Wind Power Turbine Generator – All You Need to Know about Wind Turbine Generators
The wind power turbine generator converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.
Wind turbine generators are a bit unusual, compared to other generating units you ordinarily find attached to the electrical grid. One reason is that the generator has to work with a power source (the wind turbine rotor) which supplies very fluctuating mechanical power (torque)
Wind Power turbine generator with large wind turbines (above 100-150 kW) has the voltage (tension) generated by the turbine is usually 690 V three-phase alternating current (AC). The current is subsequently sent through a transformer next to the wind turbine (or inside the tower) to raise the voltage to somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 volts, depending on the standard in the local electrical grid. Large manufacturers will supply both 50 Hz wind turbine models (for the electrical grids in most of the world) and 60 Hz models (for the electrical grid in America).
Wind Power turbine generator need cooling while they work. On most turbines this is accomplished by encapsulating the generator in a duct, using a large fan for air cooling, but a few manufacturers use water cooled generators. Water cooled generators may be built more compactly, which also gives some electrical efficiency advantages, but they require a radiator in the nacelle to get rid of the heat from the liquid cooling system.
If you connected a large wind turbine generator to the grid by flicking an ordinary switch, you would be quite likely to damage the generator, the gearbox and the current in the grid in the neighborhood.
Wind Power turbine generator with offshore wind turbines may have a slightly more favorable energy balance than onshore turbines, depending on local wind conditions. In Denmark and the Netherlands, where wind turbines onshore are typically placed in flat terrain, offshore wind turbines will generally yield some 50 per cent more energy than a turbine placed on a nearby onshore site. The reason is the low roughness of the sea surface.
On the other hand, the construction and installation of foundations require 50 per cent more energy than onshore turbines. It should be remembered, however, that offshore wind turbines have a longer expected lifetime than onshore turbines, in the region of 25 to 30 years. The reason is that the low turbulence at sea gives lower fatigue loads on the wind turbines.
No landscape is ever completely quiet. Birds and human activities emit sound, and at winds speeds around 4-7 m/s and up the noise from the wind in leaves, shrubs, trees, masts etc. will gradually mask (drown out) any potential sound from e.g. wind turbines.
This makes it extremely difficult to measure sound from wind turbines accurately. At wind speeds of around 8 m/s and above, it generally becomes a quite abstruse issue to discuss sound emissions from modern wind turbines, since background noise will generally mask any turbine noise completely.
As you move from a 150 kW machine to a 600 kW machine, prices will roughly triple, rather than quadruple. The reason is, that there are economies of scale up to a certain point, e.g. the amount of manpower involved in building a 150 kW machine is not very different from what is required to build a 600 kW machine. E.g. the safety features, and the amount of electronics required running a small or a large machine is roughly the same. There may also be (some) economies of scale in operating wind parks rater than individual turbines, although such economies tend to be rather limited.
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