Chapter 1

Chronological History of Wind Turbine Technology

1.1 Introduction
This chapter describes the history of wind turbine technology development and its potential applications. Wind turbine technology offers cost-effective solutions to eliminate the dependence on costly foreign oil and gas now used to generate electricity. Additionally, this technology provides electrical energy without greenhouse effects or deadly pollution releases. Furthermore, wind turbine installation and electricity generating costs are lower compared to other electrical energy generation schemes involving coal fired steam turbo-alternators, tidal wave turbines, geothermal-, hydrothermal-, biofuel-, and biodiesel-based electrical energy sources and nuclear reactor-based generators. Wind turbine technology offers a cost-effective alternate renewal energy source. It is important to mention that a wind turbine is capable of generating greater amounts of electrical energy with zero greenhouse effects compared to other energy generating schemes including solar cell, tidal wave, biofuel, hydrogen, biodiesel, and biomass technologies. A wind turbine is the reverse of an electrical fan. A wind turbine uses wind energy to generate the electricity; a fan uses electricity to generate wind. In more sophisticated terminology, a wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. Wind turbines come in different sizes and types, depending on power generating capacity and the rotor design deployed. Small wind turbines with output capacities below 10 kW are used primarily for residences, telecommunications dishes, and irrigation water pumping applications. A wind turbine advertisement states thata prototype 5-kW system can be built for $200, using inexpensive off-the shelf components and excluding labor costs. Utility-scale wind turbines have high power ratings ranging from 100 kW to 5 MWsufficient to power 10 to 500 homes. Current wind farms with large capacity wind turbine installations have sprung up in rural areas and offshore regions and are capable of generating electricity in excess of 500M MW for utility companies; they present much lower generating costs and zero maintenance and operating costs. Denmark developed wind turbine technology as early as 1970 and expects to have wind turbine capacity exceeding 4500 MW by the end of 2010. Furthermore, Denmark now obtains at least 40% of its electrical energy from wind turbine installations, thereby realizing significant reductions in electricity generation costs, greenhouse gas emissions, and atmospheric pollution. Modern wind turbines are classified into two configurations: horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) and vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs), depending on rotor operating principles. The VAWT configuration is similar to an eggbeater design and employs the Darrieus model named for the famous French inventor. Regardless of classification, a wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical power that drives an alternating current (AC) induction generator

to produce electricity. HAWTs with two or three blades are the most common. Wind blowing over the propeller blades causes the blades to lift and rotate at low speeds. Wind turbines using three blades are operated upwind with rotor blades facing into the wind. The tapering of rotor blades is selected to maximize the kinetic energy from the wind. Optimum wind turbine performance is strictly dependent on blade taper angle and the installation height of the turbine on the tower. General Electric Company pioneered the development of wind turbine technology by exploiting its unique capabilities such as improved performance under variable wind environments, variable speed control under reduced load conditions, and cost-effective electronics for local grids. More than 5,000 General Electric wind turbines generating 1.5 MW are in use worldwide because of their high reliability and efficiency.