Page 311 - Electrician - TT (Volume 2)

ELECTRICIAN - CITS

Fig 1

Advantages

1 The wind energy is free, inexhaustible and does not need transportation.
2 Wind power plant on the other hand does not take long time to construct. Such wind mills will be highly
desirable & economical to the rural areas which are far away from the existing grids.
3 There is a strong reason why wind power should be welcome by grids which have some hydroelectricity inputs
in India. The water level in the hydel reservoir is at its lowest before the onset of the South West monsoon.
If less water is drawn during the monsoon, a high level could be maintained for longer period. During the
monsoon period wind energy can be used to feed the grid.
4 It is non polluting
5 It does not require high technology.
6 Electricity can be produced at a lower cost after installation.

Disadvantages
1 The major disadvantage associated in the wind power is that it is not constant and steady, which make the
complications in designing the whole plant.

2 The rotor blades of wind turbine generators must sweep out large areas to produce worthwhile amount of
power.
3 The wind is a very dangerous such storms can cause tremendous shear stresses which may spoil the whole
plant within no time. To avoid this, special and costly designs and controls are always required.
4 Among all the disadvantages mentioned above, the cost factor is the major which has restricted the development
of wind power on large scale for feeding to the existing grid. The estimated cost of wind electricity generation,
storage & distribution system is over 1 lakh rupees which may be considered beyond the means of most Indian
villages.

Modern wind machines are still wrestling with the problem of what to do when the wind is not blowing. Large
turbines are connected to the utility power network some other type of generator picks up the load when there is
no wind. Small turbines are often connected to diesel/electric generators or sometimes have a battery to store the
extra energy they collect when the wind is blowing hard.

The wind energy is utilized by means of a wind mill or a series of wind mills. A wind mill consists of few vanes
(normally 3 to 6) which rotate about their axis, when the wind blows against them. The rotational motion (i.e.
mechanical energy) thus created is utilized for various applications, such as,

1 Lifting water from the well
2 Battery charging
3 Water pumping
4 Operating a simple machine

5 Wind energy is used for agricultural& rural applications such as grinding flour mills, wood cutting saw, stone
crushers, mixers, water pumps and irrigation facility etc.

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CITS : Power - Electrician & Wireman - Lesson 106-116