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Wind Energy

Wind energy is commonly harnessed through the use of wind turbines. When it comes to the power output of the grand machines, a function of the cube of the wind speed determines it. For this reason, the output of power increases incredibly dramatically as the wind speed does.

A collection of turbines used to capture wind energy is known as a wind farm. When analyzing how much energy such a farm produces, it is important to remember that wind speed is not a constant. Generally, the farm's productivity is described as the capacity factor. This is the ratio of actual productivity during a year as compared to its theoretical maximum.

A wind energy turbine's theoretical maximum is found by taking the sum of its rating and multiplying them by the total hours of a year. For the most part, capacity factors will fall between 20% and 40%. For some locations, online data of generators may be found. Regarding the yearly output of these allows someone to determine the capacity factor.


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