WIND FARMING
Wind Is Solar Energy
Sun shines on the Earth, heating the
equatorial region the most. This causes
hot air to rise at the equator
HEAT
RISES
Air moves in from cooler areas above
and below the equator
HEAT
RISES
TR
W AD
IN E
DS
CLEVELAND
This in turn causes other air
to spin off in the opposite
direction giving Cleveland its
southwest “prevailing winds”
Wind Power Used in Agriculture Through the Ages
FIRST MILLENNIUM
Persia, China, and
Rome used blades
on a vertical axis to
mill grain.
MIDDLE AGES
Europe developed horizontal
axis machines to mill grain
and pump water. By 1850,
9000 windmills drained land
and milled grain in Holland.
1800s
Americans invented the first
self-directing, self-governing
windmill for use in the Plains
states, pumping water from
wells for farmers and railroad
stops to fill boilers.
1920s
Farmers used the same machines hooked to generators
to create electricity from wind. This largely ended by
World War II with the Rural Electrification Act
bringing power lines to rural areas.
2000
A whole new class of wind turbines–designed
specifically to generate electricity, and based
on lift rather than drag–allow farmers to make
more money harvesting the wind above their land than from
raising crops. Today these farms are prevalent in Iowa, Minnesota
and California.
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WIND FARMING
A Modern Wind Turbine
• Tower height is 160-200 feet!
• Each of the three blades is 100 feet long
• Each turbine can produce between 3,285,000 and 5,256,000
kilowatt hours of electricity per year depending on the wind.
This would supply between 548 and 876 homes
Note person for size reference
at the base of the turbine
• A large wind turbine costs $1.5 Million to install, or about
$1 per watt
Current Wind Generating Capacity
• For many years after the 1979 oil
crisis, the United States, lead by
California, was the world leader in
wind energy. In the 1990s, Europe
adopted wind energy as a clean,
unlimited energy source and
overtook the U.S. lead. Today, the
major installations are in:
- Germany
6000 MW
- United States
2600 MW
- Denmark
2200 MW
- Spain
2000 MW
1 MW = 1000 kilowatts
*For reference, the Perry Nuclear Plant is
approximately 1000 MW while the Painesville
coal-powered municipal plant is 43MW
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Recently, wind energy has started
to grow rapidly beyond California
to other states.
Walk to
t
h
base to e tower
wind sp see the
eed rea
dout
from a
height
of
107 f
eet !
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Measuring The Wind
A Wind Resource Assessment
The installation of a wind turbine requires site specific monitoring. Wind data needs to
be collected at the actual location where the wind turbine would be installed. That’s
because wind conditions at one site may be very different from conditions at a location
even a few miles away.
First in Ohio
This site, the first in the state of Ohio to assess wind for energy generation, was established
by Green Energy Ohio in 1996. It is one of several locations in N.E. Ohio where wind data
has been gathered by the group, to assess the potential for wind generated electricity. For
a complete summary of the wind potential, contact Green Energy Ohio. Look for our cards
by the green house.
Look up at the Tower, Anemometers Are Measuring Wind
• Tower base is approximately 1100 feet above sea level
• 40 meter tower (131 feet)
• 3 anemometers
– Measuring wind speed at three different heights: 81, 107 and 131 ft.
• 2 wind vanes
– Measuring direction at two different heights: 82 and 130 ft.
• 1 temperature sensor at 81 ft.
Look in the window of the green box mounted at the base of the tower to see
the data logger. You will see current wind speed & direction at 107 feet.
• The Data Logger records wind speed, wind direction, and temperature each
second and calculates and stores 10 minute averages
• The data is recorded on a special memory card and is downloaded to a computer
for analysis
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Harvesting The Wind
Wind Turbine
A Smaller Wind Turbine May Suit
Lake Metroparks at Lake Farmpark
• Lake Metroparks could supplement
electricity needs at Lake Farmpark when
the wind is available
• Power from the wind is a clean and
renewable resource
• Lake Metroparks could connect to the
electrical “grid” and generate income
by selling excess power back to the utility
• A wind turbine could supply backup
power to use during electrical outages
SOURCE:
PHOTO:
American Wind Energy Association
Courtesy of NEG Micon®
The closest wind turbines to Cleveland
are located in Garrett, PA.
What You Can Do!
• If you have available land, you can install your own small turbine or
photovoltaic system to generate electricity. Under Ohio’s deregulation
law, which took effect in January 2001, you can sell the electricity back
to the local utility at the price you pay to buy
• If you live in a Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) community
and get your electricity from Green Mountain Energy, contact them and
urge them to install an Ohio wind farm
• Join Green Energy Ohio to help promote renewable energy through
policy, practice and education
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