Wind Energy–Dramatic Technological Advancement

Struthers Resource Stock Report (10/28/2009)
"When I last talked about the technology advancements with wind energy in my August 31 issue, it was quite simplistic and conservative when I compared wind turbines and the energy output had advanced, increasing 15 times (1,500%). It is actually a lot higher and there is a good article on the American Wind Association web site that gives all the facts and numbers at this link.

In the past 20 years, the cost of wind power has fallen approx. 90%.

Wind speed is important and is a big factor in the value of one wind farm project over another.

'The energy that can be tapped from the wind is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, so a slight increase in wind speed results in a large increase in electricity generation. Consider two sites, one with an average wind speed of 14 miles per hour (mph) and the other with average winds of 16 mph. All other things being equal, a wind turbine at the second site will generate nearly 50% more electricity than it would at the first location.'

The key element of technology advancement is the tower height (wind is stronger higher above ground level) and the windswept area of the turbine blades (larger turbines) - basic but important.

'The taller the turbine tower and the larger the area swept by the blades, the more powerful and productive the turbine. The swept area of a turbine rotor (a circle) is a function of the square of the blade length (the circle's radius). Therefore, a fivefold increase in rotor diameter (from 10 meters on a 25-kW turbine like those built in the 1980s to 50 meters on a 750-kW turbine common today) yields a 55-fold increase in yearly electricity output, partly because the swept area is 25 times larger and partly because the tower height has increased substantially, and wind speeds increase with distance from the ground.'

So you can see from this that the advancement is much greater than I talked about—an increase of 55 times or 5,500% from the 1980s to early 2000s."

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