Renewable energy is that energy which is obtained using continuously replenished resources like sunlight, wind, geothermal and tidal. According to different research taken it proves 16% renewable energy globally is being produced using these resources. Energy produced from biomass is 10%, 3.4% using hydro power, and about 3 % from resources like geothermal, wind, solar and biofuels. Total contribution of renewables in electricity production is near about 19% out of which 16% comes from hydroelectricity and 3% from other sources. On very large scales work is in progress on various projects and these sources are really useful in rural & remote areas.
According to survey the rate of producing energy using wind power is 30% annually, with worldwide installed capacity of 282,482 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2012. The trend of using this source for producing electricity is increasing in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Production of electricity using wind turbine using the wind power is the second oldest method. As mentioned in the History chapter it was mentioned that the old civilization use this source about 7000 years ago to drive ships on the Nile. The method of harnessing wind energy using wind turbine is no doubt a really practical for getting electrical energy. Nowadays many countries are working on this and many of them are producing electricity. Many countries have started new energy programs for getting this source of energy utilized and devise plans for these projects. Countries like United states have devised energy policies bodies like United States Wind Energy Policy have started working in early 1980s when utility scale wind turbines reached in California. But from that time industries has to endure the financial crisis caused by highly fluctuating tax incentive program. The reason was that the early wind projects were field by investments tax credits which was on the basis of installation rather than performance. They face the issues related to productivity which was low and reliability of equipment. But later after the expiry of tax credits in 1986 forced the investors to resolve these issues and in 1990s was generalized with achieving following goals.
United Kingdom is one of the best places on ace for producing electricity from wind power and also takes the lead in European countries. Power extracted from wind is delivering large and rapidly growing energy in UK.
In January 2014 United Kingdom comprises of 5,276 wind turbines. Their onshore capacity is over 10 gig watts: 6,831 megawatts (MW) and also the offshore capacity are 3,653 megawatts. According to facts and figure The United Kingdom just overtaken France and Italy and acquire the sixth rank in the world in largest producer of energy from wind. In 2013 about new wind power installed produced about 2013. This increases about 35 % of Installed capacity of UK. A lot of developments have been made during 2013 using offshore winds and this is one of the largest wind farms in the world the London Array. It’s becoming operational with 630 MW capacities. The month of December 2013 was record breaking for UK in wind power. About 2,841,080 MWh was generated in this month which covers about the 10% supply of UK’s electricity demand. On 21st December, daily amount of electricity produce was 132,812 MWh which is a record, representing about 17% total demand of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is expected to have more than 28,000 MW of wind capacity.
Commercially used wind turbines have rated power output of about 1.5-3 MW. While in modernized utility scale they have output power of about 600 kW to 5 MW. Wind speed increases the output power produced. Areas of stronger wind, such as high altitude sites and offshore places. On long term technically power of wind energy is about 5times total energy produced globally in current scenario. Electricity produced from wind turbine using wind power gives clean and free source of energy and it also reduce the dependence on fossil fuels also reducing pollution of various type and greenhouses gases effects. For the reason of profitability many energy companies are investing on various winds energy projects.
Power generated from wind is variable as the electricity produced depends upon the wind speeds, air density and turbine characteristics. If wind speed is too low i.e. less than 2.5 m/sec electricity the turbine will not be able to produce electricity. Also if the wind speed more than 25m/sec turbines will not produce and it will have to shut down turbine to avoid damage.
Many Surveys across Europe and in many countries public support the idea of production of electricity from wind power. 90 % of EU citizens support wind power. Similarly on the other hand people of Scotland were strongly in favor of wind power and 10 wind farms of Scotland got acceptance publically from the nearby residents of wind farm. With the passage of times the acceptance ratio of people for wind turbines increases but in 2010 about 52 % disagreed with statement of wind farms as wind farms are ugly and a blot in landscape also 59 % are of the view that wind farms are required and how they looked was not important.
