Transcript Notes: Wind

 Welcome!
 Please get your interactive
notebook and read the board!
Harnessing the Wind – we’re
#1!
 Current largest wind
farm: Horse Hollow
Wind Energy Center
 421 wind turbines
 735 megawatts.
 47,000 acres of land in
Taylor and Nolan
County, Texas.
Texas’ next “cash crop”?
 500,000 Texas homes
currently, expanding 10
times in next decade
 In 2012, wind
generated 10,407
megawatts
 (1 megawatt = 500
homes)
 13% of state’s
electricity
Interactive notebook!
 Title: Wind Power
 Date: May 1
How does it work?
How does it work?
 Area swept by blades
can be size of 747 plane
 Tips of blades can be
going 200mph
 Height – 240ft (taller
than Statue of Liberty)
 Nacelle – size of
greyhound bus
How does it work?
World’s largest German turbine: (394-feet)
behemoth capable of generating 5 MW
 Need 8 mi/hr winds to
generate electricity; max
electrical production at 1518 mi/hr winds; turbines
cut off at 55 mi/hr winds
 Yaw motor – nacelle moves
to face turbine directly into
wind
Applications
 Typical wind farm:
100Megawatts (MW)
 Coal fired power plant
– 500-600 MW
 One 1.5MW turbine
could power about 350
homes/year
*The Grid connects electric
sources to consumers wind grid
So what if you currently have wind
electricity? Do your lights go out
on still days?
Best wind is in the morning, but peak
demand is in the afternoon 
Advantages
 No air pollution
 Can use land for
grazing
 Renewable
 Domestic
 Able to use current
electric grid
Disadvantages
 Land use – requires
space
 Bird and bat deaths
 Winds peak in morning
and March-May
Power up!
 www.texaseletricitychoice.com
Research: innovative wind
applications – what’s new?