There are two types of wind machines, which are used today, one is a horizontal axis wind machine and other is vertical axis wind machine. There is a lot of differences between the sizes of Wind machines (turbines).
Small wind turbine only haves capacity less than 100 kilowatts that is used to power a single house or business. There are large turbines that have capacity of 5 megawatts. Large turbines are grouped together in wind farms that provide power to the electrical grid.
Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Most of wind turbines used today are horizontal axis type. Horizontal axis wind turbines are having blades like airplane propellers. A particular type of horizontal wind machine is having height equal to a 20-story building and 3 blades that span 200 feet across. The largest wind machines in the world are having blades longer than a football field. Wind machines always stand tall with wide span blades to capture more air.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Vertical axis wind turbines looks like egg Beaters, they are blades, which go from top to bottom. The most common type vertical axis wind turbine is Darrieus; it was named after the French engineer George Darrieus who patented the design in 1931. This typical wind turbine stands 100 feet and 50 feet wide. Vertical axis wind turbines are uses less today.
Wind Power Plants Produce Electricity
Wind power plants or farms are used to produce electricity. Usually a wind farm is having dozens of wind machines scattered on a large area. The world’s largest wind farm is the Horse Hollow Wind Energy in Texas and that have 421 wind turbines from which enough electricity is generated that can power 220,000 homes per year.
Government does not own many of wind plants. Business people who sell the electricity, which is produced on wind farms, own them. These private companies are called Independent Power Producers.
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