The Wind Power Portal
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Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity generation. Today, wind power is generated almost completely with wind turbines, generally grouped into wind farms and connected to the electrical grid.
In 2022, wind supplied over 2,304 TWh of electricity, which was 7.8% of world electricity and about 2% of world energy. With about 100 GW added during 2021, mostly in China and the United States, global installed wind power capacity exceeded 800 GW. 32 countries generated more than a tenth of their electricity from wind power in 2023 and wind generation has nearly tripled since 2015. To help meet the Paris Agreement goals to limit climate change, analysts say it should expand much faster – by over 1% of electricity generation per year. (Full article...)
Selected article -
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Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. Wind-powered machines used to grind grain and pump water — the windmill and wind pump — were developed in what is now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan by the 9th century. Wind power was widely available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of fuel. Wind-powered pumps drained the polders of the Netherlands, and in arid regions such as the American midwest or the Australian outback, wind pumps provided water for livestock and steam engines.
With the development of electric power, wind power found new applications in lighting buildings remote from centrally generated power. Throughout the 20th century, parallel paths developed small wind plants suitable for farms or residences and larger utility-scale wind generators that could be connected to electricity grids for remote use of power. Wind-powered generators operate in sizes ranging between tiny plants for battery charging at isolated residences up to near-gigawatt sized offshore wind farms that provide electricity to national electrical networks. (Full article...)General windmill articles
Topics
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A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, by tradition specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but in some parts of the English-speaking world, the term has also been extended to encompass windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications. The term wind engine is also sometimes used to describe such devices. (Full article...)
Examples of multi-sailed windmills
Examples of tower mills
- Aarsdale Windmill
- Blennerville Windmill
- Bourne Windmill, Oakdale, New York
- Elphin Windmill
- Greenhill Windmill
- Gudhjem Windmill
- Montefiore Windmill
- Morgan Lewis Windmill
- Mostert's Mill
- Moulin de Craca
- Myreagre Mølle
- Old Mill, Perth
- Pedersker Kirkemølle
- Scherpenberg mill
- Ta' Kola Windmill
- The Old Windmill, Brisbane
- Vinegar Hill Windmill
- Xarolla Windmill
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List articles
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- List of onshore wind farms
- Lists of wind farms by country
- List of wind farms in Australia
- List of wind farms in Canada
- List of wind farms in China
- List of wind farms in Denmark
- List of wind farms in India
- List of wind farms in Iran
- List of wind farms in the Republic of Ireland
- List of wind farms in Japan
- List of wind farms in Jordan
- List of wind farms in Kosovo
- List of wind farms in Latvia
- List of wind farms in Lithuania
- List of wind farms in Morocco
- List of wind farms in the Philippines
- List of wind farms in Romania
- List of wind farms in South Africa
- List of wind farms in Sri Lanka
- List of wind farms in Sweden
- List of wind farms in Turkey
- List of wind farms in the United Kingdom
- List of wind farms in the United States
- List of wind farms in Uruguay
- List of offshore wind farms
- List of offshore wind farms in China
- List of offshore wind farms in Denmark
- List of offshore wind farms in Germany
- List of offshore wind farms in Japan
- List of offshore wind farms in the Netherlands
- List of offshore wind farms in Sweden
- List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
- List of offshore wind farms in the United States
Did you know...
- ... that wind power in Turkey is so profitable that companies pay the government for licences?
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