How Wind Power Works

The world is not unaware of the imminent energy crisis that is raising its head with every passing day. The global energy demands have drastically increased in the last few decades and consequently the demands for alternative energy sources have also increased. Wind energy is a form of renewable energy source that has been used by men since time immemorial. As the technology has advanced, better ways and methods have been devised to harness the potential of wind power. The devices that are used to harness the potential of the wind energy are the wind turbines. These wind turbines are installed with the windmills in wind farms and then the wind energy is converted into the electrical energy that is used for various purposes. Understanding 'how do wind turbines work' involves knowing the mechanical aspect of the working of the wind turbines.

How Does Wind Power Work?

Wind as we all know is a form of moving energy. Precisely said, wind is a fluid in motion. This fluid consists of tiny gaseous particles that are invisible to the naked eyes. These gases or air, when move quickly, are called wind. To understand the working of wind power, we've to know the basics of the kinetic energy and motion. Motion is defined as the movement of particles in a certain direction and when some particles move faster they possess kinetic energy by the virtue of their speed and motion. The kinetic energy of the particles of air or the wind can be captured by specially designed wind turbines. The tapping of the kinetic energy by the winds is analogous to that of harnessing of the potential energy of the water in the hydroelectric dams. If you look at wind turbines, then you'll find that they're provided with turbine blades that are meant to intercept the winds passing through them. The moment the turbine blades capture the wind they start moving and the movement of turbine blades spins a shaft which further moves the rotor and eventually the generator converts the rotational energy into the electric energy. So, did you get the basics behind the working of wind power. Now, let's get into the interesting detail of 'how wind moves'. The essence of all energy on Earth directly or indirectly starts from the Sun and wind power is no exception to this fact.

When Sun's rays strike the land surface, the area around that land surface consisting of billions of air particles absorbs the heat of the sun. After a certain temperature when the air around the land mass gets warmer, the hotter air begins to rise quickly. It's a fact that a given volume of hotter air is lighter than that of the cooler air so the hotter air (called fast-moving air) rises faster. When the lighter air moves up, cooler air rushes to fill the gap and this air rushing to fill the gap is called wind.

While wind energy is a free gift from the nature, it is not very effective in areas where there are fluctuations in the weather. Although it can be used everywhere it is more productive in coastal areas where there are faster winds throughout major seasons of the year. Some of the self-evident advantages of wind power are that it is cost-effective and can be a major tool for the energy-saving process.

Understanding 'how wind power works' must have given you an insight into a very scientific aspect of energy, that is, in essence all energies can be transformed into each other using appropriate devices. Like, the mechanical power of winds is converted here into electrical energy. The fundamental law of energy which we've studied since our childhood aptly describes this, energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but it can be transferred from one body to the other.