Wind energy is called the
energy produced by the exploitation of wind power which can be converted into
electricity by using wind turbines. There are several types and sizes of wind turbines and in a small scale they can be used for residential production of eletricity.
Wind energy is characterized as a mild energy form and it is included in “clean energy sources”, as it is used to call the energy sources they do not emit dirt to the environment. There are two kinds of wind turbines which can produce electricity through wind energy convertion to electric:
• Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT)
• Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
(HAWT) are wind turbines that rotate around an axis which stands in parallel
with the ground surface. It is the usual picture of the wind turbine we have
most in mind, since they have prevailed for various reasons in the wind turbine
market. Its fins rotate around an axis which is horizontal in relation to the
ground plane and it is obvious that at all times it must be oriented to the
direction of the wind.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT), on the contrary, rotate around an axis which is vertical to the ground plane. The vertical wind turbines, by their way of construction, exploit the air from every direction it comes and are divided into two large sub-categories, the wind turbines "Savonius" and "Darrieus". These wind turbines can exploit very weak winds, but they never reach the performance of a properly designed horizontal axis wind turbine once they operate in strong winds.
The performance of a wind turbine depends on its size and wind speed. Small wind turbines can exploit wind power even for home facilities, offering electricity with significant benefits. In fact, these are small-scale systems, unlike large wind turbines that are typically deployed in wind farms, and they find multiple applications, as they can operate alone or interconnected.
Until recently, most autonomous photovoltaic systems were supported by a genset of gasoline which, however, had high noise and high cost of operation. The fall in prices and the efficiency increase of small wind turbines enabled the combination of photovoltaic systems and wind turbines, and today, by saying “hybrid autonomous power supply system”, we are talking about the combination of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. The main advantage of the wind turbine is that it can provide 24-hour power generation, and as during the nights the photovoltaic panels do not work, the wind turbine usually gives its peak, particurarly in the winter.