Wind energy

What is it?

We can say that it is the energy which takes advantage of wind to generate electricity. The most widespread technology is the one used on three-blade horizontal axis mills. Wind stirs the blades that move the mill axis, which is connected in turn to an electric generator that supplies the general grid. There are mills of other kinds, as the ones with a vertical axis but they are less used due to their poorer performance as compared to the three-bladed energy production.

They are usually found on mountain tops or in areas hit by constant wind. The installation of off-shore windmills is also under study – those on the coast but within the sea. It is a totally clean kind of energy and essentially profitable.

Apart from the large facilities, there are “domestic” wind generators of a small size, which happen to be really efficient in isolated rural off-grid areas in support of other installations like the solar photovoltaic ones, for example.

Advantages

• Wind energy is free and inexhaustible
• It is a profitable kind of energy
• It does not pollute or generate waste
• The production peaks take place when weather conditions are unstable, which is when demand peaks occur.

The sole inconvenient this type of energy show are linked to the landscape visual degradation where they are installed.