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Wind farm frequently asked questions
Wind farm — frequently asked questions
Are wind turbines noisy?
Wind turbines are not noisy. It is possible to stand underneath a turbine and hold a conversation without having to raise your voice. When it is very windy, the noise of the wind masks the noise made by wind turbines.
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Why doesn't Australia put all the wind turbines out to sea?
It is more expensive to have offshore wind farms. However, this is partially offset by the stronger winds generally found at sea producing more electricity. Australia does not have the space constraints of Europe and is surrounded by deeper seas. It is unlikely Australia will have offshore wind farms for quite some time.
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Do wind turbines frighten livestock?
No. Wind farming is popular with farmers because their land can continue to be used for growing crops or grazing livestock. Sheep, cows and horses are not disturbed by wind turbines and tend to use them for shade.
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What are wind turbines made of?
The towers are mostly tubular, made of steel and generally painted light grey. The blades are made of glass-fibre reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy. They are light grey because this is the colour which is most inconspicuous under most lighting conditions. The finish is matt, to reduce reflected light.
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How does a wind turbine make electricity?
The simplest way to think about this is to imagine that a wind turbine works in exactly the opposite way to a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, turbines use the wind to make electricity.
Almost all wind turbines producing electricity consist of rotor blades that rotate around a horizontal hub. The hub is connected to a gearbox and generator, which are located inside the nacelle. The nacelle is the large part at the top of the tower where all the electrical components are located.
Most wind turbines have three blades that face into the wind; the wind turns the blades round, this spins the shaft, which connects to a generator and this is where the electricity is made. A generator is a machine that produces electrical energy from mechanical energy, as opposed to an electric motor that does the opposite.
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How strong does the wind have to blow for the wind turbines to work?
Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of 3 to 4 metres per second (around 10 km per hour) and reach maximum power output at around 13 meters per second (around 45 km per hour). At very high wind speeds, that is gale force winds 25 metres per second (90 km per hour) wind turbines shut down.
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How fast do the wind turbines blades turn?
The blades rotate at anything between 15-50 revolutions per minute at constant speed. However, an increasing number of machines operate at variable speed.
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How much space do wind turbines require?
A typical wind farm of 20 turbines might extend over an area of one square kilometre, although less than two per cent of the land area would be taken out of use, the remainder can be used as before.
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What happens when the wind stops blowing?
When the wind stops blowing, electricity continues to be provided by other forms of generation, such as gas. Our electricity system is mostly made up of large power stations, and the system has to be able to cope if one of these large plants goes out of action. It is possible to have up to 10 per cent of the country's needs met by intermittent energy sources such as wind energy, without having to make any significant changes to the way the system operates.
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Why don't wind turbines have more blades?
People often wonder why there aren't more blades on wind turbines. The optimum number of blades for a wind turbine depends on the job the turbine has to do. Turbines for generating electricity need to operate at high speeds, but do not need much torque or turning force. These machines generally have three or two blades. On the other hand, wind pumps operate with plenty of torque but not much speed and therefore have many blades.
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Do wind farms pose a serious threat to birds?
Any tall structure presents a risk to birds, the threat from wind turbines is not only very small compared to other impacts, it is also one of the most intensively studied of all risks to birds. New research at several operational Australian wind farms indicates that the risk to birds may be even less than first expected, and well below the predicted levels from models that were run as part of the approvals process. The research found not a single mortality for rare or significant bird species. All wind farm developments are accountable under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC).
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Are wind generators detrimental to the landscape?
Wind turbines cause very little permanent damage, occupying less than two per cent of the land area within a given wind farm boundary. They can be dismantled after 20 to 25 years and the land returned to virtually its former state.
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