Renewable Energy 
Wind Power How Does Wind Energy Work?
Wind Power How Does Wind Energy Work?
Wind Power How Does Wind Energy Work?
Wind energy is, as virtually all energy on the earth, a product of the sun. solar power 
heats the earth and its atmosphere unevenly. The rotation and topography of the planet all effect the wind causing natural flows from area to area. There are a lot of winds that are named because of their regularity such as the Trade Winds, Gulf Stream, Nor'wester, Sirocco, Mistral and many others. All of these winds carry massive amount of energy just waiting to be harnessed.
These winds have been around for, who knows how long, and will be here as long as we need them. So they can be rightly described as renewable energy sources. Many different devices and machines have been created to extract the energy from the wind. In the final analysis you cannot extract all the energy in a given path or else the wind would stop and that would be that. So the most efficient wind energy systems extract just enough energy from the current flow and don't disturb the overall flow too much.
High speed rotary blades have shown themselves to be the best. The major factor is the blade tip speed has to be greater than the overall wind speed. This way more energy is extracted on a continual basis. The more energy we can extract the less reliant we will all be on fossil fuels that are running out, becoming prohibitively expensive and ruining the planet.
We all have seen an electric fan where electricity makes a fan rotate and that creates a flow of air we can feel. Well a wind turbine works in the opposite way by the wind flow driving the blades thst spin and generate electricity using a rotary generator.
The components are:
Other parts to the system are a hub that connects the blades to the shaft and will provide a mechanism to change the pitch angle of the blades. This can be used to control the blade speed in high winds or stop the blade altogether.
The majority of wind generators that we see have a 3-blade system. 2 blade systems tend to be smaller and run at higher speeds. There are many other varieties that have been tried in the past such as vertical axis blades or curved blades of the Darrieus or Sevonius types. These other types have more issues with reliability than the standard horizontal rotor blades.
The output power of a wind turbine is from a few watts to the latest proposed 10 MW versions. When you have a remote site that needs a small amount of power they can prove very effective. So you will see many used for road signs, monitoring equipment, outbuildings, boats, caravans, trailers.
Since we cannot always guarantee the wind will blow they are best used alongside other power generation systems such as solar panels, diesel generators. The use of battery backup cells is also a good way to smooth out the supply and keep the power flowing.
Government incentives to small power generators means that you can connect through to the main electricity utility grid and any power that you don't use will be feed to the grid. The use of smart meters now allow you to get paid for the extra power generated.
Countries around the world are diversifying their power generation and wind in one of the quickest to implement. Currently there are plans for many massive wind farms both on and off-shore. These wind farms cost a lot of money initially but once set-up their costs diminish and prove to be a very efficient way to escape from carbon producing fossil fuel energy.