As wind power is indeed a free and clean source of electricity using wind turbine. Many governments are promoting the construction of wind farms. There are also some researches that claim about wind powers its impact on environment, claims of advocates and the people living near these farms. Norway researches in Denmark concluded with the solid facts i.e. are effects on environment, production insufficient and production costs was high. Denmark with over 6,000 turbines produced about 19% of country’s demand of electricity in the year 2002. But due to the variability of winds, production plants are kept running at full capacity to meet the energy demand. Quick ramping and the up and down movement increase the pollution and Carbon mono-oxide which is a greenhouse gas.
When the electricity was produced in abundance due to high winds brings about opportunity to sell the electricity to various countries at discounted price. One of the writers of The Utilities Journal (David J. White writes that the 84% of western Denmark’s wind generated was exported with revenue loss in 2003. Same issues were faced in the next years. Denmark was dependent on wind power and when the wind was not blowing they have to import electricity. They imported more electricity than they exported in the year 2000. That thing brought about increase in the cost of electricity in Europe that was highest of all.
Some of the issues related to the wind farms are discusses below in detail which gives another striking idea of this concept.
Energy companies show the picture of slim towers rising on the landscape looks amazing by clouds behind them. While talking about their size a 200 to 300 foot tower that support turbine housing is just a size of bus and three 100 to 300 foot rotor blades sweeping over an acre of air which is running at 100 mph requires a solid foundation. And the GE 1.5 MW tower wind turbine, the turbine housing, and nacelle weighs about 56 tons. The blades assembly weighs over 36 tons and the whole tower assembly weighs about 163 tons. According to (FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT) Energy says that the turbine of wind site requires about 42 X 42 foot square graveled area. Each of the towers requires a hole filled with steel rebar reinforced concrete. This hole is as deep that about 3 double decker buses resides in it. Also the foundations at Wild Horse Project in Washington are deep about 30 feet. On another place in Tennessee each foundation was about 30 feet deep containing about 3,500 cubic yards of concrete which is also a major source of CO2 production while on Cefn Croes in Wales build about complete concrete factory.
Enormous large blades of the wind turbine, these spinning blades can kill bats and birds maim. Later the industry claims that the platforms which are providing nesting platforms to solid towers and larger lower rpm blades solved the problem and in this way very few birds were found dead. Ignoring the fact that larger blades are slicing the air faster about 150 – 200 mph on tips, scavengers removed the most injured bird dead before the researcher’s arrival on periodic survey. So, the mountain ridges where the fog and other factors aggravates the problem for migratory birds. Much wildlife service organization worked on it and devised a policy in which it was called illegal to kill birds because of the wind farms. On rough estimation Researchers in Spain found that in the year 2002 about 11,200 birds (endangered species) 350,000 bats and 3,000,000 small birds killed every year because of wind turbines. On average about 20-40 birds each year. According to U.S Wildlife corporation noted that the wind turbines in Europe kills about 37 birds per turbine each year. Wildlife is seriously facing the losses of life of different birds like bats and problems for many migratory birds in foggy weather.
The noise of these wind turbines blade is enormous and is a point of consideration. The noise produced is incredible sounded like air planes and helicopters and it travelled long ways. In the hilly areas one can hear about 3,000 yards down the hill. While on the other hand an industry claims that the noise problem is solved and the new wind turbines blades and bearings are really quieter. But the magnetize generators that are huge and cant avid producing low frequency hum and the real problem of 100 foot rotor against the air flowing at 150-200 mph cannot avoid the deep resonating thump due to compression of air. Noise was also the main issue related to wind turbines. People because of noise complained about that it is the cause of anxiety and other diseases like nausea. Only way to reduce this affect is to reduce the efficiency of electricity being produced, which in results in reduction of profitability. The European Union (E.U) after 5 year investigation of wind power found noise complaints to be valid.
According to industries showed that the flicker of reflected lights and the shadows drives animals and people crazy. And the lightening of these wind turbines at night is disturbing dark skies at night creating problems for people in rural areas. Problems for migrating birds at night as red light attracts them Ice on blades in snow fall season cause the roar and scary sounds when blades rotates. Damages caused by lightening is also a problem as it peels of the blades material and if blades continuously rotates subjects to metal fatigue and these blades are easily damaged by wind.
