What is a wind farm?
Wind farms are clusters of turbines that generate electricity. Wind is a free and renewable resource that produces clean energy - no emissions, no waste products. Wind farms are located in areas with reliably favorable wind speeds.
What causes wind?
The wind that turns the turbine blades is a form of solar energy. The sun warms the earth's atmosphere unevenly, causing the air to move and swirl, creating wind.
For centuries, wind movement has been converted into mechanical power for low-tech jobs like watering cattle. Now, we can use it to efficiently turn high-tech turbines for electrical generation.
How do wind turbines work?
Simply stated, a wind turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, a turbine uses wind to make electricity.
The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity The electricity is sent through transmission and distribution lines to a substation, then on to homes, business and schools.
Why use wind power?
For centuries, wind has been harnessed to power ships, grind grain, run sawmills and pump water.
Today, high-tech wind turbines are becoming an increasingly familiar part of the landscape around the world, cropping up in cornfields, on wind-swept deserts and along breezy mountain passes.
As the need for clean, safe, reliable energy grows, wind is taking on a new role. Wind power is a free, non-polluting, renewable resource. No matter how much is used, there will still be a plentiful supply in the future. That's why wind is the world's fastest growing energy source!
What are the benefits of wind power?
Thanks to two decades of innovative technical developments, modern wind turbines are highly reliable and cost effective. They run quietly with little or no direct impact on the environment.
In many parts of our country, wind-powered electric generating projects are becoming a preferred way to develop safe, new sources of energy for a variety of reasons: - Most people understand that using wind power can help preserve our environment - and they want to be a part of the solution.
- The communities in which wind projects are located receive substantial economic and community development benefits.
- Individual landowners receive economic benefits from wind projects located on their property.
Wind projects create little or no interference with existing farming or ranching operations - livestock graze among the turbines as though they weren't there. |
