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Wind energy systems facts and its advantages and disadvantages

History of wind power systems
Wind energy technology is one of the most reliable forms of renewable energy and it can also be listed under the alternate sources of energy. With the increase in population and the increasing demand of power there have been many researches that have been undertaken to arrive at the best source of energy that can be useful in the future. As a result of these researches, wind energy system is found to be the indisputable form of energy that can serve as the best energy forms. Though wind energy system has been labeled as the best sources of power in just the recent years, the use of wind energy system has been dated back five thousand years back when it was used to propel the boats on the river.

The wind mills or wind energy generator turbines of today that are greatly influential in generating power have a history that dates back to the 7th century AD when they were used for irrigation pumping and grain milling. It was not until July 1887 that Professor James Blyth a Scottish academic attempted wind power experiments and received a UK patent for it. But the modern forms of the wind energy generators were influenced by the one that was invented by Poul La Cour, a Danish scientist which produced hydrogen.

Wind energy generator facts
There are two types of wind energy generators or the wind turbines, namely horizontal axis and vertical axis. The wind energy technology is so sophisticated that there has been a development of a wind energy generator that does the task of converting the kinetic energy present in the wind to mechanical energy and then into electrical. Also called as aero generator and wind turbine, the wind energy generator consists of the rotor blades that are responsible for the conversion of wind energy to the shaft energy, a streamlined enclosure that has a drive train, a gear box and a generator which are supported by means of a tower and other electronic equipment like the ground support equipment, the cables and controls.

The rotor blades are made of wood epoxy or polyester armored by fiber glass as the metal may be subject to cracks and may eventually lead to the break down of the component. The size of the wind energy system depends upon the applications and therefore generates the corresponding capacity of power. The residential wind energy systems are likely to produce a lower amount of power when compared to the industrial purpose wind power generators. The offshore wind energy turbines have larger rotors and the largest of its kind about 100 meter tall with a blade span of 150 meters.


Statistics on wind energy systems
In the recent years there has been a wide development in the use of wind energy systems for the generation of electricity. According to a recent survey many countries have almost opted for wind energy systems as an alternative source of energy. There is about 20% of electricity that is generated using wind power systems in Denmark, Ireland and Spain have 14% of electricity from wind energy generators, 11 % and 8% in Spain and Germany respectively.

The capacity of the power generated through the wind energy systems in the whole world is 159,213 MW out of which the amount of power added in the year 2009 is 32,312MW. The growth rate of the wind power generation by increasing the number of wind power projects is 31.7% and is expected to double every three years. The wind energy generation industry had a total turnover of about fifty billion euros in the year 2009. There was an employment of 550,000 people world wide in the wind energy technology sector and is anticipated to generate over a million jobs.

There has been a power generation of 340TWh per year from the wind energy generation turbines that were installed until the end of the year 2009 which is equal to 2% of the global electricity consumption and coincidentally equal to the total electricity demand of Italy. The biggest market for the new wind energy technology and wind energy generation turbines is China which generated upto 13,800 MW, within a year though the United States remains to be in the number one position for the total installed capacity.

Advantages of wind energy systems
There are a number of advantages of wind energy systems and since then have become widespread in use. There has been a rise in the number of wind energy projects that are in the making.

• The electricity produced by residential wind energy systems and other industrial wind energy generators are cheaper compared to the other forms of energy.
• As this is one of the most important and abundantly available renewable sources, it can generate more amount of power.
• The wind energy generators or wind turbines are more environment-friendly thus reducing the amount of pollution in the air.
• The maintenance costs of the wind energy are also low and the only costs involved are the cost of construction and installation.
• The wind energy systems do not occupy much space and the surrounding area can be used for agricultural purposes, thus resulting in the increase in the wind energy projects.

Disadvantages of wind energy systems
Though there are many advantages that the wind energy systems offer, they also have a negative side.

• For the generation of enough of power generation, there need to be installed a number of wind energy generators or turbines.
• Though there is no air pollution taking place, the damage is done through the noise pollution through the running turbines.
• The winds are unpredictable and the turbines can operate only when there is a considerable amount of wind.
• If the installation of the wind mills is planned near the coast, the matter is becomes a bit expensive as the cost of the land is comparatively higher.
• The birds are being killed while they fly across the running blades.
• The cost of transfer of power is high as the sites of the wind energy projects are usually at remote places.