Today, more than 65, wind turbines across the country are generating clean, reliable power. Wind power capacity totals GW, making it the third-largest source of electricity generation capacity in the country. This is enough wind power to serve the equivalent of 39 million American homes. The industry employs , Americans across all 50 states, including 26, wind manufacturing jobs at over facilities. The U. Modern wind turbines capture kinetic energy from the wind to generate electricity.
The first step is wind blowing across the blades of the turbine. Some direct-drive turbines skip the gearbox stage and directly excite electricity generator components. Wind turbines use a variety of drivetrain designs to extract power.
Some are direct-drive, which removes the gearbox, and some are medium-speed geared, which is essentially a blend between geared and direct-drive. In all design varieties, generators create electricity from the rotating power of the blade rotor.
Wind turbines produce DC power, which is converted to AC electricity by power converters and transferred to cables buried throughout the footprint of the wind farm.
High-voltage electricity is then delivered to the utility scale power grid, which transmits it to homes, businesses, and other end-users. A typical modern turbine will start to generate electricity when wind speeds reach six to nine miles per hour mph , known as the cut-in speed. Turbines will shut down if the wind is blowing too hard roughly 55 miles an hour to prevent equipment damage. For example, if the wind at a turbine reaches the cut-in speed of six to nine mph, the turbine will start generating electricity.
Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a story building and have three foot meter -long blades. The wind spins the blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator that produces electricity. The biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity in a year about 12 megawatt-hours to supply about U.
Wind farms have tens and sometimes hundreds of these turbines lined up together in particularly windy spots. Smaller turbines erected in a backyard can produce enough electricity for a single home or small business. Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to spur wind-energy development.
Drawbacks include complaints from locals that wind turbines are ugly and noisy. The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats, but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do. The wind is also variable: If it's not blowing, there's no electricity generated. Nevertheless, the wind energy industry is booming.
Thanks to global efforts to combat climate change, such as the Paris Agreement, renewable energy is seeing a boom in growth, with wind energy leading the way.
From to , cumulative wind capacity around the world increased from 17, megawatts to more than , megawatts. In , China also surpassed the EU in the number of installed wind turbines and continues to lead installation efforts. Modern wind turbines can be very large machines, and they may visually affect the landscape.
A small number of wind turbines have also caught fire, and some have leaked lubricating fluids, but these occurrences are rare.
Some people do not like the sound that wind turbine blades make as they turn in the wind. Some types of wind turbines and wind projects cause bird and bat deaths. These deaths may contribute to declines in the population of species also affected by other human-related impacts.
The wind energy industry and the U. Most wind power projects on land require service roads that add to the physical effects on the environment. Producing the metals and other materials used to make wind turbine components has impacts on the environment, and fossil fuels may have been used to produce the materials. Wind explained Wind energy and the environment. What is energy? Units and calculators. Use of energy. Energy and the environment. Thirty years after installing the first wind turbine in the country, Spain became the first country in the world to rely on wind energy as the main source of electricity for an entire year , with This also established Spain as an advanced country in terms of technological solutions that allow integration of wind energy into the grid.
Although installation of wind energy facilities has slowed in Spain in recent years, with around 23, MW installed at the end of , the country still holds s econd place in Europe for wind power production after Germany 43, MW , and is fifth in the world, after China , MW , the USA 71, MW and India 25, MW , according to the estimates by the same consultancy firm. ACCIONA positions itself as a key player in halting the advance in global warming and promoting the transition to a carbon-free energy model.
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It must be true and accurate. Wind energy The most efficient technology to produce energy in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner: it is zero emissions, local, inexhaustible, competitive and it creates wealth and jobs. Wind power is the most efficient technology to produce energy in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner: it is zero emissions, local, inexhaustible, competitive and it creates wealth and jobs.
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