This document provides an overview of wind energy, including its history, how wind turbines work, types of wind turbines, factors that determine suitable locations for wind farms, the growth of wind power in Europe, future prospects for offshore wind, pros and cons of wind power, and approaches for building consensus around wind farm projects. Key points covered include the long history of windmill technology, how horizontal and vertical-axis turbines convert kinetic wind energy to electricity, Europe installing over 100,000 megawatts of wind capacity by 2012 to supply 7% of its electricity, and methods for managing social and environmental conflicts related to wind energy development.

1. Wind Energy
Alternative Dispute Management
Business Effective Course
British Council
Daniel Pons i Julià
Monday 10 June 2013

2. Contents
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
•
Motivation
History of wind energy
What is it?
How does it work?
Types of wind turbine
Location and placement election
Wind power in Europe
Future of wind power
Pros and cons
Consensus building and wind farms
Questions and answers

3. Motivation!
• We need to find alternative sources of energy, that
don’t aggravate the pollution of our planet;
• We can rely on the renewable energy, that uses the
wind, the sun or the water in creating unpolluted
sources of energy. And it works!!

4. Wind energy history
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1 A.D. - Hero of Alexandria uses a wind machine to power an organ
~ 400 A.D. - Wind driven Buddhist prayer wheels
1200 to 1850 - Golden era of windmills in western Europe – 50,000
9,000 in Holland; 10,000 in England; 18,000 in Germany
1850’s - Multiblade turbines for water pumping made and marketed in U.S.
1882 - Thomas Edison commissions first commercial electric generating
stations in NYC and London
1900 - Competition from alternative energy sources reduces windmill
population to fewer than 10,000
1850 – 1930 - Heyday of the small multiblade turbines in the US Midwest
As many as 6,000,000 units installed
1936+ - US Rural Electrification Administration extends the grid to most
formerly isolated rural sites . Grid electricity rapidly displaces multiblade
turbine uses

5. What is it? (1)
• Cool surrounding air rushes in to fill the vacuum. This
movement of rushing air is what we know as wind.
• Energy is contained in the force of the wind blowing across
earth’s surface.
• Wind is a type of solar energy.
• Wind is created when air has
been warmed over sun heated
land rises, leaving a vacuum in
the space it once occupied.
• An estimated 1% to 3% of energy
from the Sun that hits the earth
is converted into wind energy.

6. What is it? (2)
• Wind Energy is kinetic energy from the wind that can be
directly converted to electrical or mechanical energy by
reacting to the atmospheres pressure slope.
• The windmill was invented in 200 BC in China and was used to
pump water and grind grain
• In modern days, wind energy has doubled through the years

7. Wind turbines: how do they work? (1)
• Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy
in the wind into mechanical power.
• This mechanical power can be used for
specific tasks (such as grinding grain or
pumping water) or a generator can
convert this mechanical power into
electricity.
• A wind turbine works the opposite of a
fan.
• Instead of using electricity to make wind,
like a fan, wind turbines use wind to make
electricity. The wind turns the blades,
which spin a shaft, which connects to a
generator and makes electricity.

8. Wind turbines: how do they work? (2)
• The energy in the wind turns two
or three propeller-like blades
around a rotor. The rotor is
connected to the main shaft,
which spins a generator to create
electricity.
• Wind turbines are mounted on a
tower to capture the most
energy. At 100 feet (30 meters)
or more above ground, they can
take advantage of faster and less
turbulent wind.

9. Types of wind turbines
• Horizontal-axis Turbines- typically 20 stores tall and have 3
blades that are 200 feet long
• Vertical-axis Turbines- Blades that span from the top to the
bottom and resembles an egg beater. It typically stands 100
feet tall and 50 feet wide
• Vertical-axis turbines are
less common than the
horizontal-axis turbine

10. Wind turbines locations
• Wind turbines are located where there is wind created such
as tops of smooth rounded hill, open plains and shore lines
also mountain gaps that produce wind
• Wind turbines are pooled into areas called wind farms that
are gridded areas to put wind energy

11. Wind turbine placement
• A good selection of a wind turbine site is critical to economic
development of wind power and has to take in consideration a
number of factors:
–
–
–
–
–
–
availability of wind itself
availability of transmission lines
value of energy to be produced
cost of land acquisition
land use considerations
environmental impact of
construction and operations
– Offshore locations may offset their higher construction cost with
higher annual load factors, thereby reducing cost of energy
produced.

12. Wind power in Europe (1)
•
In 2012, installed wind power capacity in the European Union totalled 105,000
MW - enough to supply 7% of the EU's electricity. 11,895 MW of wind power was
installed in 2012 alone, representing 11.4% of new power capacity. The EU wind
industry has had an average annual growth of 15.6% over the last 17 years (19952011).
•
A European Environment Agency
report, entitled Europe's onshore
and offshore wind energy
potential confirms wind energy
could power Europe many times
over. The report highlights wind
power’s potential in 2020 as
three times greater than Europe’s
expected electricity demand,
rising to a factor of seven by
2030.

13. Wind power in Europe (2)
•
The Europe’s Wind Energy
Event estimates that 230
gigawatts (GW) of wind
capacity will be installed in
Europe by 2020, consisting of
190 GW onshore and 40 GW
offshore. This would produce
14-17% of the EU's electricity,
avoiding 333 million tons of
CO2 per year and saving Europe
€28 billion a year in avoided
fuel costs.
Wind power installed in Europe in 2012

14. Future of Wind Power- Offshore
•
•
•
•
1.5 - 6 MW per turbine
60-120 m hub height
5 km from shore, 30 m deep ideal
Gravity foundation, pole, or tripod
formation
• Shaft can act as artificial reef
• Drawbacks- Visual impacts
• Conflicts – fisheries and tourism

15. Pros of wind turbines
• Clean source of energy
• Fewer environmental impacts than
other sources of power
• Don’t pollute water or air
• Reduce the use for fossil fuels
• Give extra incomes to farmers and
businesses that help them stay in
business
• Lowest prices renewable resources

16. Cons of wind turbines
• Depending on how energetic a wind site is, the wind farm may or may not
be cost competitive.
• Wind energy cannot be stored (unless batteries are used)
• Good wind sites are often located in remote locations and natural areas
• Wind resource development may compete with other uses for the land
and those alternative uses may be more highly valued than electricity
generation.
• Sometimes birds have been killed by
flying into the rotors, other times birds
and bats can get hit by blades
• Landscape impact- Unappealing to the eye
• Generate noise
• Need of a back-up energy

17. Consensus building & wind farms (1)
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Goals
Methodology
Theoretical framework: conflict, conflict
management, consensus building,
methods for consensus.
• Wind power in Catalonia – promoters
vision
• Social impact and acceptance of wind
farms
• Environmental conflict and its management
in Catalonia

18. Consensus building & wind farms (2)
• Analysis of experiences and projects
– "Valencia’s Environmental Education and
Sustainable Development Strategy"
– The "Bureau of Aragon’s mountain"
– "Good Practice Wind“ Project
– GECODIT Project
• Proposed methodology for generating social
consensus on energy infrastructure
development
• Case Study: Mini farm in Calonge (Baix
Empordà, Girona)
– The social-environmental context
– Interviews with key stakeholders
– Proposed roadmap for conflict management

19. Questions & Answers time
• Do you prefer to use wind power to generate
electricity or using fossil fuels source? Why?
• Does the weather affect the wind energy around us?
• Any further questions?
Thank you all for
listening!