Wind-based electricity generation

In Germany the wind is overtake water as the most important sustainable source of electricity. Just around one hundred twenty years ago, Germany commissioned the first hydroelectric plants, and water was the most important green source of electricity in Germany. However, 2002, wind blew away water as the most important sustainable source of electricity. At the end of September 2002 year, there were 14,467 wind turbines with a capacity of 13,404 MW installed in Germany. The 2002 wind-based electricity generation in Germany was about 25 billion kilowatt hours or for the first time more than the hydroelectric plants can achieve. 

The electricity generated depends primarily on the speed of the wind at the site of installation. A conventional formula to determine the wind energy, based on the design of the rotor (rotating blades) and the site conditions is given by... 

The wind turbine-generated electricity is already cost competitive (5-9( / kwh) with natural gas-based electricity and in some locations also with nuclear- or coal-based electricity. During the last few years, the cost of wind turbines in the United States has been increasing because the price of commodities and the value of the Euro have been rising (most turbine components are imported from Europe). 

The future development of electricity demand in Germany corresponds to the assumptions for the total final electricity consumption in scenario 2011 A in [14], according to which electricity demand decreases by 25 % between 2010 and 2050. For the whole period, annual transmission and distribution losses are taken into account with a blanket assumption of 15 TWh. The annual amounts of electricity generated from onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaics, hydropower, biomass, geothermal energy and fossil CHP are also based on scenario 2011 A [14]. In 2050, electricity generation from RES totals 427 TWh, whereas annual electricity demand amounts to 393 TWh. 

Two examples of how various energy sources generate electricity in a grid can be illustrated based on the system of the province of Ontario (Canada). Fig. 1.15(a) shows installed capacity and Fig. 1.15(b) shows electricity generation by energy source in Ontario (Canada) in 2012. Analysis of Fig. 1.15(a) shows that in Ontario the major installed capacities in 2012 were nuclear (34%), gas (26%), hydro (22%), coal (8%), and renewables (mainly wind 8%). However, electricity (see Fig. 1.15(b)) was mainly generated by nuclear (56%), hydro (22%), natural gas (10%), renewables (mainly wind 5%), and coal (2%). 

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