WIND ENERGY

Introduction
The cost of electricity generated from wind turbines is now comparable to the cost of
electricity produced by fossil-fuel-generators. It seems likely that wind power will become a
substantial source of electrical power around the world and could therefore contribute to
reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emissions. At the end of 2001, the United States had an installed
wind generating capacity of about 4,200 megawatts and the world’s total was
24,000 megawatts . The American Wind Energy Association estimates the world total wind
energy installed capacity at the end of 2002 will be 30,000 megawatts . By 2003, wind power
will account for about 21% of Denmark’s electricity production . According to their “Plan
21,” Denmark intends to get 50% of its electrical power from wind by 2030. As a point of
5
reference, the electrical generating capacity of the US is about 9 x 10 MW ([3], p. 12).
Wind energy is one of the renewable means of electricity generation that is part of the
worldwide discussion on the future of energy generation and use and consequent effects on the
environment. We believe that there should be wider participation in this important debate,
including more technically well-educated people such as members of the APS. There are many
research problems that could be attacked by physicists, including, for example, materials for
turbine vanes (limits wind turbine size), semiconductor materials and power electronics for
electric power conditioning, and long-distance electrical transmission (superconducting
transmission lines). In this report we discuss basic technical and economic aspects of wind
energy and hope to provide a helpful guide to some important issues and literature relevant to
this technology.

Wind
The sun warms the Earth’s surface by variable amounts at different locations, thereby
creating differential pressures which initiate air motions. Thus wind is a manifestation of solar
energy. Heating is greatest at the equator, and, in the upper layers of the atmosphere, air flows
away from the equator. In the northern hemisphere, the Coriolis effect continuously forces air to
the right of its current motion (the opposite is true in the southern hemisphere). At about 30º
latitude, the air moving northward from the equator in the upper atmosphere descends to lower
levels and forms a zonal latitude region of high surface air pressure. There are other large-scale
circulation structures between 30º and the poles. These high-altitude airflows above about
1-3 km are not affected by frictional forces induced by interactions at the Earth’s surface.
“Surface” winds (below about 1-3 km) are very much affected by surface roughness and
obstacles. Mountains, valleys and other topographic features can concentrate and increase wind
velocities. At a seacoast during the day, air expands and rises over hotter land surfaces and flows
out to sea in the upper atmosphere, and air at lower levels moves from the sea to the land,

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producing a cool “sea breeze.” At night, the flow reverses, and the prevailing shore winds near
the surface blow from land to the sea.
The power available from moving air is proportional to the cube of the wind velocity.
This can be seen simply as follows. If one considers a mass of moving air, its kinetic energy is
proportional to the square of the velocity. The power is then proportional to how much air passes
the wind turbine per unit time, i.e.,
1 3
P(v)  Av
[1]
2
where A is the airflow cross-section, is the air density and v is the air velocity.
As the air passes through the plane of the turbine vanes, it slows down and therefore must
spread out, as there is no significant compression.
The wind turbine cannot take all of energy from the moving air, since the air would then
have to stop dead. It was shown in 1919 by Albert Betz that, for any wind turbine, the optimum
energy extraction occurs when the wind speed behind the turbine is 1/3 the incident wind speed,
in which case a theoretical maximum of 59% of the energy of the moving air can be extracted
([6], Chapter 4). Wind turbines using aerodynamically-designed rotor blades can achieve
absolute efficiencies as high as 45-50% ([6], Chapter 5”).
The distribution of wind speeds can often be approximated by a Weibull/Rayleigh
distribution f (v) ~ v exp v ([6], p 455ff). We choose normalization constants for this
2

distribution so that f (v) dv 1
. v  v 2 
f (v, v0)  2 v02 exp  [2]
 4 v0 2

 
v0 is the average velocity, i.e.
v v f (v, v0) dv v0 . It is interesting to note that the Rayleigh
distribution is the distribution of the rms value of Gaussian random noise.
Wind “classes” are set at varying levels of wind power and corresponding speeds shown
in Table 1. These are calculated from the Rayleigh distribution, that is, the “wind power density”
(col. 2) is calculated as
Pwr density P(v) f (v, v0) dv . In general, wind power is economical
for areas with wind class 4 or greater with a possibility of extending the useful range to class 3.
Table 1. Wind classes at 50 m height showing power density per
unit area

Wind Power Class Wind Power Rayleigh Average

2
Density (W/m ) Wind Speed (m/s)
1 0-200 0-5.6
2 200-300 5.6-6.4
3 300-400 6.4-7.0
4 400-500 7.0-7.5
5 500-600 7.5-8.0

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6 600-800 8.0-8.8
7 800-2000 8.8-11.9

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Wind Turbines
The most common modern wind turbine design is a metal tower with a three-bladed rotor
(see Fig. 1 below).