According to survey the rate of producing energy using wind power is 30% annually, with worldwide installed capacity of 282,482 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2012. The trend of using this source for producing electricity is increasing in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Production of electricity using wind turbine using the wind power is the second oldest method. As mentioned in the History chapter it was mentioned that the old civilization use this source about 7000 years ago to drive ships on the Nile. The method of harnessing wind energy using wind turbine is no doubt a really practical for getting electrical energy. Nowadays many countries are working on this and many of them are producing electricity. Many countries have started new energy programs for getting this source of energy utilized and devise plans for these projects. Countries like United states have devised energy policies bodies like United States Wind Energy Policy have started working in early 1980s when utility scale wind turbines reached in California. But from that time industries has to endure the financial crisis caused by highly fluctuating tax incentive program. The reason was that the early wind projects were field by investments tax credits which was on the basis of installation rather than performance. They face the issues related to productivity which was low and reliability of equipment. But later after the expiry of tax credits in 1986 forced the investors to resolve these issues and in 1990s was generalized with achieving following goals.
- Suitable location for wind turbines
- Providing incentives and production of electricity from winds.
United Kingdom is one of the best places on ace for producing electricity from wind power and also takes the lead in European countries. Power extracted from wind is delivering large and rapidly growing energy in UK.
In January 2014 United Kingdom comprises of 5,276 wind turbines. Their onshore capacity is over 10 gig watts: 6,831 megawatts (MW) and also the offshore capacity are 3,653 megawatts. According to facts and figure The United Kingdom just overtaken France and Italy and acquire the sixth rank in the world in largest producer of energy from wind. In 2013 about new wind power installed produced about 2013. This increases about 35 % of Installed capacity of UK. A lot of developments have been made during 2013 using offshore winds and this is one of the largest wind farms in the world the London Array. It’s becoming operational with 630 MW capacities. The month of December 2013 was record breaking for UK in wind power. About 2,841,080 MWh was generated in this month which covers about the 10% supply of UK’s electricity demand. On 21st December, daily amount of electricity produce was 132,812 MWh which is a record, representing about 17% total demand of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is expected to have more than 28,000 MW of wind capacity.
Commercially used wind turbines have rated power output of about 1.5-3 MW. While in modernized utility scale they have output power of about 600 kW to 5 MW. Wind speed increases the output power produced. Areas of stronger wind, such as high altitude sites and offshore places. On long term technically power of wind energy is about 5times total energy produced globally in current scenario. Electricity produced from wind turbine using wind power gives clean and free source of energy and it also reduce the dependence on fossil fuels also reducing pollution of various type and greenhouses gases effects. For the reason of profitability many energy companies are investing on various winds energy projects.
Power generated from wind is variable as the electricity produced depends upon the wind speeds, air density and turbine characteristics. If wind speed is too low i.e. less than 2.5 m/sec electricity the turbine will not be able to produce electricity. Also if the wind speed more than 25m/sec turbines will not produce and it will have to shut down turbine to avoid damage.
Many Surveys across Europe and in many countries public support the idea of production of electricity from wind power. 90 % of EU citizens support wind power. Similarly on the other hand people of Scotland were strongly in favor of wind power and 10 wind farms of Scotland got acceptance publically from the nearby residents of wind farm. With the passage of times the acceptance ratio of people for wind turbines increases but in 2010 about 52 % disagreed with statement of wind farms as wind farms are ugly and a blot in landscape also 59 % are of the view that wind farms are required and how they looked was not important.
As wind power is indeed a free and clean source of electricity using wind turbine. Many governments are promoting the construction of wind farms. There are also some researches that claim about wind powers its impact on environment, claims of advocates and the people living near these farms. Norway researches in Denmark concluded with the solid facts i.e. are effects on environment, production insufficient and production costs was high. Denmark with over 6,000 turbines produced about 19% of country’s demand of electricity in the year 2002. But due to the variability of winds, production plants are kept running at full capacity to meet the energy demand. Quick ramping and the up and down movement increase the pollution and Carbon mono-oxide which is a greenhouse gas.
