| home
> wind energy
Wind Facts
Capturing the wind for a cool planet.
The modern wind turbine was built to adapt to all kinds of
wind and weather conditions. Turbines can even be installed
on water; they don’t need to be just on land.
Wind turbines generally consist of large blades mounted on
tall towers attached to a horizontal shaft. As the wind blows,
these blades cause the shaft to turn. The shaft is attached
to a generator located inside the head, or “nacelle”
of the turbine, which generates electricity. Cables carry
this electrical current to transmission lines that then carry
it to homes and businesses. Modern turbines rotate quite slowly,
at an average speed of between 18 to 20 revolutions per minute.
Maintenance issues are also much smaller on a wind farm.
At some conventional power plants, the entire plant may have
to be shut down for repairs whereas at a wind farm, maintenance
takes place one turbine at a time. This has led to availability
factors (referring to the percent of time that a turbine is
available to capture the wind) of 98% – much higher
than conventional forms of energy production.
Want to see wind turbines in action? Click here to see "The Answer is Blowing in the Wind".
|