Fig. 1. NEG Micon 1.5 MW wind turbine, 68 m diameter rotor, tubular

steel tower. Blades are made of fiberglass. The rotor blades can be
turned to optimize power and the entire tower is rotated to face the wind.
([5], “Megawatt-Sized Wind Turbines”)
The rotor blades for large turbines are generally fiberglass/epoxy composites with some
admixture of carbon fiber. The latter is expensive but does offer strength advantages, and may be
used increasingly in future designs . The height of the tower can vary from about 1.5X to 3X
the rotor radius. It is important to get the bottom of the blades well clear of the ground (or water
surface, if the wind turbines are installed offshore) to avoid wind shear, that is, a differential
airflow between the ground and upper parts of the rotor. Making the tower higher obviously adds
cost and exacerbates potential problems of strength of the tower. Commonly, the tower direction
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is actively controlled (rotated) so that the rotor faces into the wind. The design with rotor
downwind from the tower has the disadvantage that the blades are shielded from the wind by the
tower when they are pointed downward, and this creates additional strain on the rotor. The rotor
design and operation is strongly based on experience with propeller-driven aircraft.
The nacelle (enclosure directly attached to the rotor) contains a gearbox and one or more
generators. For large wind turbines, the rotor rotates about 20 to 40 rpm. The gearbox then gets a
high-speed shaft rotating at about 1500 rpm. The high-speed shaft is then connected to an
electrical generator .
There are generally two ways to generate electrical power. One approach controls the
rotational speed of the wind turbine in order to synchronize the electrical output with the power
grid. The second allows the wind turbine speed to vary and produces ac electrical power at
changing frequency. This power is then rectified to DC, “inverted” back to AC (synchronized to
the grid) using thyristors or large transistors to a few hundred volts, and then raised again to
10kV to 30kV by transformers for transmission. The first method is simpler but has the
disadvantage that it does not allow the wind turbine to be operated at its maximum efficiency at
every wind speed. The second approach allows the turbine to operate most efficiently at the cost
of expensive electronics .
Wind turbine parts are designed for 20-30-year life, including storms [6]. That means
approximately 120,000 to 180,000 hours of operation (assuming a 66% duty cycle). Cars last
about 5,000 hours.
Wind turbines and wind turbine farms are closely monitored and computer controlled.
Hundreds of parameters may be recorded, including wind speed and direction, voltage and
current output, wind turbine direction, temperatures in various parts of the wind turbine system
and so on. The tower must be automatically turned to keep the turbine facing into the wind, and
the blade angles must be set to maximize the power extracted from the wind. Depending on the
details of electrical generation, the wind turbine and electrical system must be monitored and
controlled in order to smoothly transfer power to the grid
Making wind turbines larger is desirable economically, and wind turbine sizes are slowly
increasing. The limitations are, among other things, strength and durability of materials for the
rotors and towers.
Table 2 shows the rotor diameter of wind turbines as a function of their power ratings.
Table 2. Rotor design diameters for wind
turbines of varying power ratings. ([5],
“Size of Wind Turbines.”)
Power Rating (kW) Rotor Diameter (m)
300 27-33
500 33-40
600 40-44
750 44-48
1000 48-54
1500 54-64
2000 64-72
2500 72-80

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Power Curve
As indicated above, the power available from a moving air mass is proportional to the
cube of the air velocity. The exact details of power output depend on the design and operation of
the blades, generators etc.
Figure 2 shows a power curve for a 600 kW wind turbine. ([5], “The Power Curve of a
Wind Turbine”). At a wind speed of about 15 m/s, the blades are adjusted to limit the power to
about 600 kW. If the wind reaches 25 m/s, the turbine is shut down. (1 m/s = 2.24 mi/hr.)

600
Output Power (kW)

500
400
300
200
100 A
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Wind Velocity (m/s)
Absolute Efficiency (%)

3
0

2
0

1 B
0

0
0 5 1 15 2 25
0
Wind Velocity 0
(m/s)
Figure 2. A) Power output for a 600 kW wind turbine. (Data digitized
from [5], “The Power Curve of a Wind Turbine”) B) Absolute efficiency of
600 kW wind turbine: power output (graph A) divided by total power in
moving air mass.

We can find the net efficiency for power production by multiplying the Rayleigh wind
distribution (Eq. 2) by the turbine power curve (Fig. 2A) and integrating. We then get the

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relative efficiency curve shown in Fig. 3, which is the fraction of rated power for the average
wind speed on the x-axis.

Relative Efficiency (%)

60
Wind Class 3 4 5
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Wind Velocity (m/s)

Figure 3. % rated power of 600 kW wind turbine for wind strength

classes 3, 4 and 5 for wind turbine curve shown in Figure 2A (See Table
1). The horizontal axis is the average wind velocity at a given site
assuming a Rayleigh distribution of wind velocity values.