When the electricity was produced in abundance due to high winds brings about opportunity to sell the electricity to various countries at discounted price. One of the writers of The Utilities Journal (David J. White writes that the 84% of western Denmark’s wind generated was exported with revenue loss in 2003. Same issues were faced in the next years. Denmark was dependent on wind power and when the wind was not blowing they have to import electricity. They imported more electricity than they exported in the year 2000. That thing brought about increase in the cost of electricity in Europe that was highest of all.
Some of the issues related to the wind farms are discusses below in detail which gives another striking idea of this concept.
Size
Energy companies show the picture of slim towers rising on the landscape looks amazing by clouds behind them. While talking about their size a 200 to 300 foot tower that support turbine housing is just a size of bus and three 100 to 300 foot rotor blades sweeping over an acre of air which is running at 100 mph requires a solid foundation. And the GE 1.5 MW tower wind turbine, the turbine housing, and nacelle weighs about 56 tons. The blades assembly weighs over 36 tons and the whole tower assembly weighs about 163 tons. According to (FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT) Energy says that the turbine of wind site requires about 42 X 42 foot square graveled area. Each of the towers requires a hole filled with steel rebar reinforced concrete. This hole is as deep that about 3 double decker buses resides in it. Also the foundations at Wild Horse Project in Washington are deep about 30 feet. On another place in Tennessee each foundation was about 30 feet deep containing about 3,500 cubic yards of concrete which is also a major source of CO2 production while on Cefn Croes in Wales build about complete concrete factory.
Birds, Bats, and Other Wildlife
Enormous large blades of the wind turbine, these spinning blades can kill bats and birds maim. Later the industry claims that the platforms which are providing nesting platforms to solid towers and larger lower rpm blades solved the problem and in this way very few birds were found dead. Ignoring the fact that larger blades are slicing the air faster about 150 – 200 mph on tips, scavengers removed the most injured bird dead before the researcher’s arrival on periodic survey. So, the mountain ridges where the fog and other factors aggravates the problem for migratory birds. Much wildlife service organization worked on it and devised a policy in which it was called illegal to kill birds because of the wind farms. On rough estimation Researchers in Spain found that in the year 2002 about 11,200 birds (endangered species) 350,000 bats and 3,000,000 small birds killed every year because of wind turbines. On average about 20-40 birds each year. According to U.S Wildlife corporation noted that the wind turbines in Europe kills about 37 birds per turbine each year. Wildlife is seriously facing the losses of life of different birds like bats and problems for many migratory birds in foggy weather.
Noise
The noise of these wind turbines blade is enormous and is a point of consideration. The noise produced is incredible sounded like air planes and helicopters and it travelled long ways. In the hilly areas one can hear about 3,000 yards down the hill. While on the other hand an industry claims that the noise problem is solved and the new wind turbines blades and bearings are really quieter. But the magnetize generators that are huge and cant avid producing low frequency hum and the real problem of 100 foot rotor against the air flowing at 150-200 mph cannot avoid the deep resonating thump due to compression of air. Noise was also the main issue related to wind turbines. People because of noise complained about that it is the cause of anxiety and other diseases like nausea. Only way to reduce this affect is to reduce the efficiency of electricity being produced, which in results in reduction of profitability. The European Union (E.U) after 5 year investigation of wind power found noise complaints to be valid.
Problems
According to industries showed that the flicker of reflected lights and the shadows drives animals and people crazy. And the lightening of these wind turbines at night is disturbing dark skies at night creating problems for people in rural areas. Problems for migrating birds at night as red light attracts them Ice on blades in snow fall season cause the roar and scary sounds when blades rotates. Damages caused by lightening is also a problem as it peels of the blades material and if blades continuously rotates subjects to metal fatigue and these blades are easily damaged by wind.
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