Renewable Energy - Wind Power

A wind turbine is an electricity generator on a tall tower driven by large blades pushed around by the force of the wind. A typical wind turbine can generate 2MW of electrical power.The kinetic energy per unit volume of air is ½ρv² where ρ is the density of the air.Typically wind turbine blades are 20m in length and rotate through a cross-section area of A=πr² which comes to 1300m²The density of air is 1.2kgm^-3 and the wind speed at v=15ms^-1 will have a power of ½ρAv³½ × 1.2 × 15³ ×1300This comes to 2.6MWThousands of wind turbines will be needed to generate the same power as a 5000MW power station that runs on fossil fuels and make a significant contribution to the UK's energy needs.