Portfolio assignment 3. Task 1. By williamsburroughs
We have all heard of wind power and how it’s supposedly the most environment-friendly source of energy. But what happens if we remove untouched nature to build huge and tall poles with massive rotor blades spinning 70 meter up in the air. And what is it about the design that makes wind power so efficient and environment friendly.
Statkraft has posted an article named “Wind power briefly explained” where they go into details of how a wind turbine works and how it’s designed.
“Wind turbines produce electricity by converting kinetic energy of the wind into electrical power.” – Statkraft
They further state that the best available wind resources in Europe are both here in Norway and in the UK. These places are consistent with strong winds and could easily benefit from wind power. The problem lies in the size and quantity needed for making wind power a sustainable source of power. All large-scale energy production has an impact on the environment. Wind farms are no different. The turbines are highly visible in the landscape and for them to work properly, and be efficient, they cannot be hidden behind mountains or in the woods.
The rotor blades need to be facing the direction of the wind and the wind need to blow faster than 3 m/s for the electricity production to begin. It’s designed to have maximum output when the wind is blowing at 13 m/s, and at 25 m/s the wind turbine shuts down to prevent damage to the machinery.
Norway has a great opportunity when it comes to wind power. A lot of big empty land, powerful winds, plus money and resources to advance. We Norwegians are proud of our nature and this creates a problem when it comes to wind power. NVE – Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat pointed out 13 areas in Norway where they wanted to expand wind power. These areas where thoroughly analysed are the best places to place wind turbines and get wind power the most efficient way. Out of the 56 communes that have answered regarding development of wind power in Norway, only 4 of them are positive to the new plans regarding wind power. All the 4 communes are up north in the country. Narvik however was not pointed out by the NVE, but are positive to the new plans and they want in. They already have 14 wind turbines and the mayor of Narvik sees the benefits of wind power.
The value of wind turbines lays in the design and efficiency on the product. How all the components work together to create an environment-friendly source of power. The wing needs to work with the nave, the nave needs to work with the main axle and so on, until the generator can output its power to the community. Designers and engineers had to be very creative and innovative to come up with such an idea and design like these wind turbines. The aesthetics are of course very important, so it’s accepted by the people.
Reference list:
Statkraft. (2019). Vindkraft kort forklart. From:
https://www.statkraft.no/Energikilder/Vindkraft/Vindkraft-kort-forklart/
NRK (2019). Kommunene skyr vindmøller som pesten, men i Narvik ønsker de vindkraften velkommen. From:
NRK (2019). Her vil NVE ha vindmøllene. From:
https://www.nrk.no/norge/her-vil-nve-ha-vindmollene-1.14495707
Making sense of art and design industries 