Monday, April 20, 2009

Wind Turbines

Wind energy has been in use for a very long time. Wind machines were used to harness wind energy in earlier times. Today, modern equivalents of wind machines called wind turbines are used for harnessing wind energy.

Wind turbines use the energy of the wind to generate electricity. Wind turbines are usually installed at heights to take advantage of the fast winds. Wind turbines have two or three blades that act as rotors. The blades of wind turbines are like airplane wing. When wind blows, it creates a low pressure on the downside of the blade and pulls the blade towards causing the rotor to move. The rotor’s movement spins a generator to produce electricity.

Wind turbines can be used in three ways. They can be installed as stand alone units. These stand alone wind turbines use wind energy to pump water or for communications. Wind turbines can be used by maintaining a connection with utility power grid. Wind turbines can be combined with solar cells systems.

Wind turbines produce electricity that can meet the energy requirements of a small area. For wind energy to be used at a commercial scale, a large amount of wind energy needs to be captured and converted to electricity. This can be done by installing a large number of wind turbines in an open and large area. This is called a wind plant. Wind plants are used by many electricity providers to supply electricity to their customers.

Wind turbines are east to install and use. These are important for capturing wind energy to meet the increasing energy needs.

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