How Wind Power Plants Work?

Just building a windmill in a windy place doesn’t mean that operating of wind power plant is simple. It’s necessary for wind power plant owners to plan carefully where to locate their machinery and also to check out that how fast and how much wind blows at proposed locations.

As it’s a rule that wind speed increases with altitude and over open areas that have no windbreaks. Good places for wind plants are the smooth rounded hills, open plains or shorelines and mountain gaps that produce wind funneling.

Wind Speed Variation

Throughout the United States wind speed varies and it also varies from season to season. As in Tehachapi, California, from April to October wind blows more than winter season. Wind blowing between those months is more because of the extreme heating of the Mojave Desert during the summer months. The hot air in desert rises and the cooler air from Pacific Ocean with great speed passes the Tehachapi Mountain to replace the vacuum. While in Montana State its totally different there wind blows more in winter.

Luckily these seasonal variations are a good match for the electricity demands of the regions. As in California electricity is used more in summers for using air conditioners and in Montana it’s used more in winters for heating.

The States with more Wind Production

In 2008 wind turbines or wind machines were producing electricity in 31 different States. In those 31 States Texas, California, Lowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma are the states with more wind production.

International Wind Power Plants

Most of wind power plants are located in Europe and in the United States the governments there had supported the wind power development. According to 2008 figures regarding wind power generation United States is on top in wind power capacity, followed by Germany, Spain and china. Denmark’s ranking is ninth in world in wind power generation, while it generates about 20% of its electricity from wind.

Offshore Wind Power

Conditions for wind power generations are suitable on much of the coasts of the United States but some people oppose that putting wind turbines near the coastlines and there are also some people who thinks that the wind turbines will spoil the view of ocean. That’s why there is plan now to build an offshore wind plant off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Wind is great renewable energy source and some people think that it is a good substitute for fossil oil. Most of all it does not pollute the environment.