History

• Wind mills have been used for centuries around the globe for pumping water and milling grain. Windmills are most associated with Holland, where they have been used extensively.
• Modern usage of windmills to produce electricity was brought about mostly because of the oil crisis of 1973. As with solar power, the U.S. government gave large tax breaks to investors who funded windmill research and farms. Research departments of several companies took advantage of the tax credits and made huge progress in a short amount of time. Although they faced difficulty with durability early on they now feel that such problems have now been solved. Unfortunately in 1983 some large investors decided to set up large windmill farms using cheap windmills that ran at very disappointing rates. This along with a drop in government tax credits scared off many would be investors.
• This technology that is still so young is now being rejuvenated in the nineties.

Applications

• Wind power is dependant on so many factors that almost every situation is different. For instance, the technology and design of the mills is so important but there must be a balance between cost and design to make it feasible for investors and consumers. Even the best mills used in a bad location are useless. Proper wind surveying must be done to ensure the best site for the farms and so on.
• The better windmill units produce an average of about 350 kW, with a max output of 500 kW.
• Using the windmills in farms has proven to be most cost effective in light of the cost of installation and maintenance.
• Wind speed at the sight is an important factor because the energy produced by the windmill unit is directly proportional to the cube of the speed.
• 10,000 MW of electricity will be installed by the year 2000.
• With current technology and sites, wind power could provide over 20% of the global power supply.
• Wind generators already provide 2% of California'’s power.
• Unlike coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric plants that take years to build, wind fields can be put up in months.
• Agriculture can still take place in the midst of wind farms, between the units. This cannot be done while mining for coal, under solar cells, or in a nuclear safety zone.
• Wind generators are a completely clean and renewable source of power.
• The cost of energy from wind turbines to the consumer is about seven to nine cents per kilowatt hour, which is comperable to coal and nuclear rates.

Concerns

• A concern about wind power is the limited amount of high wind speed areas that are suitable for wind farms.
• Electromagnetic interference has been a worry, but by placing the fields out of the range of communication lines this can easily be avoided.
• Despite great advancements, the devises are still cause moderate noise. With consideration of the nearest population surrounding the farms the noise can be put out of hearing range of people.
• Although the visual impact was at first though to be a problem, but most people have actually embraced the windmill farms as an attractive scene.
• Still the largest concern inhibiting the growth of windmill power is the basic cost. First the basic cost of the turbines plus the cost of the land to develop. Then the cost of installation which depends on the terrain and the distance from the power grid has to be added in. Risking such a large amount of capital for a technology that still is considered new is hard for most investors to buy into. However, after the initial cost of setup, the capital needed to keep the wind turbines running is minimal.

Future One of the many options being looked into is making the output of the turbines constant for varying rotor speeds. This has resulted in an increase of 20% in power, but the turbines are more expensive. The use of off-shore sites has been looked at, but the high waves, salt erosion, and accessibility problems would mean an increase in costs of 40%. If, however, this was eventually developed then the increased wind speeds might offset the added expense. This option will be much more likely if wind turbines become proven on land first. The most effective way to increase the use of wind turbines is if the government would begin enticing would be investors by granting tax credits that make setting up such farms worth the risk and if the overall turbine technology increases enough to increase profits while decreasing the capital that needs to be invested.

Bibliography