Wind Turbines

Introduction

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
(click image to enlarge)

Wind can be harnessed using wind turbines to produce electricity. Wind turbine technology is advanced, and under appropriate conditions can be used to provide substantial power to an electrical grid or to furnish a remote, off-grid location with a significant portion of its power requirements.

Turbine Data

(click image to enlarge)

Horizontal-axis wind turbines can power a single home or be part of a massive wind farm that produces electricity in very large amounts. A small turbine used at a residence might have a 10 kilowatts (kW) capacity. Large turbines used in wind farms that generate commercial scale electrical power might have generating capacities up to 8000 kW.


An example of a wind farm that produces very large amounts of electricity is the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas. It has about 420 wind turbines that together generate about 735 megawatts (735,000 kW) of electricity.


Horizontal axis turbines can be as tall as a 20 story building and can have blades 100 feet long. The larger a turbine, the more electricity it can generate.