It can be seen from the graph that the relative efficiency of this wind turbine is about 20%
in class 3, 25% for class 4 and about 30% for class 5. Some turbines operate at up to 35%
relative efficiency. ([5], “The Power Coefficient”; [9], Fact Sheet 14, “Efficiency and
Performance.”)
Wind turbines are usually specified at their maximum output. As indicated above, wind
turbines generally operate at about 20-35% of their rated capacity, whereas fossil fuel electricity
generators are designed to operate at full capacity and often do so. This is significant in
understanding potential electrical power as a function of installed wind capacity and in
considering the economics of wind power.

Issues and Concerns

Wind turbines are tall (as much as 100-150 m high) manmade structures, which some
people believe spoil the landscape, and therefore resist their establishment. There are often
strong winds near seacoasts or in mountains, and wind turbines in these settings can be
controversial
Noise
There are two sources of noise from wind turbines: mechanical noise, from the gearbox;
and aerodynamic noise, from the rotating rotor. ([6], Ch 17; [8]; [12]; [5]: Designing for Low
Mechanical Noise from Wind Turbines; Designing for Low Aerodynamic Noise from Wind
Turbines; Sound from Wind Turbines.) Present-day gearboxes have been carefully designed and
muffled to minimize noise, and modern, large wind turbines actually have less noise than
smaller, older ones. This is because the rotors on large turbines go slower than those on small

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 th
turbines, and the amount of noise is proportional to the 5 power of the angular velocity (, pg
84; “Designing for Low Aerodynamic Noise from Wind Turbines).
The amount of noise from modern turbines is low. Figure 4 below shows the spectrum of
a wind turbine operating at 920 kW ([6], p 60; If we apply scaling (from ref [6], pg 541), then
the sound level will increase to 60 dB at a distance of about 66 m. 60 dB is about the noise level
of a normal working office.

45

40

35
Noise Level, dB

30

25

20

15
63

125

250

500

1000

2000

4000
920 kW Wind Turbine Noise Spectrum 200 m downwind from turbine. Total noise 50 dB.
1/3 Octave Bands

.Figure 5. Noise spectrum from WKA-60 turbine on Heligoland; [13])

Reference [5] says that for a ~1.5-2 MW generator, the noise level directly underneath is
55 dB. About 100 m away it is about 50 dB.) ([5], Sound from Wind Turbines: Noise is a Minor
Problem Today.”) If necessary, rotor speeds may be purposely limited to reduce noise . In
some circumstances, the background wind noise can be enough to mask the turbine noise
There has been a significant problem with bird kills, particularly raptors, in Altamont
Pass in California. In general, it would appear that bird collisions with wind turbines are a
site-specific problem. Some possible solutions include: don’t place wind turbines in places
frequented by large numbers of birds (migration, food supply); try to make turbines and turbine
blades more visible so birds will avoid them; reduce perching opportunities, for example,
changing turbine towers from “latticework” towers to steel tubular towers.
Turbine robustness and reliability
Wind turbine rotor blades are subject to cyclic loading every revolution, which can cause
material fatigue. The blades can also fail under extreme weather conditions. The composite rotor
blades are a critical part of the wind turbine system that limits, for example, the overall size and
consequent cost-effectiveness of wind energy

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Wind Power Now: The World
Table 3 shows the world market at this time. Germany has the greatest total capacity,
while Denmark has the greatest fraction (20%) of its electricity generated by wind ([5], “Wind
Energy News from Denmark”). Denmark plans to install 5500 MW capacity by 2030, which will
then generate 50% of their electricity. Italy has a goal of 2500 MW by 2008-2012, Netherlands
2000 MW by 2007, Spain 10,000 MW by 2010. ([9], Fact Sheet 9, “The International Market”)
Germany has over 11,000 wind turbines. Its installed base represents 3.5% of its electric
power generation and it is planning to install up to 5000 turbines off its north coast. Some would
be located up to 45 km off the coast [16].

Table 3. Installed Wind Energy (January 2002). The bigger number from the two
references was used to compile this table. ([9], Fact Sheet 9, “The International Market”;
[17].)

