Wind Power An Introduction
The distribution of heat from the Sun is not uniform throughout the atmosphere. Differences in temperature lead to differences in pressure which, in turn, cause air to move from place to place and we experience these movements as the blowing of the wind. Mankind has harnessed the power of the wind for milling grain and pumping water since time in memorium and electricity was first generated by wind power as long ago as the 19th century. Wind power is a clean renewable form of energy with no chemical or radioactive emissions and is receiving renewed interest across the globe.
Wind speed increases with height above the surface of the Earth. In fact wind power is proportional to cube of the wind speed so a small increase in wind speed results in a relatively large increase in wind power. The most common method of deriving energy from the wind, therefore, is from wind turbines mounted on tall towers or masts up to 200' high in some cases and collectively known as a "wind farm".
At the time of writing there are a total of over 170 wind farms in the United Kingdom comprising over 2,000 individual turbines and generating over 2,500MW of electricity per annum. Indeed the United Kingdom is ideally positioned, geographically, to take advantage of renewable wind power. The British Government has recently unveiled plans for a £100 billion investment in renewable energy which could result in the construction of thousands of wind turbines across the country in the next 10 years.