Wind Energy is the largest form of renewable energy generation with hundreds of giga-watts of electrical energy being generated around the world every year. But in order for wind turbine generators to generate such vast quantities of this free and sustainable energy, there has to be some wind. Wind turbines have been around for many years, with their energy capture design, efficiency and reliability improving dramatically. Ideally the rotational speed of wind turbines is almost constant and limited to a narrow range of wind speeds. So ensuring that their is enough wind speed at any given location is important for energy production
Wind power and the environment continues to be a discusion as we use the renewable energy sources available within the environment to power our lives. While wind power is a clean, sustainable and accepted alternative to burning fossil fuels, the environmental imapact of wind power on wildlife and their natural habitats must be taken into consideration when siting a new wind farm. Wind farms built for the production of electricity have the potential to impact the natural and urban environment affecting birds, bats and other fauna and flora at a specific site
Induction generators are electrical machines used in wind turbine and hydro turbine applications to generate electrical energy. Wind turbines operate over a wide range of wind speeds so any electrical generator attached to the turbines blades must also be able to operate at a variable rotational speed. Induction machines are asynchronous generators meaning that when it is driven or rotated at a higher speed than its synchronous speed, that is the rotational speed determined by the frequency of the supply, its torque will be negative so starts acting as a generator rather than a motor. Then operating an induction machine as a generator it is necessary to turn the machines rotor faster than the synchronous speed
Wind energy is the movement of the air through the earths lower atmosphere varying from zero velocity to high gusts so you would think it would be impossible to exploit this resource. But the world has an inexhaustible supply of free wind energy as every corner of the planet receives the effects of the moving wind at some time during the day. Also, due to annual variations from summer to winter, or geographic locations from flat desert lands to high mountain ranges, different parts of the planet receives more of the winds energy than others making it an important renewable energy source.
