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Advantages and Challenges of Wind Energy
Wind energy offers many advantages, which explains why it's one of the fastest-growing energy sources in the world. To further expand wind energy’s capabilities and community benefits, researchers are working to address technical and socio-economic challenges in support of a robust energy future.
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Learn more about ongoing research to take advantage of these benefits and tackle wind energy challenges.
Advantages of Wind Power
- Wind power creates good-paying jobs. There are nearly 150,000 people working in the U.S. wind industry across all 50 states, and that number continues to grow. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, wind turbine service technicians are the fastest growing U.S. job of the decade. Offering career opportunities ranging from blade fabricator to asset manager, the wind industry has the potential to support hundreds of thousands of more jobs by .
- Wind power is a domestic resource that enables U.S. economic growth. In , wind turbines operating in all 50 states generated more than 10% of the net total of the country’s energy. That same year, funding in new wind projects added $20 billion to the U.S. economy.
- Wind is a renewable source of energy. Wind turbines harness energy from the wind using mechanical power to spin a generator and create electricity. Not only is wind an abundant and inexhaustible resource, but it also provides electricity without burning any fuel or polluting the air.
- Wind power benefits local communities. Wind projects deliver an estimated $2 billion in state and local tax payments and land-lease payments each year. Communities that develop wind energy can use the extra revenue to put towards school budgets, reduce the tax burden on homeowners, and address local infrastructure projects.
- Wind power is cost-effective. Land-based, utility-scale wind turbines provide one of the lowest-priced energy sources available today. Furthermore, wind energy’s cost competitiveness continues to improve with advances in the science and technology of wind energy.
- Wind turbines work in different settings. Wind energy generation fits well in agricultural and multi-use working landscapes. Wind energy is easily integrated in rural or remote areas, such as farms and ranches or coastal and island communities, where high-quality wind resources are often found.
Challenges of Wind Power
- Wind power must compete with other low-cost energy sources. When comparing the cost of energy associated with new power plants, wind and solar projects are now more economically competitive than gas, geothermal, coal, or nuclear facilities. However, wind projects may not be cost-competitive in some locations that are not windy enough. Next-generation technology, manufacturing improvements, and a better understanding of wind plant physics can help bring costs down even more.
- Ideal wind sites are often in remote locations. Installation challenges must be overcome to bring electricity from wind farms to urban areas, where it is needed to meet demand. Upgrading the nation’s transmission network to connect areas with abundant wind resources to population centers could significantly reduce the costs of expanding land-based wind energy. In addition, offshore wind energy transmission and grid interconnection capabilities are improving.
- Turbines produce noise and alter visual aesthetics. Wind farms have different impacts on the environment compared to conventional power plants, but similar concerns exist over both the noise produced by the turbine blades and the visual impacts on the landscape.
- Wind plants can impact local wildlife. Although wind projects rank lower than other energy developments in terms of wildlife impacts, research is still needed to minimize wind-wildlife interactions. Advancements in technologies, properly siting wind plants, and ongoing environmental research are working to reduce the impact of wind turbines on wildlife.
5 advancements in wind power that will blow you away - Yahoo
Wind energy is often viewed as a secondary renewable energy source to something like solar due to lower prevalence, access, and overall awareness. However, that doesn't mean it should be discounted, and scientists and engineers across the world are making groundbreaking discoveries to better wind power.
1. AI turbines
The first ever urban wind turbine designed by AI has been unveiled, and it could help expand the potential of wind power. Traditional wind turbines are designed for wind speeds of about 33 feet per second, while this new urban wind turbine can spin at winds of 12 feet per second and produce the same amount of energy.
The use of AI allowed engineers to test over 2,000 designs for the blades, significantly lowering the time and cost it would have taken to do using technology from just a few years ago.
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2. Small urban turbine
A small-scale wind turbine shaped like a flower is made to fit elegantly into a garden or other outdoor space to provide energy in both urban and rural areas. The turbines also display a patented bouquet effect. When clustered together, they can make each other more efficient.
The startup — aptly named Flower Turbines — hopes to make renewable energy more accessible and increase the ability to capture energy "everywhere the wind blows."
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Link to New Energy Era
Watch now: CEO reveals form of energy that has 'polled across political lines' for over a decade
3. Offshore wind farm
An offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia is on track for completion in , featuring 176 turbines that will power up to 660,000 homes with clean energy. The project will save consumers $3 billion in energy costs over the first decade of operation.
Almost 25% of Virginia residents will be supported by the energy from the wind farm, which experts claim is "the equivalent of taking about a million gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles off the road annually."
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4. Large-scale turbines
Wind turbines keep getting bigger and bigger (because that helps them generate more electricity), but eventually, the force of the wind and the weight of the turbine causes it to break. Engineers from the University of Virginia have discovered a new design that could circumvent that problem.
The new design balances lightness, structural strength, and efficient energy generation and could welcome a new generation of gigantic offshore wind turbines.
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5. Underwater wind farm inspection
One of the biggest challenges with offshore wind farms is the offshore part — the fact that turbines are installed in deep waters makes them difficult to maintain. New AI-driven underwater vehicles are being introduced to carry out autonomous inspections of wind farms.
The vehicles will lower inspection times by 50% and free up offshore workers to do other essential tasks instead of spending hours doing underwater inspections.
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