Wind Turbines and Wind Farms

Wind turbines are very interesting. They serve a great purpose in giving us energy. We do not really realize it, but we have a lot of them nearby, and they are very helpful. First let me explain about how much wind energy Colorado produces, and what place it is in for using wind energy. Colorado produces about 775 mega watts(MW). One megawatt is one million watts. The average incandescent lightbulb uses about 60 watts, which means that that much power could light up about 12,916,666 incandescent light bulbs. That is a lot! Now, an average American household has around 50 incandescent light bulbs. That means that the wind energy Colorado produces can light up 258,333 houses.

Now I will explain about wind turbines. Wind turbines are the things on a wind farm that generate energy. A largest wind turbine in Colorado is about 400 feet tall. The span of the blades is the length of a football field. The nacelle (the box at the top that the blades are attached to) is about the size of a school bus, and the tower is thick enough that there are stairs inside for people to climb up. Here is how they work:

1. The wind turns the blades.

2. The spinning blades turn a shaft inside the nacelle( the box at the top of the turbine.)

3. The shaft goes into a gearbox which increases the rotation speed enough for...

4. The generator, which uses magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy into electrical energy.

5. The power output goes into a transformer, which converts the energy coming out of the generator at about 700 volts, to the right voltage for the distribution system, typically around 33,000 volts.

6. Then the energy is transmitted around the counry.

This is how energy is produced using wind turbines. In the United States, there are 54 wind farms. This may seem like a lot, but there are about 3,500,400 square miles in the United States. That means that on average, there are about 0.0000154 wind farms per square mile in the US, which is not very many. My hopes are that in future years, such as by the time tht I am an adult, there will be many more wind farms in the United States, hopefully at least 10 in each state, so that would make 500 wind farms in the United States. This is the end of my project on wind farms, wind turbines, and wind energy. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot about wind energy.