The fundamental concept of a wind turbine is easy to understand. Capturing kinetic energy from the wind and then turning it into electricity to power your houses is the aim of a wind turbine. It works straight away. The wind turns the propellers of a wind turbine.
These propellers are attached to a rotator or axis that also rotates while propellers turn with the blowing of the wind. The shaft is also joined to a generator. When the generator receives enough spinning, it produces DC electricity. Converting this DC electricity to AC electricity through an inverter, people power their houses to run fans, bulbs, TVs, and so on. This is the function of a wind turbine.
The amount of electricity produced by a wind turbine depends on both blowing the wind and the quality of the wind turbine. You will get more power if there is strong wind. Only strong wind is not enough to produce more electricity you need. You also need the best home wind turbine to generate sufficient electricity. The wind turbine you use has to be efficient enough to capture the power of the wind. It also has to have the capacity of rotational torque to send electrons to the grid from the generator. Thus it can be the best one.
Renewable energy, like a wind turbine, is environment-friendly but needs wind. So, most farm wind turbines are established onshore because there is a strong wind blowing throughout the year-round. They produce as much electricity as you may need.
However, wind turbines for houses or an off-shore wind farm utilize the same concept to produce electricity to meet their need.
The process of producing electricity
The wind is the main factor in generating electricity. If you choose a very windy place, then the chance of producing electricity increases. The main element of a wind turbine is the generator because after receiving enough spinning into its shaft, it converts kinetic energy into electricity. Have you heard of Faraday, a scientist? According to his law, if you can rotate a conductor in a powerful magnetic field, it will end up generating electricity. The same concept has been applied here for a wind turbine to produce electricity.
There is an anemometer which is connected to the control panel in the wind farm turbine. When the wind starts to blow at over 8 miles per hour, the turbine also starts moving. Sometimes, the wind blows slowly over 8 miles per hour, and it can exceed 55 miles per hour. In this case, the wind turbine can be damaged due to the excess speed of the wind. To avoid damage, it shuts itself automatically when the rate of the wind exceeds its limit.
Though the blades of a wind turbine turn slower, the gearbox helps to change the motion of the wind faster and also helps the axis to rotate faster. This is the axis that drives a generator to produce electricity. Here is the main factor in increasing the production of power. Researchers are trying to level up the speed from 30 to 60. If they can succeed, more electricity will be produced at the same slow speeds.
How much electricity can a wind turbine generate?
The production of electricity by a wind turbine largely depends on the speed of the wind. The faster the wind blows, the more power can generate. A farm wind turbine located at the hilltop having enough open space around can produce as much electricity that can run 1500 homes well.
Farm wind turbine
That’s why; wind farms are seen to select their location near sea or hilltops. They get enough wind speed all year round to run their project smoothly. If the speed of the wind increases double, the amount of production of electricity becomes eight times more. So, this is enough to produce 6 million kilowatt-hours to feed nearly 1500 houses easily.
Individual Wind Turbines
If you have a solar panel, then you have already known that it needs a sufficient amount of sunlight in the daytime. Similarly, you have to install your domestic wind turbines in such a place where it can get the required amount of wind all year round. It needs not to be so strong, but it should be strong enough to turn the propellers of the wind turbine to produce electricity.
You can install a domestic wind turbine in two ways. They are roof-mounted and free-standing wind turbines. Installing a wind turbine on your roof may not generate as much electricity as you may need. There are hindrances for other buildings to blow the wind strongly.
So, a free-standing wind turbine can meet your needs. In the case of a free-standing wind turbine, you also need to keep an eye that there is enough open space for the wind to blow strongly. But you have to spend more, and it may cost you nearly £20,000.
Are you living in a remote location where there is no electric supply? If so, then you can go for a free-standing wind turbine to get enough power to run your home.
How efficient is wind power?
If you only think of the UK, wind turbines are increasing the production of electricity day by day. They established almost 7,779 onshore wind turbines as well as 1,932 offshore wind turbines to produce 56 million MWh of electricity every year.
Besides, as coal or oil is not necessary to generate electricity which pollutes the environment, they are being encouraged to install more and more wind turbines. The efficiency of the wind turbine is 30-45%, and it is rising to 50%.
The Takeaway
A wind turbine is getting popular day by day, mostly because it is environment-friendly. The whole world is turning back to renewable energies, including sun, wind, and rain to meet their need without making the environment polluted. All you mostly need to run a wind turbine is the wind which is very available in the environment. If you can install it in such a place where the wind is open all year round and the wind turbine is the best one, it will end up generating enough electricity you need.
