Wind is a potential major renewable energy source, along with solar energy. Wind turbines feature propeller-type blades that move with the air and power electric generators. Utilities can produce electrical power through many turbines that make up a wind farm. The largest wind turbines are about 300 feet across, and can generate enough electricity for 1,400 homes to be powered, while utility companies sometimes use turbines that are capable of producing anywhere from 50 to 750 kilowatts of electricity. Individual turbines for homes and businesses are generally 8 to 25 feet wide and produce less than 50 kilowatts of electricity.
While engineers can manufacture wind turbines with up to 50% efficiency as of 2011, it is not always windy even in places where high velocity air flow is common. More wind means more power, since the actual energy of moving air is calculated as the cube of the wind speed. That doesn’t mean wind turbines can just spin faster in storm-like conditions; they would blow apart. The machines, therefore, require a limiting mechanism for when the wind speeds reach a certain velocity.
Wind energy is cheaper than solar per watt of energy produced. Another advantage over solar is that it can be produced at night. Cost is an issue though, because the machinery and other equipment involved in wind energy and manufacturing of turbines have increased over the past 10 years. Operating expenses such as fuel use for generators, however, are lower than other technologies for generating power. This still does not account for the fact that wind energy is in an intermittent form, and wind turbines are best placed at sites far from cities with high power demand.
Solar power, most experts agree, is more prevalent as an available resource. It breaks even when intermittency is factored in because the sun doesn’t shine at night, but the cost per watt of solar energy, especially for home installations, is lower than wind. With all things considered, both solar and wind energy are being pursued in many countries. Europe and North America have explored both, while remote places such as South Africa are investing in both forms of renewable energy. Lending institution Standard Bank Group, Ltd. underwrote about $1 billion worth of projects for solar and wind energy, which includes 28 projects across that country, in December 2011.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has also revealed that China is building up its wind and solar power capacity. Over the next 10 years, that country is expected to install enough renewable energy facilities to equal the power output of 180 nuclear reactors. China is the largest energy consumer in the world, according to the IEA, and both wind turbines and photovoltaic modules for solar energy are expected to decline in price, according to the agency’s Chief Economist Fatih Birol.
Wind energy has lots of potential in the world renewable energy market. Can it outdo solar energy in terms of low costs and efficiency? The demand for both is significant and increasing, while fossil fuels are still the predominant energy source. Despite whether one takes the lead over another, experts say that the use of renewable energy can be sort of an escape route from rising energy prices, resulting from an eventual decline in output from traditional sources of energy. Both wind and solar power will likely be critical to the world economy and politics in the years and decades ahead.
