) together make up the “turbine”. As
wind passes by, it makes the blades spin around. These
blades have an aerodynamic curved shape so as to capture
as much energy from the wind as possible. The blades are
attached to a hub, which spins as the blades turn.
10
Working Principle

 As the rotor turns, it spins a drive shaft which is connected to

a generator inside the housing at the top of the tower.
 Shaft – The second part, the shaft, is actually a gearbox
which increases the speed of the spinning blades enough to
power the electricity generator.
 Generator – The third part is the generator, which converts
mechanical energy of the moving wind into electrical energy,
with the help of the spinning shaft.

11
Working Principle
 Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The energy in
the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a rotor.
The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a
generator to create electricity.

12
Types of Wind Turbine
 There are two types of wind turbines used today based on the
direction of the rotating shaft (axis):
 Horizontal - axis wind machines and Vertical - axis wind
machines.
 The size of wind turbines varies widely.
 Small turbines used to power a single home or business may
have a capacity of less than 100 kilowatts.
 Some large commercial sized turbines may have a capacity of
5 million Watts, or 5 megawatts.
 Larger turbines are often grouped together into wind farms that
provide power to the electrical grid.
13
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine
 Most wind machines being used today
are the horizontal-axis type.
 Horizontal-axis wind machines have
blades like airplane propellers.
 A typical horizontal wind machine stands
as tall as a 20-story building and has
three blades that span 200 feet across.
 The largest wind machines in the world
have blades longer than a football field!
 Wind machines stand tall and wide to
capture more wind.
14
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
 A type of wind turbine which have two or three blades and in
which the main rotor shaft runs vertically.
 Vertical–axis wind machines have blades that go from top to
bottom and the most common type (Darrieus wind turbine) looks
like a giant two-bladed egg beaters.
 The type of vertical wind machine typically stands 100 feet tall and
50 feet wide.
 Vertical-axis wind machines make up only a very small percent of
the wind machines used today.

15
Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy
 Onshore wind refers to turbines located on land, while offshore
turbines are located out at sea or in freshwater.
 Onshore wind is an inexpensive source of electricity,
competitive with or in many places cheaper than coal or gas
plants.
 Offshore wind is steadier and stronger than on land, and have
less visual impact, but construction and maintenance costs are
considerably higher.
 Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or
provide electricity to isolated off-grid locations
16
Indian Scenario

Available potential Wind power density

17
Cost comparison with other resources

18
Cost comparison with other resources
 Price of wind power is coming down.
 There is enormous capacity.
 Energy storage, however, is still a
problem.

19
Environmental Aspects of Wind Energy
 Wind system emit no air pollution and no carbon dioxide;
they also have essentially no water requirements.
 Wind energy serves to displace the production of energy
from other sources (usually fossil fuels) resulting in a net
decrease in pollution.
 Other impacts of wind energy are on animals, primarily
birds and bats, and on humans.

20
Environmental Aspects of Wind Energy
 Wind turbines certainly kill
birds and bats, but so do lots
of other things; windows kill
between 100 and 900 million
birds per year.
 Turbine design and location
has a large impact on
mortality. Estimated Causes of Bird
Fatalities, per 10,000
21
Environmental Aspects of Wind Energy

 Wind turbines often enhance the well-being of many

people, but some living nearby may be affected by noise
and shadow flicker.
 Noise comes from 1) the gearbox/generator and 2) the
aerodynamic interaction of the blades with the wind.
 Shadow flicker is more of an issue in high latitude countries
since a lower sun casts longer shadows.

22
Power Grid Integration of Wind Power
 Currently wind power represents a minority of the generation
in power system interconnects, so its impact of grid
operations is small.
 But as wind power grows, in the not too distant future it will
have a much larger, and perhaps dominant impact of grid
operations.
 Wind power has impacts on power system operations
ranging from that of transient stability (seconds) out to
steady-state (power flow).
 Voltage and frequency impacts are key concerns.
23
Application
1. Mechanical application: mainly (water pumping) Multi-blade
windmill used for water pumping and Windmill to grind grain.
2. Electricity generation: Wind turbines vary in size and type.
They are commercially available for electricity generation. Size
of wind turbines (400 Watt - 5 MW)

24
Advantages
 The wind blows day and night, which allows windmills to
produce electricity throughout the day. (Faster during the day)
 Energy output from a wind turbine will vary as the wind varies,
although the most rapid variations will to some extent be
compensated for by the inertia of the wind turbine rotor.
 Wind energy is a domestic, renewable source of energy that
generates no pollution and has little environmental impact. Up to
95 percent of land used for wind farms can also be used for
other profitable activities including ranching, farming and
forestry.
25
Advantages

 The decreasing cost of wind power and the growing interest in

renewable energy sources should ensure that wind power will
become a viable energy source in the United States and
worldwide.

26
Disadvantages

 Wind turbines and the landscape

 Sound from wind turbines

 Threat to wildlife

 Wind can never be predicted

 Suited to particular region

 Installation costs

27
References
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
 https://www.najah.edu/media/cms_page_media/759/Wind_Ener
gy.pdf
 http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/wind8.htm
 http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/learners/energy/readings/wind.pdf

28
Thank You

29