KNC 4283 ENERGY RESOURCES AND APPLICATION

ASSIGNMENT 1

WIND ENERGY FOR ENERGY PRODUCTION

by

Jolene Diandra James 47014

Sim Siew Ming 48927
Bong Sook Nee 46416
Wong Teck Shan 49452
Ong Cheng Ee 48665

Bachelor of Engineering with Honours

(Chemical Engineering)
2018
 Table of Content

Page

1.0 Type of Energy 1

2.0 Applications 2

3.0 Advantage 4

4.0 Disadvantage 6

5.0 Geographical Considerations 7

6.0 Ethical Considerations 9

7.0 Conclusion 12

8.0 Reference 12
1.0 Type of Energy

Due to the depletion of energy resources in recent years, there are greatly increased in

popularity of using renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal energy in generating

electricity. According to Bratley, J. (2017), wind power become more popular after a Scottish

academic - James Bltyh created the first electricity generating turbine in the year of 1887 to

generate electricity for the lighting purpose.

Basically, wind energy is a type of renewable energy that utilise wind to generate

mechanical energy by moving the wind turbine. As the turbine moving, the mechanical energy

will be converted into electrical energy. In simpler words, wind energy is the process that used

wind turbine to generate electricity (Energy4me, 2015).

A wind turbine consists of propeller blades that convert the energy in the wind to

rotational shaft energy. Besides, it also has a gearbox and a generator in rotating housing; and

a tower that supports the rotor and drive train (Wind Energy EIS, 2018). Figure 1.0 shows the

tall tower with a large propeller blade on top. The wind will move the propeller blade round and

thus the kinetic of the propeller will be converted into mechanical energy. The mechanical

energy will then turn a generator to generate electricity. In order to produce more electricity,

more towers are tend to be built together to make a wind farm (Refer Figure 2.0) (Darvill, A.

2016).

Figure 1.0: Tall tower with a large propeller blade on top (Darvill, A. 2016)

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 Figure 2.0: Wind farm (Darvill, A. 2016)

2.0 Application

Wind energy is known as the kinetic energy of moving air. In energy conversion system,

wind energy is commonly being converted into various type of energy such as electrical energy

and mechanical energy. This renewable energy can reduce and replace the usage of non-

renewable energy. Generally, wind energy can be applied in various fields, such as industrial,

agriculture, transportation and sports (Your Article Library, 2018; Green Diary, 2018).

a) Industrial

Nowadays, many small scale industries prefer to apply hybrid power system, which

consist of renewable energy and non-renewable energy for operating the industry. Wind energy

is commonly being chosen for electricity generation. By using windmill and wind turbine, wind

energy can convert the kinetic energy to electrical energy by rotating the propellers to spin the

turbine which able to generate electricity.

b) Agriculture

In term of agriculture, plants watering is a major issue in order to ensure the growth

healthy growth of the plants. By installing the multi-blade windmill, wind energy can operate

and force the water pump to draw water from the water source. The kinetic energy of wind is

converted into mechanical energy to control the water pump.

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 c) Transportation

Wind energy can be used for moving vehicles such as sailboat, small ship, cargo ship as

well as car. For sailboat, wind energy is able to move the boat by applying force on the main

sail and headsail. The direction of moving can be adjusted by controlling the stays and shrouds.

For car, cargo ships and others, wind energy able to move these vehicles with the aid of huge

kite. In the meanwhile, when car is moving by the wind energy, the car batteries can be charged

and the power generated from wind energy is stored to run the car when there is lack of wind

energy.

d) Sports

Generally, there is a number of sports which conducted by relying on the wind power.

These sports are commonly known as wind sport. For example, kite, parasailing and

paragliding, wind surfing, sailing, hot air balloon and others. Wind sports required non-rigid air

foil to work together along with the wind power. The kinetic energy of the wind is the main

source which power the wind sport.

Wind energy is popular as it is an environmental friendly renewable energy resources.

However, there are some factors which will affect the performance of the wind energy. The

main factor which affects the efficiency of wind power are the wind potential, wind acceptor

location as well as the condition of air (Alberta, 2018). Table 1.0 shows the description on each

of the factors.

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 Table 1.0: Factor affecting wind power performance

Factor Description

Wind Potential In order for the wind energy system to function, adequate supply of wind

must be present as varies flowrate of wind supply will affect the

performance. The minimum requirement for the system to operate

smoothly is the average wind spend of 15 km/h. The wind speeds up to 25

km/h will be good and preferable.

Wind Acceptor The windmill should not be located at location which near to the trees or

Location hills as these can interfere the rotation of the rotors. Low wind velocity

indirectly reduced the output energy of the wind system.

Condition of In term of weather, more wind power is generated in summer compare to

air in winter time. This is due to the condition of the air. Air is commonly

denser in winter when comparing to summer. Denser air has higher kinetic

energy. In term of pressure, low air pressure creates less dense air. Thus,

higher altitude location with higher air pressure can obtained higher wind

power.

