Land Based Wind Energy

Land based wind energy is the energy generated in the mainland by wind turbines. If a group of wind turbines are installed in one place/location, they are referred to as a wind park or wind farm. A single large wind park can have hundreds of individual turbines and cover many square miles.

Land based wind energy is a mature and proven RE technology that has the ability to be deployed on a mass scale globally. Aerodynamic rotor which is often connected to the electrical generator through a transmission system, convert the wind (moving air flow) into electricity by extracting its kinetic energy. A modern standard wind turbine has three rotating blades on a horizontal axis, asynchronous or synchronous generator connected using power electronics to the grid, and a tall tower. Turbines with two blades and without gearbox (direct-drive) are available also.

The output electric power of a turbine depends largely on two factors: the area covered by the rotor - the larger the area the more the amount of electrical power, the tallness of the tower - tall towers uses the wind more efficiently hence produce more electrical power. In short, it is better to have a few land based wind energy turbines with a big rotor than to have dozens of small wind turbines. The largest modern land turbine today has a rotor with a diameter length of up to 126 m and produces around 5 to 6 MW units. The standard commercial land wind turbines produce between 1.5 MW to 3 MW

Cumulative rate of installed capacity since 2000 has risen to an average of 24% per year. For example, in 2012, 45 GW of new land wind turbines were installed across the global (in 50+ countries). The new investment in land based wind energy was 76.6 billion in 2012. They were four major clean energy financed projects in 2012 each producing a total of 216 to 400 MW of clean energy in the following three countries Belgium, UK and Germany. That investment was worth around 1.1 billion to 2.1 billion (equivalent to around 0.8 billion euros to 1.6 billion euros).

As the economies grow so does the land based wind energy. This type of energy has enjoyed a steady growth trend since 2008. For example, by 2012 the wind energy contributed 2.6 percent of power globally. The increase can also be attributed to technological advancements, need for clean energy, rising demand of electrical power, country visions, and long term benefits of wind power.

Finally, all the less effective old turbines are being replaced with more efficient modern turbines. A modern 80 m diameter, 2 MW rotor generates more power (5 to 6 times) than a 1995 turbine with 500kW, 40 m diameter rotor.

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Source: alt-energy-solutions.blogspot.com