Electricity still remains the most important energy source in the present world driven by information and communications. There are quite a number of energy sources but under two broad categories - renewable and non-renewable energy source. The non-renewable energy sources include coal, gas, crude oil etc. The renewable energy sources include solar energy, wind energy etc. Non-renewable energy sources are burnt and cannot be replenished but renewable sources are not diminished when they are used.
One down side of non-renewable energy sources which have been widely used in the past centuries up till now is the air pollution they cause. The combustion of non-renewable sources of energy releases toxic materials which are harmful to the environment. Some of these are the greenhouse gases that contribute to the depletion of the protective ozone layer of the atmosphere thereby leading to increased temperature of the earth's surface and global warming. As a result of the foregoing, efforts are in place to reduce the use of the non-renewable energy sources and focus on the renewable sources such as wind power.
Wind power entails the use of the flow of air through wind turbines or wind mill to mechanically power electric generators for the production of electricity. The wind is either channeled through conduits to drive a turbine that then drives an electric generator, or a large wind mill that towers above the ground is driven by the power of the wind and in turn drives the electric generator that produces the electricity.
At the heart of the wind power system are the collection and transmission networks. The network interconnects all the wind turbines with a power collection system, usually a medium voltage of 34.5KV. This voltage on getting to a substation is stepped-up in order to be transmitted over a long range on a high voltage power transmission system. The transmission networks break into distribution networks at another substation where the high voltage is stepped-down for distribution to places where the power is needed.
It is estimated that there are over two hundred thousand operating wind turbines in the world. The total capacity of these wind turbines is estimated to be 432,000 MW (International Renewable Energy Agency, 2012). These estimates are not actually met since the speed of the wind is not constant. The power generated by these wind turbines is directly proportional to the speed of wind available to drive them. This gives rise to a term known as the capacity factor of the wind turbine, which gives the ratio of the actual productivity to the theoretical productivity.
Industrial scale wind power generation uses clusters of wind turbines in the same location distributed over a large area known as a wind farm. Modern wind power generation has also extended to building wind farms in large bodies of water, known as offshore wind power. Offshore wind power exploits the often powerful winds that are available in the sea.
The combustion of non-renewable sources of energy releases toxic materials which are harmful to the environment. With the continued increase in the electricity needs of the world and the current drive to reduce the pollution of the atmosphere in order to stem the tide of the global climate change, the use of wind power for electricity generation will continue to increase as nations seek alternatives to non-renewable sources of energy. Efforts are in place to reduce the use of the non-renewable energy sources and focus on the renewable sources such as wind power. It is also expected that the cost of setting up wind power systems will also reduce.
REFERENCES
International Renewable Energy Agency (2012). Wind Power. Renewable Energy Technologies: Cost Analysis Series. PDF. Retrieved from https://www.irena.org/documentdownloads/publications/re_technologies_cost_analysis-wind_power.pdf on 30 April, 2016
