While driving cross-country nowadays, it is not hard every once in awhile to spot a large grouping of elegant windmills churning energy out, seemingly from nothing. The very first energy-producing windmills were quite different from today’s models. These were first constructed in the 1970s, in reaction to the way the oil prices in those days were through the roof. But such first-generation windmills hardly inspired confidence. Migrating birds and waterfowl frequently died courtesy of the whirling arms of those machines. They also required heavy-maintenance, and they did not work well in inclement weather.
Present day windmills from the likes of Suzlon and Vestas, although not perfect, are greatly improved over their primitive predecessors. They are also made of much lighter-weight materials, which contributes to greatly increased efficiency. In fact, they often generate 100s of times more power than the originals! So the next time you read some wind power facts which don’t sound especially appealing, bear in mind that those data may well have been generated based upon the old-style windmills, and not their newer cousins.
These days, an average windmill generates roughly two megawatts of power. While that is an impressive number, it doesn’t even come close to the what’s possible with windmill power generation. European windmills often attain twice the size and roughly three times the output of American windmills. Given the cost savings of operating a smaller number of windmills, this would equate to a much cheaper source of energy.
Of course, these super-sized windmills are not without their own problems. For example, merely getting them installed poses its own set of logistical issues. Since thier parts are larger, merely transporting them from the factory to the installation site is tricky. This is one important limiting factor regarding how large (and therefore how much power) we can expect to go with windmills.
However, there are other considerations in how productive a windmill can be besides size. Manufacturers are constantly fine tuning aspects of windmill design to reap maximum efficiency. From the size of the blades to their angles, and the rapidity with which it can track the wind, all of these factors play a role in how much, and how quickly, a windmill can generate power. Today’s laser-calibrated machines are a far cry from older models, and will likely only get more efficient as our ability to calibrate more finely increases.
Since windmills are continually exposed to weather of all kinds, the primary problem center in a windmill is always the gear box. Improvements are, of course, continually being made to this aspect of windmill design as well. For example, General Electric and Siemens have chosen to eliminate the gearbox by replacing it with a low-speed generator. We can expect similarly important steps to be made as our supply of fossil fuels dwindles and the need for wind power increases exponentially over the coming decades.