What's Trending in Wind Power Development Technology in India?

By Nina Varghese

image: depositphotos

Newer technologies in wind power generation have greatly improved in the last twenty years. India also has benefited from these developments in wind power technology.
One of the emerging trends in India has been the multi mega watt turbines which can be installed at higher hub levels. The diameters of these rotors are larger than the earlier ones so the energy generated is more from one unit. The increase in altitude helps the wind turbine generators utilize the benefits of more powerful winds and reduced turbulence.

The installation of bigger turbines has seen a ten per cent increase in capacity from 1998 to 2010. The wind turbine generators which have been installed in India have seen a growth; 767 kW in 2004 to more than 1000 kW five years later. More than half the newly installed wind power turbines in India are these mega watt generators.

Two factors have resulted in more power being generated than estimated earlier: the advances made in technology and increasing the height of the hubs. In India, wind speeds fall in the moderate to low range, except in certain parts of the coast in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and in the Rann of Kutch, in the western state of Gujarat.

Wind Power - Is It Safe for Humans?

By Lance Winslow

image: depositphotos

Over the years, I've been completely amazed at the environmental crowd which is usually out in full force when it comes to any type of man-made energy generation which is killing wildlife, and yet, merely passes on the challenges with wind power generation. Today, we realize that wind turbines are killing birds, and bats, and creating ultrasound which is bad for biological health of living organisms, yes, that would include humans.

Still, somehow this is considered to be okay by the environmentalists, because wind power has been put on the pedestal of the eco-friendly energy schemes. The reality is it takes quite a bit of CO2 to make the concrete which is used for the base of these large wind turbines, and it takes over 15 years to offset that amount of CO2 which is created in discharged in the atmosphere for that amount of concrete.

Perhaps you are unaware of the tremendous problems which are caused by ultrasound and frequency pollution near these large wind farms. Living out in the Coachella Valley, not more than 20 miles from Palm Springs California where there are thousands of wind turbines, we can attest to the challenges to health from these wind turbines.

Can We Design a More Efficient Wind Turbine Which Does Not Kill Bats or Birds?

By Lance Winslow

image: depositphotos

Okay so, folks often ask me what think tanks actually do, you see that's what I do, I run one. Generally, I explain to people that think tanks solve problems, but really it is more than that, and merely solving a problem isn't good enough, because inevitably you solve one problem only to create 3-more, so it's a never ending battle. In fact, perhaps this is why the American People have lost trust in our government leaders. Is it really their fault or is this just the nature of problem solving in complex systems such as; our economy, infrastructure, or the government itself?

Yes, could be, still, there are so many problems to solve it's hard to say which one is worthy of one's brain power. Let's take a simple example as a case study sample here. Not long ago, Mark from the UK was explaining that we need more efficient wind-energy designs, which do not kill birds or bats. Yes, that's true, that is something we need isn't it, especially if you are one who believes in global warming or takes it as a new kind of religion. Mark had contemplated using a hollow ring around the turbine blades to collect the wind "covered with netting or a shield so that animal strikes do not happen."

Well, this is a decent idea actually, however, it doesn't solve the bat problem, the bats crash from flying behind the wind turbines due to the low-pressure area they create + the ultrasound confuses them for a few moments. Birds generally crash due to strikes and then cannot catch their fall due to low pressure area + vortices coming off the blades. They just have not yet evolved for such things.