What is WIND ENERGY, how it works and examples - Summary and VIDEO

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Did you know that electrical energy can be generated from the force of the wind? It falls within the renewable energies and, in addition, it is the most efficient of all. With wind energy, emissions of large tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and the generation of polluting waste are avoided. Currently, a little more than 3% of the electricity consumed in the world comes from wind energy and an efficient use of it contributes to sustainable development.

If you want to know a little more about wind energy, continue reading this Green Ecologist article on what is wind energy, how it works and examples of places where this renewable energy is produced.

What is eolic energy

The eolic energy is the one obtained from the force of the wind, also called kinetic energy of the wind and is used to produce electricity. We are facing a renewable energySince wind is a renewable resource, it is also clean and environmentally friendly. This does not mean that it is harmless or that it does not have any negative impact, all things do, but in this case it is a renewable energy with a very low environmental impact, compared to non-renewable energies or other renewable ones, and which turns out to be very efficient.

To learn more about this and other renewable energies, we recommend you read these other Green Ecologist articles:

• Renewable and non-renewable energies: examples and summary.
• Do renewable energies pollute the environment?
• Renewable energies in Spain.

How Wind Power Works

To take advantage of the wind and generate electricity it is necessary to build wind farms with which all the possible power of this renewable energy will be extracted. These parks are usually located in unpopulated territories, to avoid an impact on the inhabitants. Wind farms are designed with wind turbines, which are the devices that are responsible for converting the kinetic energy produced by the movement of the wind into electrical energy and the wind power operation thanks to these it is like this:

1. Wind turbines present a weather vane in the upper part that indicates the direction of the wind and this makes it possible for them to rotate on the tower, in which they are located, to orient themselves towards the direction of the wind.
2. A wind turbine has blades or blades that rotate, are made of light and resistant materials that make it easier to move. The blades move even in light winds and with winds exceeding 90 km / h the wind turbine is braked for safety.
3. These blades are attached to a turbine through the hub and this, in turn, is attached to the slow shaft, which rotates at the same speed as the blades, between 7 and 12 revolutions per minute.
4. However, this speed is not enough to produce electricity, that is why it is necessary a multiplier that increases more than 100 times the speed, to transfer it to another axis called fast.
5. This shaft reaches up to more than 1,500 revolutions per minute and is connected to a generator that transforms kinetic energy into electrical energy.
6. The electric power generated is conducted by the tower to its base as direct current and a converter transforms it into alternating current, which is what we use in our day to day.
7. The alternating current goes to a transformer to raise its voltage (20-66Kv) and thus be able to transport it throughout the park.
8. The energy reaches the substation, through cables, to raise the voltage again, converting the energy into high voltage power.
9. Once the high voltage energy is obtained, it will go to the evacuation line, from here the electricity is transferred to all the facilities that are connected to the distribution network, from where it is transports electrical energy to homes.

This is how the wind turbines in wind farms work and how the kinetic energy of the wind is transformed into electrical energy. Next, some of the most important wind farms worldwide will be shown, but first we encourage you to discover How to make homemade wind energy with windmills.

Examples of wind energy

This is one list of wind farms^[1] that serve us as good wind energy examples:

• Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm: It is located in Romania and has an operating capacity of 600MW, being among the largest parks in the world. The energy produced in this park represents approximately one tenth of all green energy production produced in the country.
• Gansu Wind Complex: It is located in Gansu in China. This complex is made up of exactly 100 wind farms and has an operating capacity of 20,000 MW.
• Muppandal Wind Farm: built in a southern Indian town called Muppandal. It is located in this area since it is a mountainous area exposed to the wind from the Arabian Sea. The construction of this park, which has a capacity of 1,500 MW, benefited the town by supplying it with electricity. However, it is expected for this year 2022 that the capacity to produce energy will be 26,200 MWh.
• Shepherds Flat Wind Farm: we are facing the 5th largest wind farm in the world located in the United States between the counties of Gilliam and Morrow and it has an operating capacity of 845 MW. With the energy generated in this parking lot, approximately 235,000 homes are supplied.
• Texas Wind Farm: It is the sixth largest in the world, has 627 wind turbines and has an installed capacity of 781.5 MW.
• Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm: It is also located in Texas and is made up of 342 wind turbines with an operating capacity of 662.5 MW. This park supplies electricity to more than 220,000 houses and avoids the emission of 920,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

There is still a long way to go to achieve a sustainable life model, but wind energy is one more option, among other renewable energies, to be closer to achieving it. To finish learning about what is wind energy, how it works and examples From this, we encourage you to discover the Advantages and Disadvantages of wind energy in more detail in this post and to watch this video about this renewable energy.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is wind energy, how it works and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Renewable Energies.

1. Roca, José A. The energy newspaper. The 10 largest onshore wind farms in the world. (2015): https://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/los-10-mayores-parques-eolicos-terrestres-del-mundo/