World Wind Power Production 

  • There are many thousands of wind turbines operating, with a total capacity of 73,904 MW.
  • By 2010, the World Wind Energy Association expects 160GW of capacity to be installed worldwide
  • Net growth rate of more than 21% per year.
  • Denmark committed to produce half of the country's power by wind.
  • Denmark generates nearly one-fifth off its electricity with wind turbines -- the highest percentage of any country -- and is fifth in the world in total wind power generation
  • Germany is the leading producer of wind power, with 28% of the total world capacity in 2006 and a total output of 38.5 TWh in 2007 (6.3% of German electricity)
  • Germany has 18,600 wind turbines including three of the biggest in the world,
  1. Enercon (6 MW),
  2. Multibrid (5 MW)
  3. Repower (5 MW)
  • Spain approved a new national goal for installed wind power capacity of 20,000 MW in 2010.
  • The United States has added more wind energy to its grid than any other country. U.S. wind power capacity grew by 45% to 16.8 gigawatts in 2007. Texas has become the largest wind energy producing state, surpassing California.
  • According to the American Wind Energy Association, wind will generate enough electricity in 2008 to power about1% of total electricity in U.S. (compare this with Denmark)
  • GE has made the world's largest offshore wind turbine by coast of Ireland
  • France aims to have 12 GW of wind power by 2010.

 Safety

  • When a turbine's brake fails, the turbine can spin freely until it disintegrates or catches fire. This problem is resolved by improved model designs.
  • Turbine blades may fail spontaneously due to manufacturing flaws.
  • Lightning strikes are a common problem, also causing rotor blade damage and fires. When ejected, pieces of broken blade and ice can be thrown hundreds of meters away.
  • Though no one has every been killed by a broken turbine, several people have been injured.

Noise Levels

FPL Energy was sued but it won a case stating that the noise levels from wind turbines are not excessive. The highest reading was 44 decibels, which is about the same as a 10 mile/hour wind.

Bird Killers

Wind turbines do kill birds but it is insignificant compare to other human-caused bird deaths. In the United States, turbines kill 70,000 birds per year, compared to 57 million killed by cars and 97.5 million killed by collisions with plate glass. 

<--  A wind turbine in England, producing electricity for amount one thousand homes

Economics

  • EROI is strongly proportional to turbine size.
  • The cost of wind energy has decreased five fold since the 1980s due to larger turbines and better designs.
  • wind power has a low marginal cost and a high proportion of capital cost.
  • Cost per unit of energy is comparable to the cost of new generating capacity in the United States for coal and natural gas: wind cost was estimated at $55.80 per MWh, coal at $53.10/MWh and natural gas at $52.50. However electricity prices are highly regulated worldwide, and in many locations may not reflect the full cost of production, let alone indirect subsidies or negative externalities.
  • The marginal cost of wind energy once a plant is constructed is usually less than 1 cent per kilowatt-hour.
  • The energy used for construction is produced by the wind turbine within a few months of operation.  

 

 

 

 

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Cool Technology

Wind Dam - Popular Science