Time line of wind turbines
- The first windmill for electricity production
was built in 1887 Professor James Blyth of Anderson's College, Glasgow (now
Strathclyde University). The professor experimented with three different turbine
designs, the last of which is said to have powered his Scottish home for 25
years.
- Joe and Marcellus Jacobs open the
Jacobs Wind factory, producing wind turbine generators in 1927. The generators
are used on farms to charge batteries and power lighting.
- The first vertical axis wind turbine,
the Darrieus turbine, was invented by Frenchman George Darrieus who in 1931 has
it patented in the US. The design, often referred to as the "eggbeater
windmill", due to the appearance of its two or three blades, is still used
today.
- In 1941 the world's first megawatt wind
turbine was built and connected to the power grid in Castleton, Vermont. The
turbine has 75-foot blades and weighs 240 tons.
- In 1956 the Gedser wind turbine was built by
Johannes Juul, a former student of Poul la Cour. The 200kW, three-bladed turbine
inspired many later turbine designs, and Juul's invention - emergency
aerodynamic tip breaks – is still used in turbines today. The turbine operated
until 1967 and was refurbished in the mid 1970s at the request of
Nasa.
- In the 1970's The United States
government, led by Nasa, begins research into large commercial wind turbines.
Thirteen experimental turbines were put into operation and the research paved
the way for many of the multi-megawatt technologies used today.
- In 1980 the world's first windfarm consisting
of 20 turbines is built in New Hampshire. The windfarm however, was a failure as
the turbines broke down and the developers overestimated the wind
resource.
- In 1991 The first offshore windfarm was
created in Vindeby, in the southern part of Denmark. The windfarm consisted of
11 450kW turbines. The UK's first onshore windfarm was opened in Delabole,
Cornwall. The farm consisted of 10 turbines and produced enough energy for 2,700
homes.
- The EU sets the UK government a target to
increase the contribution of renewables to UK electricity to 20% by 2020 as
part of efforts to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance
energy security.
Plans to build one of Europe's largest onshore windfarms in the Outer Hebrides were rejected after Scottish ministers ruled the £500m scheme would devastate a globally significant peatland.
There are currently 186 operational windfarms in the UK (both onshore and offshore) with 2,120 turbines creating enough energy to power the equivalent of 1,523,052 homes and saving 6,156,175 tonnes of carbon. There are 42 in construction, with a further 134 consented and 268 in planning.
how we use it
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical power. A wind turbine used for charging batteries may be referred to as a wind charger.
The result of over a millennium of windmill development and modern engineering, today's wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis types. The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs. Slightly larger turbines can be used for making small contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, are becoming an increasingly important source of renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
The result of over a millennium of windmill development and modern engineering, today's wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis types. The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs. Slightly larger turbines can be used for making small contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, are becoming an increasingly important source of renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
how it works?
How wind turbines work starts with elementary physics. With the rising of hot air and the sinking of cooler air due to temperature change creates movements in the atmosphere… called WIND! The wind turbines simply take some kinetic energy of the wind as it hits the propellers on the wind turbine and converts it into electricity, Simplifying how the wind turbine makes the energy; as the propellers move from the wind it also helps rotate the shaft which helps to power the generator and create electricity. The generator consists of magnets and a conductor like coiled copper wire. The array of magnets is connected to the shaft and surrounds the coil of wire. When the magnets rotate around the copper wire it produces many different electrical potential creating voltage and an electric current. That is how it produces energy from wind.