Wind Turbine Technology

Wind turbine technology has advanced greatly over the past several centuries and even more over the past few decades.

Some of the first machines to capture the wind were windmills, usually used to capture the mechanical energy of the wind to grind grains or pump water.  Windmills do not produce electricity.  The machine that captures the wind to generate electricity in a turbine generator is called a wind turbine.  It was not until the late 1800’s that wind machines were used to generate electricity, starting a new revolution in wind turbine technology.

Around the 1920’s the blades of wind turbines were designed using technology that was similar to the technology of the time used to design airplane wings.  This was a crucial point in wind turbine technological development because the much more aerodynamically designed blades made the wind turbines more efficient at lower wind speeds.

Also around the 1920’s we began to see smaller wind turbines being grouped together with other wind turbines in efficient locations, developing some of the first ever wind farms.

Wind farms have the advantage of generating electricity from multiple wind turbines in what is designated to be a very efficient and windy location.  The total sum of energy generated on a wind farm will usually be greater than the energy generated from a single large wind turbine in the same area.

Wind turbine technology has advanced greatly over the last few decades, allowing consumers to choose from a wide array of designs, styles, and different capacity output’s of affordable wind turbines.