Title: Wind Energy
Course: Critical Infrastructure: An Overview > Section: Course Content

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Wind energy or wind power are both used to describe the harnessing of the wind to generate electricity or some type of mechanical power. To create electricity, wind is collected through the use of wind turbines. Wind turbines capture the wind’s energy allowing us to make use of it. The turbines then power generators that supply the electricity. Wind energy can be collected in wholesale generation power plants, “where power is sent to consumers via transmission lines and substations” [9]. It can also be collected and utilized as distributed wind power, which is near where it is collected or on the same site [9]. Mechanical power, sometimes found on a smaller scale, can be used to make pumps, grinders, and other mechanical items work [10].

Advantages of wind energy include that in much of the United States wind energy is readily available. There are locations available with average wind speeds conducive to power production. (The greater the speed of the wind, the more electricity or mechanical power is produced.) There is no pollution caused from wind power nor does the process require any fossil fuels to work. However, a disadvantage is that wind is not constant. The variations in wind sometimes cause long lapses in which no wind power can be used. Unlike water, which can be redirected and stored for later use, wind can’t be saved for days that are still and have no wind [10].