Can you guys help me about wind power?
Friday, August 21st, 2009 at
9:46 pm
What percentage of our national energy needs is being met by the wind power today?
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Tagged with: national energy • Wind Power
Filed under: Wind Power
You may not associate wind energy in India as a viable renewable energy source, yet some energy consulting services will support the use of wind power in India.
During 2001, India produced around 1000 MW of wind energy making it the third largest user of wind energy in the world.
India trails just behind Europe and the United States for the lead in renewable energy production from the winds energy source.
For India, renewable energy production such as wind power, plays a huge role in supporting future generations and providing them with a source of clean, low cost electricity.
The use of wind turbines globally is on the increase, yet some criticism in areas such as Britain is associated to the placement of some wind farms.
Some renewable energy experts are stating the efficiency of some wind farm developments is not economically viable, and the only reason for placement is due to government financial incentives, and meeting energy targets.
However you see the use of wind energy in Britain, India or anywhere else in the world for that matter, It is set to play a vital role in generating some of the future electricity demand.
The wind is there for everyone, it is renewable and reduces the costs of having to purchase expensive fossil fuels.
It is said that between 2020 and 2050, fossil fuel demands will push prices higher than we have ever seen, hopefully this will be the next big step to the more widespread use of renewable energy sources.
Wind energy in India is a viable renewable energy source.India is not just focusing on wind energy, and is currently investing in solar energy technologies due to the efficient location of India.
The use of solar energy in India has the potential to provide much of the population with not only electricity, but also hot water.
The current capacity of wind energy in India stands at around 7,000 MW (2007), this shows how the average annual increase of Indian wind energy is set at a fantastic 1,000 MW per year.
Mainly driven by the increase in energy demand, India faces to see a much larger capacity of wind energy production for the future.
Um, not enough?
The modern method of deploying wind power generation is by selling the power to the grid and consuming what you need by purchasing off the grid.
Currently, about 2% of our power is from wind generation but wind generation accounts for 35% of the power generation capacity being added to the grid. Wind generation is expected to account for 11% of power generation by the year 2020.
Since the wind rarely blows on demand, wind power may not exist at the time that you wish to consume it hence there’s an upper limit as to the percentage of power on the grid can be wind power before the grid becomes unstable. With today’s grid, the estimates of this limit is 20%.
In an ideal case, it could be as high as 50% but only if 50% is sufficient to meet maximum load. In general, it’s considered part of the base line power generation which usually consists of coal power generation which take some time to fire up hence the practical limit is 50% of the baseline.
Baseline is generation that matches the minimum load expected of the customer base. At first that seems a bit odd since the wind power must be matched with something that can be varied on demand like natural gas power generation but as the baseline plus the variable must be able to handle the maximum load, wind power is generally only allowed to displace baseline generation. In truth, it effectively displaces the natural gas generation but for design purposes is not allowed to displace more than the baseline can generate and hence is not included with the variable generation when managing the grid.
Basically if the wind doesn’t blow, something else has to generate the power hence every megawatt of wind generation capability must be matched with something that can provide the same when the wind isn’t blowing. However it would not be economical to have generation plants built with the intent of not using it (although that’s what Enron did) hence the limits stated as probable economic limits.
In general, wind tends to blow at night but energy tends to be consumed during the day. Solar power is the better solution in the long run as solar energy production is a better match to the consumer load patterns. The capital expense of solar is much more than with wind power.
Then there’s the issue of how many sites are suitable for wind power generation in terms of proximity to a load center, to transmission lines and in areas where wind speeds are reliable. These factors are expected to limit maximum wind power generation to a much lower percentage than the requirement for stand-by conventional units.
There are wind power farms in 32 American states, creating 45,000 jobs and saving emissions by 28 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.
In total, however, wind power provides a little more than 1% of U.S. electricity today.
Solar power is a good alternative but the production of silicon is not good for the environment.
Enron may have managed their company badly, but wind farms and wind farm placement could psychologically reduce our dependance on electricity (in general) and promote purchases like the lightweight "Krank" lamp – a mechanically hand-kranked lamp (no electrical cord) that has an LED light and is made of an entirely recyclable aluminum body.
One of the objections to wind farms is that they disrupt flight paths of birds, but systematic placement of wind farms will disrupt flight and migration patterns as much as building cities will.
Overall, alternative and renewable energy sources like hydrogen, wind, and hemp sound stupid and expensive, but in fact could change the way we think about our Earth in a very positive (and even lazy) way.