Electricity
Topic: Wind Turbine DesignObjective:Learn about some of the
factors that influence design of a wind turbine1Summary:Students
learn about wind speed and wind turbine location effect power
generation. Instructor InformationTopic: Wind Turbine
DesignMethodology:Direct instruction and
questioning2Differentiation:Different levels of questioning can be
provided to the studentsInstructor Information
Wind Turbine Design
Importance of the WIND RESOURCE4Why do windmills need to be high
in the sky?
5The higher we get the more faster and cleaner the wind are.
As you move closer to the earth the friction with the surface of
the earth causes the wind to slow down and to become more
turbulentbad things if you want to generate energy from the wind.
The nacelle of most commercial wind turbines is around 100
meters.Importance of Wind SpeedNo other factor is more important to
the amount of power available in the wind than the speed of the
wind
Power is a cubic function of wind speedV X V X V
20% increase in wind speed means 73% more power
Doubling wind speed means 8 times more power
6KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
7Everything is not Perfect!!8
It is a common complaint that wind turbines kill birds. While it
is true that turbines kill birds, this graph puts that in
perspective with other human technologies. 9Where is the wind?Where
are the population centers?Where are the wind farms?How do we get
wind energy from the wind farms to the population
centers?Transmission Problems
10Probably the largest issue facing Commercial Wind Energy is
transmission. It is typically windy where people dont want to live
so how will you get the power from where it is generated to where
the people live? Most people oppose new power line construction
vehemently.so this will be a touchy issue for a very long time.
Quick Fact: 1 mile of High Voltage transmission line can cost
upwards of $1 million!