3.0 Advantage

Wind energy has continuously provided the world with the option of sustainable and

renewable energy. Its large potential in supplying clean power causes scientists from US

Department of Energy to consistently find ways to efficiently harness wind energy. In 2008, a

team of researchers from US Department of Energy stated that wind energy has the capability

in supplying 20% of the world electricity by 2030 provided that the technologies are advanced

and efficient enough (US DOE, 2008). The following shows the advantages in embracing wind

energy:

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 a) Inexhaustible, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Source

Wind energy is a renewable, sustainable energy that is generated from natural resources

and is replenished naturally. Unlike fossil fuel, wind is constantly available and shall never run

out for as long as the sun still shines. Wind energy can be harnessed and converted to power

across the grid. Fossil fuel is projected to only last in the next 50 years, making wind energy as

an ideal source of renewable energy.

b) Clean and Environmental Friendly

Wind energy is one of the most green energy sources available as it does not produce or

emit any greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane) or toxic fumes (such as carbon

monoxide and sulfur dioxide). According to American Wind Energy Association (2014), wind

energy has reduced the carbon dioxide emission from the direct power-sector by 115 million

metric tons, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emission of 20 million cars. To that effect,

the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions were also reduced by 157,00 metric tons and

97,000 metric tons. As a result, wind turbines do not produce atmospheric emission that causes

health problems in humans.

c) Cost Effective

Wind is a completely free natural resource, where, as previously mentioned, it never

runs out, and can be freely utilized by anyone. In comparison to other energy sources, land-

based wind utility offers one of the cheapest energy sources, which costs between 2 and 6 cents

per kWh (US DOE, 2018). In 2013, the wind power purchase agreements were signed, where

the average levelized price was estimated to be 2.5 cents per kWh (Wiser & Bolinger, 2014).

d) Low Operational Costs

Since wind is free and there are no purchase costs for fuel, wind energy systems

generally have a low operational expenses. The nonexistent fuel costs in wind energy system

protects its consumers from fluctuating price uncertainty such as in traditional fuel sources (coal,

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natural gas). Its capital is primarily on the installation project of commercial wind turbine and

maintenance work to ensure the turbines are working properly.

4.0 Disadvantage

Despite the numerous benefits of wind energy, it also has its disadvantages and

challenges that need to be addressed. Some of the major disadvantages are listed in the

following:

a) Relies Completely on Wind Availability

While wind cannot be depleted, it is not always readily available with high wind speed

in certain parts of the world. Due to geographical location and weather condition, there will

only be electricity when there is enough wind blowing to move the turbine blades. Therefore,

wind energy is not entirely reliable as it is expected stop producing electricity every now and

then. Moreover, good wind sites are usually located in the remote areas – far away from the

cities, where electricity is needed the most (Jaber, 2013). Consequently, transmission lines need

to be installed to transfer the power from the wind sites to the city. While this may solve the

issue, it will also, however, incur a hefty installation cost to build the power lines.

b) Fluctuate (Volatile) and Intermittent Supply

Similar to solar energy, wind energy has the same disadvantage where it is not a

constantly available energy source. Wind is extremely volatile and not uniform in its pattern.

The wind intensity varies by geographical location throughout the year and hours of the day. In

order to produce the correct amount of electricity, the wind turbines need to spin at the right

pace. When there is barely any wind blowing, the wind turbines are rendered useless, as there

will be no electricity produced. As a result, prior to setting up a wind farm, year-long research

need to be conducted to make sure the location is appropriately windy throughout the season.

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 c) Threatens Wildlife

Spinning wind turbines has been reported to increase the mortality rate of flying animals,

as birds and bats keep flying into the moving blades (US DOE, 2018). According to

Environment Canada, there were an estimated of 45,000 bird deaths due to the collisions with

the turbine blades over the past 20 years (Nature Canada, 2018). The deaths of wild birds still

persisted even though some attempts have been made such as painting the blades in conspicuous

colours so that the birds can see and avoid them.

d) Noise Pollution

Wind energy system also negatively influences human health and wellbeing,

particularly those living near the wind farm as they are affected by the noise produced by the

spinning wind turbines. The noises from wind turbines are mainly due to mechanical noise from

the gearbox and generator as well as aerodynamic noise caused by the collisions between the

blades and the wind (Jaber, 2013). Therefore, the wind farm need to be set up far away from

residential/ populated areas and this further limits the amount of locations that the wind farm

can be built.

