The wind is a clean, free, and readily available renewable energy source. Each day, around the world, wind turbines are capturing the wind’s power and converting it to electricity. Wind power generation plays an increasingly important role in the way we power our world – in a clean, sustainable manner.
But how is wind energy created? Wind turbines allow us to harness the power of the wind and turn it into energy. When the wind blows, the turbine's blades spin clockwise, capturing energy. This triggers the main shaft of the wind turbine, connected to a gearbox within the nacelle, to spin. The gearbox sends that wind energy to the generator, converting it to electricity. Electricity then travels to a transformer, where voltage levels are adjusted to match with the grid.
source: What is Wind Energy | GE Renewable Energy
The Future of Wind energy
Collecting operational wind energy data from wind turbines and transforming it into valuable information helps increase revenue, reduce costs and lower risk for wind turbine operators. At GE, we provide data-driven wind energy analytics insights, expert recommendations and advanced field services—all integrated into a single software platform that allows us to optimize 15,000+ wind turbines across 12 different OEMs.
Check out our Digital solutions for wind assets, a suite of apps that work with our hardware and services solutions to leverage data and analytics—enhancing the efficiency, cybersecurity, reliability and profitability of your assets.
The Onshore wind
Global onshore wind power farms are expected to grow by more than 60 GW in 2019, and global capacity from onshore wind energy applications is projected to reach nearly 750 GW by 2022.
GE is harnessing this increasing onshore wind energy potential with a broad family of smart, modular turbines that are uniquely suited for a variety of wind environments. Our onshore wind power technology and services can help improve cost, capacity and performance over the life of your onshore wind power plant, and our newest turbines are equipped with a digital infrastructure that allows you to connect, monitor, predict and optimize unit and wind farm energy performance.
The Offshore wind
The offshore wind industry is projected to grow from 17 to 90 GW in the next decade, and offshore wind power is expected to account for 15 percent of the global wind industry going forward.
Recognizing this offshore wind energy potential, GE has invested more than $400 million to develop the most powerful offshore wind turbine—an investment that will also drive down offshore wind farms’ levelized cost of energy (LCOE), helping make offshore wind energy more competitive for our customers. The Haliade-X platform features offshore wind technology that will help our customers find success in an increasingly competitive environment.
Advantage
Clean & Environment friendly Fuel source:– It doesn’t pollute air like power plant relying on combustion of fossil fuel. It does not produce atmospheric emissions that cause acid rain or green house gases (carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4)). Noise and visual pollution are both environmental factors, but they don’t have a negative effect on the earth, water table or the quality of the air we breathe.
Disadvantage
Fluctuation of Wind and Good wind sites:– Wind energy has a drawback that it is not a constant energy source. Although wind energy is sustainable and will never run out, the wind isn’t always blowing. This can cause serious problems for wind turbine developers who will often spend significant time and money investigating whether or not a particular site is suitable for the generation of wind power. For a wind turbine to be efficient, the location where it is built needs to have an adequate supply of wind energy.
source: Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy – Power World Analysis
Question;
Is wind energy a good source of energy yes or no? State your opinion in the comment section.
Does wind energy is polluting our environment more than any other energy source?
Yes or no?
