Woteva Online Buyers Guide

Wind Power Limitations

Wind Power Limitations need to be considered when choosing this form of green energy because on the whole, Wind Power is not as efficient as people would like to think. As such, you should question the viability of wind turbines for your home because such data as that shown below would certainly question Wind Power replacing a central main power station.

This section is quite technical but extremely interesting and explains what the Wind Power Limitations are all about;

Not all of the 'kinetic energy' (power) of the wind can be harnessed because some of it will spill off the blades.
The maximum theoretical efficiency obtained by the blades is approximately 59% (for all you technical people this is the energy extracted divided by energy available in the captured wind area).
The maximum actual efficiency obtainable with a 'propeller type' windmill is much less than the theoretical coming in at closer to 47%
Item 3 above is also dependant on the blade tip speed being 5-6 times the wind velocity.
For a given rotor speed, this velocity drops rapidly as the wind speed decreases.

To be more specific regarding Wind Power Limitations, and, without going into all the technical jargon and losing everyone (including myself) this means that the maximum energy achieved by a rotor with a 30 meter diameter in a wind speed of 14 meters per second would be 690 kilowatts.

Having said this, here is where it gets very interesting because when the wind speed drops to 7 meters per second, which is down by 50%, the power output drops to 86 kilowatts which is down by 82%.

To put Wind Turbines and Wind Power Limitations into perspective - replacing a central power station with an output of one million kilowatts there would need to be more than 17,000 wind turbines installed. (Information correct at time of going to print based on present day technology)

A 21st century wind farm in the California Central Valley
(Photo courtesy of 'Wikipedidia-Wind Farm")

A wind farm such as the one shown above, could not be imagined with 17,000 turbines erected to make up one farm let alone the land it would consume for such little gain.

Needless to say the ideal position for any wind farm would need to be in an area which would reduce Wind Power Limitations to a minimum, for instance, in a location where wind is reasonably consistent such as near mountain passes.

Needless to say with the above statistics the Wind Farm industry has brought with it, its own unique issues which have only added to the already perceived 'is it worth it' attitude by creating a great deal of controversy over being thought by many as a 'blot on the landscape'.

Unfortunately, where consistent winds are usually found is within some of the most pristine landscape in any country (open and unobstructed) which is usually untouched having no buildings to interfere with the wind.

In Denmark, United Kingdom and the U.S along with some other countries they have adopted the challenge of installing wind farms offshore as shown in the photo below.

Wind Power Limitations Offshore

When Wind Power Limitations are coupled with the need to find suitable sites it is reasonable to assume that Wind Power, in its present form, will neither replace or even play a major role in power generation for the industrialised world in which we live, it will always need to be subsidised with other sources of power.

In some ways Wind Power at home does have the same issues to consider but they do not play a major restriction within that setting.

In the home setting there is always the main grid to fall back on in calm conditions and, should you generate excess electricity on a windy day, you can be reimbursed by putting power back into the grid. So, in the home setting, all in all it would be a win, win situation for Residential Windmills with hardly any Wind Power Limitations.