Wind Farms
A wind farm, or wind power plant, is nothing else than clusters of wind turbines used to generate electricity. Unlike traditional power plants, wind plants are not owned by public utility companies. In most cases it is private investors that operate the farm and sell the electricity to electric utilities. Companies like that are called 'independent power producers'.
The best locations for siting dozens of wind machines are coastal areas, the tops of rounded hills, open plains and gaps in mountains or somewhere offshore - all the places where the winds are strong but steady, hence reliable. Plus the fact that wind speed increases with altitude and over open areas with no windbreaks. Wind plant owners must carefully plan where to locate their turbines. How fast and how much the wind blows – these are main factors taken into consideration in the process of choosing a perfect spot.
The towers of turbines are relatively tall in order to get the propellors as high as possible, where the wind is strong enough. This means they practically do not take too much space and the land beneath can still be used for farming, which often takes place onshore. Danmark, which is told to be the hub of global wind power development, is a fine example of some kind of symbiosis between the wind power industry and agriculture, and that sustains the pro-ecological image of wind power plants.
The output from wind farms varies as winds change, therefore exploiting electricity generated by wind machines poses serious challenges, but yet the growing body of experience shows these challenges can be somehow successfuly managed in the future. This opens the way for wind energy’s benefits to be reaped on a large scale for both consumers and the economy, and all this for the sake of environment.