Fundamentals of Wind Power Generation

Using the energy of the wind to generate power has been an evolving technology for centuries in various forms. The earliest use of wind power was put to use in Persia and consisted of a windmill built with a vertical axis that used mats made of reeds for its blades. This early wind turbine was used mainly for the grinding of grain or pumping of water. Over the years these systems were refined and made larger to do even more work with wind power.

The modern commercial wind turbines used today to generate electricity were based on these early designs and simply connect the rotating shaft of the wind turbine to a generator that produces electricity when turned. The large commercial versions of these units require a very strong and consistent wind to keep them spinning and are usually located in fairly remote areas like costal settings or mountainous regions. As wind power became more economical, many of these wind turbine designs were adapted for residential use by homeowners.

The challenge with the first residential models of wind turbines was that they were simply scaled down versions of the larger commercial versions. The problem with this thinking was that even though the larger versions had gotten very good at utilizing the stronger winds found in remote locations, the wind patterns and intensity are much different in a neighborhood.

These residential winds tend to be smaller and more intermittent, which didn’t work well for these early designs. Also, to reach the stronger winds that these early wind turbine designs required, they had to be mounted on a large tower to get them above obstructions like homes and trees found in most neighborhoods.

In recent years these residential models have been redesigned to take better advantage of these unique wind patterns, and today do a great job of generating quite a lot of power in an average day. These newer wind turbine designs are also more efficient and will produce much more power than older versions from the same amount of wind. They do this through their ability to spin in lower velocity winds that older models would have missed.

This allows the turbine to spin for more of the day and generate a larger amount of power for the home. They are also more efficient in the design of their blades and generator, which allows them to generate a larger amount of power from each rotation. This means that they are not only spinning for more of the day, they are also producing more power from each rotation. This all adds up to a much more efficient wind power solution for any home.

The last thing that has helped the adoption of these modern residential wind power turbines is their compact designs. Because they are smaller than older models, they are easier to mount for most homeowners. In fact, many designs are small enough that they can be mounted directly to the home itself and eliminate the needs for a larger tower, which can save the homeowner even more money on installation costs.

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