Country MW Country MW Country MW

Germany 8754 Greece 273 Costa Rica 51
United States 4240 Japan 250 Ukraine 40
Spain 3337 Canada 200 Finland 39
Denmark 2417 Ireland 132 New Zealand 37
India 1426 Portugal 127 Belgium 31
Italy 697 Egypt 125 Brazil 20
Netherlands 493 Austria 94 Turkey 20
United Kingdom 474 France 87 Norway 17
China 361 Australia 74 Rest of world 118
Sweden 290 Morocco 54 Total 24278

Wind Power Now: The United States

United States
As shown in the table above, the United States presently has about 4240 MW of electrical
wind energy capacity. In comparison, the electrical generating capacity of the US is about
5
9 x 10 MW (, p. 12). A list of wind energy projects throughout the country can be found at
reference . There are a various economic incentives that encourage wind power, including the
Production Tax Credit (PTC, extended to the end of 2003) which provides a 1.5 ¢/kWh tax
credit for wind-generated electricity [19].
At the present time the comprehensive energy bill is being negotiated between House and
Senate versions. Both contain an extension of the PTC through 2006
Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are one means that thegovernment can use to
increase the use of renewable energy sources. While included in the massive Energy Policy bill
th
of the 107 Congress that died in conference (there was a 10% RPS in the Senate bill but not in
the House bill RPS is more common at the state level where it has been instituted in a
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 The exact costs of wind energy can further depend on other factors, such as location (land
or sea), wind speed, distance to power lines, etc. It appears that wind-generated electricity costs
are comparable to, if slightly higher than, fossil fuel generation costs. The picture is further
complicated by the existence of subsidies, tax breaks and requirements for renewables-generated
electricity such as RPS. Wind energy has many attractive features so that many governmental
entities in the US and abroad are willing to pay the extra price, and wind-generated electricity is
being installed in quantity in many places around the world. So cost, at this stage, is not a major
obstacle. This high level of activity provides an opportunity for wind energy technology to
improve and costs to decrease, which could make wind energy more competitive.
For one example of economic analysis of wind energy, reference [29] quotes a Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory study [30] which concludes that a 50 MW wind farm would
produce electricity at about 5¢ per kWh compared to 3.7¢ per kWh for gas-produced electricity.
Further information about economics can be found in [6] and [31].

Commercial Activity
Wind turbine manufacturing is spread around the world, including Europe, the United
States, India and China. Table 4 shows the ten largest manufacturers. About 45% of total
capacity is made by Danish companies.
Table 4. Leading wind turbine manufacturers ([32], data
originally from BTM Consult ApS).
2001 2001
2001 2001
Total Total
MW Marke
Installe installed
Sold t
d MW share
Share
Vestas (Denmark) 1648 24.1% 4983 20.0%
Enercon (Germany) 1036 15.2% 3206 12.9%
NEG Micon
874 12.8% 4510 18.1%
(Denmark)
Enron/GE (US)* 865 12.7% 2288 9.2%
Gamesa (Spain) 648 9.5% 2125 8.5%
Bonus (Denmark) 593 8.7% 2306 9.3%
Nordex (Germany) 461 6.7% 1473 5.9%
MADE (Spain) 191 2.8% 783 3.1%
Mitsubishi (Japan) 178 2.6% 558 2.2%
REpower (Germany) 133 1.9% 379 1.5%
Others 448 6.6% 3482 14.0%
Total 7075 26,092

* Note—GE purchased Enron Wind Power in May 2002.

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The Future
Wind electricity generation is a healthy and growing international industry. The Danish
consulting company BTM estimates that worldwide business will grow 16% over the next five
years with sales volume estimated at almost $38 billion [33]. Denmark, Germany, Spain, and
other European countries have ambitious plans for wind power expansion.
The United States wind energy capacity grew faster than that of the world market in 2001
and will continue to increase. The present wind power electricity production is about 0.5% of the
US total, but has been growing at 30% per year for the past 5 years [34]. A single gas generating
plant can produce from 200-500 MW of power, which is equivalent to 800-1500 MW of wind
energy assuming a capacity factor of 25%. In order to produce such sizable amounts of
electricity, then, it will be necessary to create installations each with hundreds of wind turbines
of 1 MW and higher. As mentioned above, there are some examples of these, and it will take
time to solve all the engineering problems associated with such large sites.
It is interesting to consider the role of wind power in the very long run and what fraction
of world and US power it is likely to provide. Reference [34] mentions that the European Union
predicts that wind power could supply 12% of the world’s energy by 2020.
In principle, there is enough wind energy in the Great Plains states to provide 150% of
US electricity [35]. Given the fluctuations of wind, 100% would not be practical. Denmark is
aiming for 50% by 2030 so it will be interesting to see if that is a good choice. Creating a large
electrical resource in the Great Plains states would pose the problem of transmission to distant
population centers. Perhaps this is an opportunity for HTS superconducting transmission lines
[36]. Alternatively, some of the copious electrical power produced in remote locations could be
used to produce hydrogen for the “hydrogen economy.”
There are many aspects of science and technology that must be explored in order to
optimize the potential of wind energy. These include, but are not limited to, research on: better
materials for rotor blades [37]; aerodynamics of rotor blades; improved power semiconductors
for power conditioning; superconducting power transmission lines [36]. Reference [38] has a list
of wind energy employer links for the USA.

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