Page 209 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition
P. 209
Life-Cycle Assessment of Wind Energy 197
Annual installed capacity by region 2007-2010
20000
18000 2007
16000 2008
14000 2009
12000 2010
MW 10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Africa & Asia Europe Latin America North Pacific
Middle East & Caribbean America Region
Fig. 2 Annual installed capacity by region 2007–2010
requirements for the connection of new wind farms are becoming increasingly
stringent. Continual efforts are being made to improve the integration of this type
of energy into the grid, with control systems being established to regulate the
reactive energy produced by wind farms, to vary the voltage or frequency supplied
by farms at the point of connection, or to prevent the complete disconnection of
wind farms when there are small voltage gaps in the grid, etc. This partly offsets
the negative effect of the noncontrollability of wind farms within the grid and at
the same time increases the wind energy capacity installed in the system, acting as
basic energy that enables the number of conventional power plants operating to be
reduced, or at least reducing the amount of fossil fuel required for their operation.
2 Wind Turbines
As mentioned, most of the wind turbines in use today for large-scale energy
production around the world are three-blade, horizontal-axis units. The basic
components of such turbines are shown in Fig. 3:
• Foundations
• Tower
• Nacelle
• Rotor