Related topics: energy , electricity , wind turbines
Wind power
hideWind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 121.2 gigawatts (GW). Wind power produces about 1.5% of worldwide electricity use, and is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008. Several countries have achieved relatively high levels of wind power penetration, such as 19% of stationary electricity production in Denmark, 11% in Spain and Portugal, and 7% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland in 2008. As of May 2009, eighty countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.
Large-scale wind farms are connected to the electric power transmission network. Smaller turbines are used to provide electricity to isolated locations. Utility companies increasingly buy back surplus electricity produced by small domestic turbines. Wind energy as a power source is attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels, because it is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions; however, the construction of wind farms (as with other forms of power generation) is not universally welcomed due to their visual impact and other effects on the environment.
Wind power is non-dispatchable, meaning that for economic operation all of the available output must be taken when it is available, and other resources, such as hydropower, and standard load management techniques must be used to match supply with demand. The intermittency of wind seldom creates problems when using wind power to supply a low proportion of total demand. Where wind is to be used for a moderate fraction of demand, additional costs for compensation of intermittency are considered to be modest.
For more information about Wind power, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with wind energy
Clean energy to grow into 1.6 trillion euros industry: WWF
Dec 10, 2009 |
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The clean energy technology sector will grow into a 1.6 trillion-euro (2.4 trillion-dollar) industry by 2020, becoming the third largest industrial sector after automobiles and electronics, WWF said Friday.
No widespread impact of wind power projects on surrounding residential property values in the US
Dec 02, 2009 |
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A major new Berkeley Lab report finds that proximity to wind energy facilities does not have a pervasive or widespread adverse effect on the property values of nearby homes.
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EU grants 1.5 billion euros for wind farms, carbon capture
Dec 09, 2009 |
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The EU commission on Wednesday granted 1.5 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) to offshore wind farms and carbon capture and storage schemes to help relaunch Europe's economy and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Taiwan plans massive growth in solar energy
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Taiwan plans to boost its use of solar panels by a factor of 200 over the next decade and a half in an effort to increase clean energy, a ranking official said Friday.
Study expects rising interest in energy saving
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Energy-efficient technology for batteries, grids and power storage will be trendy in 2010, according to a study released Wednesday on clean energy technology.
Space technology optimises windmill efficiency
Dec 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A French start-up company from ESA's Business Incubation Centre in the Netherlands has developed a small instrument to measure wind speed and direction from the ground up to heights of 200 ...
Weir in space and dimmed sun creates 200-million-mile-long lab bench for turbulence research
Dec 11, 2009 |
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Physicists working in space plasmas have made clever use of the Ulysses spacecraft and the solar minimum to create a massive virtual lab bench to provide a unique test for the science underlying turbulent ...
Pollution alters isolated thunderstorms
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
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New climate research reveals how wind shear -- the same atmospheric conditions that cause bumpy airplane rides -- affects how pollution contributes to isolated thunderstorm clouds. Under strong wind shear ...
Staying Power: Senate Hearing Focuses On Energy Storage
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Thursday's Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing featured testimony from experts about the power industry's need to develop systems capable of storing large amounts of electricity if the nation's ...
STEM gets greener: Promoting critical thinking using renewable energy technology
Dec 17, 2009 |
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Can building model cars really help create the next generation of electric vehicle designers and engineers? Researchers at North Carolina State University think so. Through a recent grant, they will develop a curriculum that ...
Launch of first operating system for smart grid home automation
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Fraunhofer IWES (Germany) presents the OGEMA Alliance, which will offer an open software platform for energy management.
New curriculum mixes nanotechnology and skiing (w/ Video)
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Dec 14, 2009 |
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Nanotechnology seems a daunting subject, but for mechanical engineering students at the University of Nevada, Reno, it has taken on a real world approach - in Ski Building 101.
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