Wind power is in our sails again. The true power of wind energy is one of the most important reusable resources we have. Wind power, or wind energy, is a form of renewable energy that harnesses the power of the wind to generate electricity. It involves using wind turbines to convert the turning motion of blades, pushed by moving air (kinetic energy) into electrical energy (electricity). This requires certain technologies, such as a generator that sits at the top of a tower, behind the blades in the head of a wind turbine. Wind blowing above the ground spins the blades attached to the top of a wind turbine tower. Moving air rotates a wind turbine’s blades. That turning motion spins a generator just downwind from the blades (or rotor) in the nacelle, which also stores all the other working parts of a turbine. The generator produces electricity.
Texas leads the nation in wind energy generation; It makes sense that the state is also a leader in the number of wind turbines. The Lone Star State has more than 18,000 active wind turbines, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Wind Turbine Database. The United States is trying to move towards renewable energy and this is a huge step towards that. New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil said that the state would be partnering with the Danish company Orsted, the largest developer of offshore wind projects in the world. The company had agreed to build Ocean Wind 1, the state’s first offshore wind farm, powering half a million homes and creating thousands of jobs in the process. The following year, Orsted inked another deal with the state for Ocean Wind 2, a second offshore wind farm with similar capacity. After years of review, the projects were approved in summer 2023. Construction of the first turbines was slated to begin in the fall.
One of the many benefits of the wind turbines is that they can be offshore and capture the winds of the oceans. In water depths less than 60 meters, offshore wind turbines can be fixed directly to the bottom of the ocean, known as fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, using foundations that can be different shapes and installed in different ways, like mono-piles—single stems on which a turbine tower is attached, pictured, that are pounded into the seafloor by pile drivers. In water depths greater than 60 meters, floating offshore wind turbines are needed, which are tethered to the seafloor with long mooring lines and anchors, like boats moored in a harbor. There are several different kinds of floating offshore wind turbines, and research continues to investigate the best way to design, build, and situate these turbines in the ocean. Researchers are also looking into the potential to harness winds blowing in the middle of large lakes, like the U.S. Great Lakes, with offshore wind turbines. The offshore wind farms have different problems than the on land farms. They have to think about the wildlife and the effect it will have on their habitat, as well as how it would affect the fishing industry.
