Advantages

The advantages of wind energy are more apparent than the disadvantages.

 The main advantages include an unlimited, free, renewable resource (the

wind itself), economic value, maintenance cost, and placement of wind
harvesting facilities. First and foremost, wind is an unlimited, free,
renewable resource.
 Wind is a natural occurrence and harvesting the kinetic energy of wind
doesn't affect currents or wind cycles in any way.
 Next, harvesting wind power is a clean, non-polluting way to generate
electricity. Unlike other types of power plants, it emits no air pollutants or
greenhouse gases.
 The wind turbines harmlessly generate electricity from wind passing by.
Wind energy is far more ecofriendly than the burning of fossil fuels for
electricity

The two major disadvantages of wind power include initial cost and technology
immaturity.

 Aesthetic impact: Many people are concerned with the visual effects that
wind turbines have on the beautiful scenery of nature. They believe that
giant wind turbines distract viewers from the beautiful surroundings. Fig. 2
shows just how big wind turbines can be.
 Wildlife: Wind turbines may be dangerous to flying animals. Many birds and
bats have been killed by flying into the rotors. Experts are now conducting
research to learn more about the effects that wind turbines have on marine
habitats.
 Remoteness of location: Although this may be an advantage (placing wind
turbines in desolate areas, far away from people), it may also be a
disadvantage. The cost of travel and maintenance on the turbines increases
and is time consuming. Offshore wind turbines require boats and can be
dangerous to manage.
 Noise: Some wind turbines tend to generate a lot of noise which can be
unpleasant
 Safety at Sea: In the darkness/at night it may be difficult for incoming boats
to see wind turbines thus leading to collisions.
Definition of angle of pitch
The angle between two planes one of which includes the lateral axis of an airplane
and the direction of the relative wind and the other of which includes the lateral
and the longitudinal axes that in normal flight is measured between the
longitudinal axis and the direction of the relative wind and that is positive when
the nose of the airplane rises

Infinite bus
Infinite Bus Concept

Figure 1: Infinite bus f and U plot

The infinite bus is a useful concept that summarizes how most people already view
the power grid. It can be applied when the power grid is sufficiently large that the
action of any one user or generator will not affect the operation of the power grid.
In an infinite bus:

 1. System frequency is constant, independent of power flow

 2. System voltage is constant, independent of reactive power consumed or
supplied
 Renewable energy?
 Renewable energy is that energy which is collected from renewable
resources, such as rain, sunlight, wind, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.
 A Renewable Non-Polluting Resource
 Wind energy is a free, renewable resource, so no matter how much is used
today, there will still be the same supply in the future. Wind energy is also a
source of clean, non-polluting, electricity. Unlike conventional power plants,
wind plants emit no air pollutants or greenhouse gases. According to the U.S.
 Department of Energy, in 1990, California's wind power plants offset the
emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 15 million
pounds of other pollutants that would have otherwise been produced. It
would take a forest of 90 million to 175 million trees to provide the same air
quality.
 Cost Issues
 Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past
10 years, the technology requires a higher initial investment than fossil-
fueled generators. Roughly 80% of the cost is the machinery, with the
balance being site preparation and installation. If wind generating systems
are compared with fossil-fueled systems on a "life-cycle" cost basis (counting
fuel and operating expenses for the life of the generator), however, wind
costs are much more competitive with other generating technologies
because there is no fuel to purchase and minimal operating expenses.
 Environmental Concerns
 Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment
compared to fossil fuel power plants, there is some concern over
the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (visual) impacts, and birds
and bats having been killed (avian/bat mortality) by flying into the rotors.
Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through
technological development or by properly siting wind plants.
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 Supply and Transport Issues
 The major challenge to using wind as a source of power is that it
is intermittent and does not always blow when electricity is needed. Wind
cannot be stored (although wind-generated electricity can be stored, if
batteries are used), and not all winds can be harnessed to meet the timing
of electricity demands. Further, good wind sites are often located in remote
locations far from areas of electric power demand (such as cities). Finally,
wind resource development may compete with other uses for the land, and
those alternative uses may be more highly valued than electricity
generation. However, wind turbines can be located on land that is also used
for grazing or even farming.