5.0 Geographical Considerations

There are various factors that need to be taking into consideration in deciding the

location of the wind turbines:

a) Strong & Steady Winds

According to Darvill, A. (2016), the average wind speed need to be around 25 km/hr in

order to generate electricity from the wind turbine. Hence, the wind farm must build in a place

with strong, frequent and steady winds such as at coastal area, at the top of rounded hills, at

open plains and gaps in mountains. In United States, most wind farms are built between

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Midwest and the West Coast in the region of that country. It is because fastest winds occur at

that region and this make them the best place to build wind turbine (Brenner, L., 2018).

b) Power Grid Access

The wind farms and turbines should be built in unpopulated areas with inexpensive

access to power grids. Even though some places such as across the Great Plains are suitable to

build wind farm, however the problem arose when extra costs are needed to build transmission

lines and equipment in order to access the power grid. In addition, it is not worthy to build the

wind farm if the cost needed for power grid access exceed the overall benefits that we can obtain

(Brenner, L., 2018).

c) Noise

Furthermore, wind farm should not be work in crowded residential areas since the noise

pollutions created by the turbines will bother human life. According to Darvill, A. (2016), the

wind generator will produce a constant, low, "swooshing" noise at day and night. Thus, wind

farm should not be built near to residential areas. The wind turbine should build at least 300

meters far from the residential areas so that the decibel level of the wind turbine is acceptable

by the residents in which the noise will not annoyed the residents at the place (refer Figure 3.0).

Figure 3.0: Decibel level of a wind turbine (Darvill, A., 2016)

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 d) Turbine Height

Since there is more wind at higher elevations, thus the height of the wind turbine has

significant effect on the amount of wind it receives. In addition, the taller the turbine height, the

furthest away it is from the obstacles. Thus, more wind is available to move the turbine. This

means that turbine height can affect the amount of electricity generated by the turbine. By

referring to Figure 4.0, as the tower height increases, the wind power also increases (Wind

Solar Energy.ORG, 2010). Hence, the taller the wind turbine, the higher the efficiency of it

(Brenner, L., 2018).

Figure 4.0: The effect of tower height towards the wind power (Wind Solar Energy.ORG,

2010)

6.0 Ethical Considerations

Wind energy is a renewable energy that converts the kinetic energy from the wind into

the electricity. In European countries, the wind energy has become an important energy source

that generates the electricity in order to meet the energy demand of the country. It can be clearly

shown in Figure 5.0. The power generation capacity in European countries has been increased

throughout the years. According to Wind Europe (2017), the wind energy has become the

second largest energy source that used for power generation in 2016.

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Figure 5.0: The total power generation capacity in European countries (Wind Europe, 2017).

However, it cannot be denied that there have ethical issues involved when the wind

energy used as the energy source for power generation. According to Knopper and Ollson

(2011), the wind energy can affect human health in two ways which are the design of the wind

turbine and the sound pollution from the wind turbine. In order to convert the wind energy to

the electricity, the wind turbine is the first device to collect the kinetic energy from the wind.

In European countries, the wind farm is established in order to generate a large scale of

electricity. The wind farm is the land that consists of a group of wind turbines for power

generation. For the improper design of the wind turbine, it can bring the hazards to the

surrounding. For instance, ice throw and structural failure of the wind turbine can cause serious

hazards to the people nearby and the passing vehicles (Krogh et al., 2014). In order to reduce

the risk, a standardized methodology is developed to determine the risk of ice throw and blade

failure (Megavind, 2016). From there, the precaution or control measures need to be

documented and developed.

Besides, the wind turbine can produce noise during the power generation which it has

the potential to bring the impact on human health. The residential area near to the wind farm

suffers to the noise from the wind farm. This can disturb the sleeping of the people nearby and

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annoy the people. According to Krogh et al. (2014), dizziness, problems with memory and

concentration are the examples of the symptoms after exposure to noise of wind turbine for a

long period. In Demark, the noise limit from the wind turbine is set as shown in Table 2.0. By

this way, the constructor will take into consideration before the development of wind farm.

Table 2.0: Noise limit of the wind turbine in Demark (Megavind, 2016).

Noise limits, dBA Wind speed

Outdoor, <15m from dwellings 6 m/s 8 m/s

Houses in the open country 42 44

Residential areas 37 39

Low frequency noise 10-160Hz 20 20

Inside a house

In addition, implementation of the wind turbine can bring the effects to the animal,

especially birds. The effects include collision fatalities and loss of habitats (Department of

Conservation, 2009). By referring to the same source, there are many raptors collide with the

turbine at Altamont Pass in California and Tarifa in Spain. This is due to the inappropriate of

scale and location of the wind farm. When a larger of wind farm established, it will cause

habitats of birds lost. According to Department of Conservation (2009), the wind farm located

near to Napier contains 75 turbines and it occupies 30 km2. The land has been taken to install

the turbine and access road for electricity generation. In European Union, Birds Directive has

been established in order to protect the habitats of the species through the development of a

network of Special Protection Areas. In the directive, it clearly state that the member states

should not carry out the activities which can bring the negative effect to the bird (Hansen, 2011).

