Wind
North Dakota State College of Science
Applied Science and Technologies
What is it?
•Renewable energy – energy that comes from natural resources that are
naturally replenished
•sun
•wind
•rain
•tides
•geothermal
http://www.pixmac.com/picture/green+car+and+altenative+energy
+icons+on+puzzle+pieces/000017090641#vlczak
•The Earth receives 1.74 x 1017 watts of power per hour from the sun
•1-2% of this energy is converted to wind
•50-100 times more than energy converted to biomass by all the plants on
the Earth
http://www.euinfrastructure.com/news/europewind-energy-to-increase-by-13-percent-in2010/
Where Does Wind Come From?
•Wind – the movement of air between pressure systems as they
try to balance out.
•Air – composed of molecules of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%),
water vapor (1-4%), and other trace elements
•air molecules move quickly colliding with each other and
other objects
•Air pressure – amount of force that the air molecules impart on
an area.
•The more air molecules present, the more (higher) air
pressure.
http://www.pixmac.com/picture/a+windy+day+in+the+
woods/000033992343#vlczak
•Changes in air pressure over a distance causes the wind we
feel.
•The air molecules from an area of high pressure will rush to
an area of low pressure (called the pressure gradient force).
•The greater the pressure change in a concentrated area,
the stronger the wind or storm.
Tornado
•Example – Tornado
•In an F4 tornado in South
Dakota, the air pressure
changed by 10% in the radius
of the tornado.
•The molecules are quickly
accelerated to the center of the
tornado where the air pressure
is low
•This phenomena causes the
funnel appearance
•The magnitude of the air
pressure change along with the
short distance explains
destructive winds.
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/Dream/Stress.html
Where is it?
The darker the areas the windier it is
http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/maps/chap2/201m.html
How it Works
•A wind turbine obtains its power input by converting the force of the wind
into a torque (turning force) acting on the rotor blades
•To be considered a good location for wind energy, an area needs to have
average annual wind speeds of at least 12 miles per hour
•Average North Dakota wind speed is 12-15 mph
Kinetic Energy - Mechanical / Electrical Energy
• Turbine
•Wind turns blade - spins shaft - generator
http://tomorrowlab.cs.northwestern.edu/projects.html
How it Works
http://greenpoweroregon.com/Images/WindDiagram_Lg.gif
How it Works
http://ocsenergy.anl.gov/
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_animation.html
Windmill Design
A Windmill captures wind energy and then uses a generator to convert it
to electrical energy.
The design of a windmill is an integral part of how efficient it will be.
When designing a windmill, one must decide on the size of the turbine
and the size of the generator.
http://qwickstep.com/search/windmill-design.html
http://qwickstep.com/search/windmill-design.html
Creative Windmill Designs
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/ubbthreads.
php?ubb=showflat&Number=131814&page=
18
http://www.mywindpowersystem.com/2009/05/the-mostamazing-wind-turbines-designs/
Creative Windmill Designs
http://inhabitat.com/energy-ball-by-home-energy/
http://gcaptain.com/the-most-interesting-wind-turbine-designs?3397
http://www.archinect.com/schoolblog/entry.php?id=
55756_0_39_0_C
http://www.windturbinepicker.com/vertical-axis-wind-turbines/vertical-axiswind-turbine-design---windspire-by-mariah-power.html
Turbine Considerations
LARGE TURBINES:
•Able to deliver electricity at lower cost than smaller turbines, because
foundation costs, planning costs, etc. are independent of size
•In areas where it is difficult to find sites, one large turbine on a tall tower uses
the wind extremely efficient
SMALL TURBINES:
• Local electrical grids may not be able to
handle the large electrical output from a large
turbine, so smaller turbines may be more
suitable
• High costs for foundations for large turbines
may not be economical in some areas
• Landscape considerations
http://guidedtour.windpower.org/en/environme
ntandplanning.htm
Blade Considerations
• Most common design is the three-bladed turbine
•Provides stability
•A rotor with an even number of blades will give
stability problems for a machine with a stiff
structure
•At the very moment when the uppermost
blade bends backwards, because it gets the
maximum power from the wind, the lowermost
blade passes into the wind shade in front of http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/facilities/sustaina
bility/wind_turbine/
the tower
Generators
• Wind power generators convert wind
energy (mechanical energy) to electrical
energy
• The generator is attached at one end to
the wind turbine, which provides the
mechanical energy
• At the other end, the generator is
connected to the electrical grid
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://
www.electric.seviervilletn.org/images/diagram
_wind.gif
• The generator needs to have a cooling
system to make sure there is no
overheating
Costs
• A typical 600 kW turbine costs about $450,000.
• Installation costs are typically $125,000.
• Therefore, the total costs will be about $575,000.
• The average price for large, modern wind farms is
around $1,000 per kilowatt electrical power installed.
http://www.artsjournal.com/mt4/mtsearch.cgi?IncludeBlogs=47&tag=dea
ccessioning&limit=20
• Modern wind turbines are designed to work for some
120,000 hours of operation throughout their design lifetime
of 20 years. (13.7 years non-stop)
•Maintenance costs are about 1.5-2.0 percent of the
original cost, per year.
US Wind Energy Use
• The U.S. currently has more than 1,600 MW of installed capacity and
produces about 3
billion KWh of electricity each year.
• This is enough to meet the annual residential needs of 1 million people.
• More than 90 percent of this power is produced by three wind farms in
California (Altamont Pass, Tehachapi and Palm Springs).
http://aumenergy.net/resources
Facts about Wind Energy
• The U.S. contains enough useable wind resource to
produce more electricity than the nation currently
uses.
• The majority of this usable resource is in the Great
Plains region. North Dakota alone has enough
suitable wind resource to supply 36 percent of the
electricity consumed in the U.S.
• In addition, development of major global wind
energy markets could significantly impact jobs—
recent studies show that each billion kilowatt-hours of
annual wind energy generation creates between 440
to 460 jobs.
http://gotpowered.com/2010/wind-powercreates-jobs-in-europe/
Advantages of Wind Power
• The wind blows day and night, which allows windmills to
produce electricity throughout 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
• 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.
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2
009/10/google-gives-a-thumbs-upto-reputation-management.html
Disadvantages
•Wind variance
•Can be noisy
•Ugly
•Low capacity factor
•Wildlife
•Some research suggests that wildlife is not
affected and adapts to its surroundings
•Birds will often next on windmills
http://ineedfile.com/archive/birds.html
Discussion Questions
•What is the benefit of a three blade windmill?
•What are some of the
advantages/disadvantages of wind energy?
•What advantages does North Dakota offer for
wind energy?
http://blog.salazarpackaging.com/sust
ainable-people/no-getting-around%E2%80%9Cgreen%E2%80%9D/
Resources
www.windpower.org
DPI Prime Facts:
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/139951/wheredoes-the-wind-come-from.pdf
Scientific American. “Where Does Wind Come From”. July 18th, 2005.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=where-does-windcome-from
American Wind Energy Association:
http://www.awea.org/
Department of Energy:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/