Innovative models of power equipment show that renewable energy has more benefits than traditional sources of energy. Unlike solar technology, wind requires turbines to generate electricity. However, wind systems also use less energy and it’s the kinetic energy of wind that provides its mechanical power. At night or on rainy days without sunshine, the efficiency of solar systems will decline. Let’s share other benefits that come with the option of wind turbines.
What is the efficacy of solar panels?
This depends on how well they measure the quantity of sunlight that is converted into actual electricity. For instance, if we call each of the solar radiation that falls onto a particular place on earth 100% energy, a solar panel system ought to have the ability to convert 15-20 per cent of that energy into electric power.
The best solar panels on the market, being brands like Sunpower and Panasonic convert around 21 per cent of the energy from sunlight to electricity. But frequently it’s more cost-effective to go with some of the bigger quantity brands and their typical multi-crystalline solar panels which have conversion efficiencies of around 16-17% in 2018.
What’s the efficiency of wind power?
Wind turbines can convert nearly half of the wind hitting them into electric power. The efficacy is measured by the actual amount of kinetic energy that is converted. The ultimate conversion rate is estimated to be approximately 60 per cent. If a turbine could absorb 100 per cent of the wind’s energy, then the blades of the turbine would automatically stop turning.
There are further limitations when converting wind into electricity due to the way electrical generators are designed and fabricated. They’re designed to only deal with a specific amount of energy at once. The typical electricity conversion rate currently peaks at about 45 per cent, but the maximum peak performance might be able to reach 50 per cent
Higher Energy Conversion Rate
When the wind is converted into energy, its maximum peak conversion rate is 50 per cent. The mechanical power that wind turbines produce is from the kinetic energy (energy in motion), but sol systems convert 21% of sunlight’s energy into power. It’s the moving parts (rotation of the turbine’s blades) of wind power systems that determine their efficiency. Don’t buy wind turbine equipment that has low-wind performance. An average turbine that’s efficient generates electricity by rotating at a speed of 5km/h. However, substandard wind turbines may not generate electricity until the spin at an average speed of 20km/h (12mph).
A 24-Hour Energy Generation System
Unlike solar energy, wind turbines can work at night and generate money if you sell wind power. The wind is renewable energy for large scale operations, but the wind turbine’s position should be high above any obstruction to utilize the flow of air in motion. Usually, large-scale wind turbines sell power to companies that use electricity from utility grids like some function rooms in Melbourne CBD. By connecting a wind turbine plant to transmission and distribution lines, businesses and schools in remote locations that are close to wind turbine sites can enjoy robust electrical power.
Cost-Effectiveness
Wind energy is a cheaper source than solar, and this cost-benefit makes the wind turbine technology an attractive option. Unlike solar that require a large surface area, engineers need a fraction of any land space to install the wind turbine plant. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the cheapest cost of a kilowatt-hour (kWh) for wind energy is $0.02. It’s a cheaper rate when you compare it to $0.03 per kilowatt-hour for solar energy. However, you might be wrong to think that this difference in rates is only a thin margin. In 2016, the retail giant – Amazon consumed over 410 megawatts of wind power in their office leasing companies, and was the biggest corporate consumer of renewable energy in the U.S. Consequently, it was a smart business decision for Amazon to utilize electricity from wind instead of solar.
It’s a More Sustainable Type of Renewable Energy
While solar radiation is at its highest intensity during summer months, the Earth rotation occurs every minute. By having around-the-clock electricity supply from wind turbines, you can achieve a higher proportion of sustainability than solar power. Generally, electricity from both sources of energy can be stored in batteries, but wind power often has simpler energy contracts. Over the years electricity generation from wind power has seen consistent investments from farmers and corporate buyers. As wind farms utilize electricity from their turbines, energy is also transferred to the grid before used to power up buildings like the conference venues in Melbourne. This sustainable strategy has attracted other users to sign long term agreements with owners of wind turbines.
Job Creation
The construction and maintenance of wind farm projects have led to thousands of job creation in the US. According to the 2016 employment and renewable energy contracts data from the department of labour, over 100,000 jobs were recorded. A greater percentage of these numbers of employed skilled workers were connected to wind farm projects in the manufacturing and service industries. While some percentage went to sales, installation, and maintenance of wind turbine plants. It’s expected that there will be close to 250,000 jobs in the wind sector by 2022.
Used Together
What’s keeping solar and wind power from fully taking over the electric grid? For starters, the sun only shines during the day. The wind blows intermittently, is seasonally variable, also is not constantly blowing when the energy is needed. But what if solar and the wind energy can work together? Personnel from the Department of Energy in the states says that the two systems tend to cooperate well together. For example, in Colorado, winter and spring have the windiest time without much sunshine. The other two seasons tend to have more sunshine with a weaker breeze. It is for these reasons that commercial property management companies admit using more solar energy during winter and spring, and wind energy during summer and autumn.
A couple of enterprising renewable energy developers are now exploring how solar and wind might better work together, developing hybrid — wind jobs to make the most of their power-generating strengths of each — together with the 2 technologies in tandem functioning as a better substitute for climate-warming fossil fuels than either could be alone.