In order to minimize the negative effect of the wind farm development, a Guidance Document

has been developed. In the document, it specifies the use of strategic planning, marine spatial

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planning and suitability analysis (Hansen, 2011). By this way, the wind farm can be developed

at the suitable location for power generation at the same time it doesn’t bring huge impact to

human health.

Last but not least, the wind turbine can affect the proper operation of radar (Megavind,

2016). The radar system normally has been installed at the airport which used to monitor the air

traffic. When the radar is affected by the wind turbine, the radar system cannot monitor the

condition and lead to produce false signals. By this way, it can cause a serious incident. The

second gap-fill radar should be installed as the supplement in order to prevent the problem.

7.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, wind energy as one of the major renewable energy is beneficial to the

environment as well as human being. Besides, wind energy is cost effective and required low

operational cost. This renewable energy can be applied in various fields such as industrial,

agriculture, transportation, sports and others. In general, wind energy function by converting

the kinetic energy of the moving air to either mechanical energy for water pumping or electrical

energy for electricity supply. In order to install the wind energy system, geographical and ethical

should take into consideration. Several factors which included in the geographical consideration

are the power grid access, noise, turbine height as well as the stability and velocity of wind.

Ethical consideration focused on the effect of wind energy system to the community,

environment and human being.

8.0 References

Alberta. (2018). Application of wind energy: Wind resources. Retrieved from

https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/eng4445

American Wind Energy Association. (2014). US Wind Industry Annual Market Report 2013.

Retrieved from https://www.awea.org/amr2013

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Bratley, J. (2017). The uses of wind energy. Retrieved from https://www.clean-energy-

ideas.com/wind/wind-energy/uses-of-wind-energy

Brenner, L. (2018). The best places to put wind turbines to produce electricity. Retrieved from

https://sciencing.com/places-wind-turbines-produce-electricity-5159049.html

Chris, L. (2005). Wind power plants in Xinjiang, China. Retrieved from

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cats-eye-view/58448250/

Darvill, A. (2016). Energy resources: Wind power. Retrieved from

http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/wind.htm

Department of Conservation. (2009). Impacts of wind farms on birds: A review. Retrieved from

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/sfc289entire.pdf

Energy4me. (2015). Wind energy. Retrieved from http://energy4me.org/all-about-energy/what-

is-energy/energy-sources/wind-energy/

Green Diary. (2018). 5 innovative uses of wind energy. Retrieved from

https://greendiary.com/5-innovative-wind-energy.html

Hansen, H. S. (2011). Obstacles for wind energy development due to EU legislation. Retrieved

from http://www.southbaltic-offshore.eu/news/imgs-

media/Legal_obstacles_for_wind_energy_due_to_EU_legislation_HSH_December_2

011.pdf

Jaber, S. (2013). Environmental impacts of wind energy. Journal of Clean Energy Technologies,

1(3), 251-254.

Knopper, L. D., & Ollson, C. A. (2011). Health effects and wind turbines: A review of the

literature. Environmental Health, 10(78), 1-10.

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Krogh, C. M., Jeffrey, R. D., Aramini, J., & Horner, B. (2014). Wind turbines can harm humans:

a case study. Front Public Health, 2(63): 1-54.

Megavind. (2016). Technological solutions to reduce the environmental impacts of wind-energy

systems. Retrieved from

https://ens.dk/sites/ens.dk/files/Forskning_og_udvikling/technological_solutions_to_re

duce_the_environmental_impacts_of_wind-energy_systems_2016.pdf

Nature Canada. (2018). Wind turbines. Retrieved from http://naturecanada.ca/initiatives/save-

bird-lives/wind-turbines/

US Department of Energy (US DOE). (2008). 20% wind energy by 2030: Increasing wind

energy’s contribution to US electricity supply. Retrieved from

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/20-wind-energy-2030-increasing-wind-energys-

contribution-us-electricity-supply

US Department of Energy (US DOE). (2018). Advantages and challenges of wind energy.

Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-

energy

Wind Energy EIS. (2018). Wind energy basics. Retrieved from

http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/

Wind European. (2017). Wind in power 2017. Retrieved from https://windeurope.org/wp-

content/uploads/files/about-wind/statistics/WindEurope-Annual-Statistics-2017.pdf

Wind Solar Energy.ORG. (2010). Best locations for wind power. Retrieved from

http://www.windsolarenergy.org/map-of-best-locations-for-wind-power.htm

Wiser, R., & Bolinger, M. (2014). 2013 Wind Technologies Market Report. U.S. Retrieved from

http://energy.gov/eere/wind/downloads/2013-wind-technologies-market-report

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Your Article Library. (2018). Wind energy and its application. Retrieved from

http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/paragraphs/wind-energy-and-its-application/477

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