Once called windmills, the technology used to harness the power of wind has advanced significantly over the past ten years, with the United States increasing its wind power capacity 30% year over year. Wind turbines, as they are now called, collect and convert the kinetic energy that wind produces into electricity to help power the grid.
Wind energy is actually a byproduct of the sun. The sun’s uneven heating of the atmosphere, the earth’s irregular surfaces (mountains and valleys), and the planet's revolution around the sun all combine to create wind. Since wind is in plentiful supply, it’s a sustainable resource for as long as the sun’s rays heat the planet.
In addition, because wind power is a growing industry, it’s adding jobs to communities around the country. Currently, there are utility-scale wind plants in 41 states that have created more than 100,000 jobs for Americans
How Do We Get Our Wind Energy?
There are several ways to get power from wind energy. Wind turbines can be built on land, on lakes or in the ocean, in remote wilderness far from the power grid, within cities, or across vast plains. One wind turbine can power an individual home or farm, but several built close together form a wind energy plant, or wind farm. Wind plants can be land-based or offshore, and they can be hybrid plants (meaning, they include other sources of energy, such as solar energy). Wind energy researchers are trying to learn how many wind turbines built in which arrangements can maximize energy production in wind plants. Today, most grid-connected wind plants are at least 1 megawatt or larger. The biggest wind farm in the United States spans 100,000 acres (enough to cover half of New York City) and can power more than 250,000 homes.
With multiple wind turbines working together, land-based wind energy plants can provide power to the U.S. electric grid to power homes, businesses, and more. The 63-megawatt Dry Lake Wind Power Project in Arizona was the first utility-scale wind power project in the United States. Photo from Iberdrola Renewables
Distributed Wind Energy Powers Remote and Local Communities Distributed
wind energy is a distributed energy resource, meaning it produces a smaller-scale unit of power. In this case, it comprises one or more wind turbines, which range from a kilowatt to several megawatts in capacity. These typically land-based turbines operate locally to provide energy for individual buildings or small communities, though they can be connected to a power grid at the distribution level. Some wind turbines can even pop up as mobile, on-demand sources of clean power in disaster or defense scenarios.
Land-Based Wind Energy Is the Most Common
The majority of turbines are installed on land. And land-based wind energy is one of the lowest-cost sources of electricity generation, as highlighted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Researchers at NREL are categorizing wind resources on land and advancing wind turbines to more efficiently generate electricity at even lower cost.
Researchers at NREL are categorizing wind resources on land and advancing wind turbines to more efficiently generate electricity at even lower cost.
Why Do We Need Wind Energy?
Wind energy is one of the largest sources of clean, renewable energy in the United States, making it essential to a future carbon-free energy sector. Wind turbines do not release emissions that pollute our air or water, and they can be built with minimal impact to the environment or livelihoods of nearby residents. Farmers and ranchers, for example, can lease their land to wind farms and, because the turbines take up minimal space, continue to grow crops or raise livestock while earning a steady income. But wind energy can be even better.
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Reference:https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-wind.html#:~:text=Unlike%20fans%2C%20which%20use%20electricity,more%20clean%20energy%20than%20others.