Answers to Energy Crisis Are Blowin' in the Wind

Sep 28, 2007 10:58 AM
By Lou Pechi, President, STRATA-Strategic Advisors, San Diego, Calif.

A more-efficient approach is to take the turbine output, which varies between 0 V and 600 V of unregulated and frequency-varying ac, and rectify it and feed it to a dc-ac inverter. In many instances, the output of the inverter will need to be converted again for charging batteries or powering electronic equipment. Given the need for such multiple conversions, the use of the inverter to generate well-regulated ac sounds like it would make for a very inefficient system. But if you consider that today’s inverters that produce a high-voltage fixed-frequency output can be 97% efficient, then the multiple conversions can be justified.

Electricity generated by the wind can be sold to the utility or credited to the user against future consumption the same way that power from solar or other sources is sold. Besides the motivation to reduce global pollution, one can be motivated by the multiyear payoff for the initial investment of installation and equipment costs.

At present, mechanically regulated wind generators are expensive and not very efficient. As the industry matures, the trend will be to replace the mechanical gearing with designs that take the raw ac produced by the wind generators, rectify it and electronically convert it to ac that is usable by the electrical grid. Since the sun shines and the wind blows somewhere all the time, interconnecting all the generating locations will enable the constant supply of electricity to all locations.

What is your feeling? Let me know at pechil@sbcglobal.net.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.