The Wonderful Ways of Wind

Wind is everywhere. It’s what makes trees sway and kites fly. But did you know wind can also be used to power things and generate electricity?

Wind energy is the process of creating electricity by using the wind. Engineers developed wind turbines to convert the kinetic energy of the wind (energy of motion) into electrical energy. There are three types of wind energy: utility-scale wind, distributed wind, and offshore wind. The end goal of utility-scale wind is to generate enough electricity to a power grid that companies will be able to distribute the electricity to homes. The goal of distributed wind, or “small wind, is to directly power a home without connecting it to a power grid. Offshore wind is harvested by building wind turbines in bodies of water. The advantage to this is that they typically generate a lot more power.

So what are wind turbines and how do they work? Wind turbines are huge structures. They stand almost 300 feet tall, and have three blades. When the wind blows past a wind turbine, the turbine blades capture the kinetic energy from the wind and the blades rotate. This turns an internal shaft which turns a generator and creates electricity.

Offshore Wind Turbines

Picture Source: large.standford.edu