How much energy do wind turbines create?

Answer 1

Two 5MW offshore wind turbines were built on the DEWI-OCC test field in Cuxhaven, Germany in December 2006.

A:Typically a wind turbine will produce between 5 and 8% of what they are rated for on average. Thus a 5 MWh plant should be able to produce 100,000 KWh each hour they are running. Most currently built systems are rated for 1 MWh in the United States so they typically will produce about 20,000 KWh of actual power. Wind systems are rated for average winds of 28 mph. If the average wind is 14 mph, they produce 10% of rated. If wind goes over 31 mph they produce no power and can consume energy to slow the blades. Feathering of blades does asist on reducing these issues, but doesn't eliminate them. A:A wind turbine in optimal winds generates its plate capacity. For example, a typical 3 MW wind turbine will generate 3 MW of electricity. An outdated but still moderately useful rule-of-thumb was that a megawatt would power a thousand homes; consumption is higher now so it's a little less than that, but still, a single 3 megawatt wind turbine will provide power in optimal winds to power close to 3000 homes.

Winds vary, however. A typical jurisdiction will see 30% on average of the plate capacity over the course of a year. Some jurisdictions, such as north-eastern Brazil, have excellent winds and see capacity factors of 50%. Wind turbines are very economically viable at 30% capacity factors and become more profitable at higher factors.

Except in very low or very high winds, wind turbines will usually be generating some electricity. They aren't just on or off.

These factors are taken into account by grid managers when planning and managing new generation, new transmission and operating the grid.

Most industrial wind turbines do take about their faceplate capacity from the grid for a few minutes at startup to get the rotors moving. This is trivial in comparison to hours, days or even weeks of continuous generation. In addition, as one wind turbine in a farm comes on line, it provides power to the very local grid to be used by the other wind turbines; the wind farm will typically boot itself up with significantly less than the number of wind turbines times the faceplate capacity from other sources.

A:Every wind turbine has a range of wind speeds, typically 30 to 55 mph, in which it will produce at its rated, or maximum, capacity. If the wind is in the ideal range for a 1.5-MW wind turbine, it will produce power at the rate of 1.5 MW, its rated, or maximum, capacity.

At slower wind speeds, however, the production falls off dramatically. Industry estimates project an annual output of 30-40%, but real-world experience shows that annual outputs of 15-30% of capacity are typical.