How Much Electricity Does a Wind Turbine Produce?
You can find wind turbines on hillsides, close to factories, above homes and even in the ocean. Wind turbines are an attractive energy resource because they depend on nature to produce energy and their maintenance cost is quite low, but before buying one, you need to understand how to calculate wind turbine output.
What is a megawatt or a megawatt-hour?
Manufacturers measure the rated capacity of the machine and the actual output you can expect from it to determine how much electric power is being produced in megawatts (MW). One MW is equal to a million watts. If you are calculating power over a period of time then it is measured in megawatt-hours (MWh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh). One kW is equivalent to a thousand watts. If your wind turbine produces power at 1 MW in an hour then this equals 1 MWh of energy produced.
Efficiency rating
Wind turbines need to capture wind efficiently. Ideally, wind turbines should convert 100% of wind passing through into energy, but due to friction, this is unlikely in the real world. You can calculate the value like this: power = [(air d wind turbines only have an efficiency rating of 30–50%ensity) times (swept area of blades) times (wind speed cubed)] divided by 2.
- The area in square meters
- Air density in kilograms per meters cubed
- Wind speed in meters per second
What determines how much power a wind turbine can produce?
The wind – turbines depend on their ability to capture energy from the wind. Following this, the turbine converts this energy to rotational torque that turns the generator. Larger turbines, amongst other benefits, can capture more wind energy.
How much energy do wind turbines produce?
Every wind turbine has a different wind speed, but they range from around 30–55 mph. When there are slow wind speeds, the energy production decreases – if the wind speed decreases bt 50%, then the power production decreases by a factor of eight. As a result, wind turbines do not operate near their capacity, but rather at about 15–30%.
For example, with a 25% capacity factor, a 2-MW turbine would produce 2 MW × 365 days × 24 hours × 25% = 4,380 MWh = 4,380,000 kWh per year.
If you are looking to service your wind turbine, you should contact a reputable wind turbine service like Anemoi Energy Services. At Anemoi, we offer comprehensive wind turbine maintenance and wind turbine services to help you keep your wind turbines performing optimally and at capacity every day. Contact us today for the best wind turbine solutions.
