Eolic Energy

By Luís Martins, 11ºZi
Escola Secundária de Loulé

Windmills are an excellent alternative for the production of electricity from wind energy. Windmills produce energy because the wind causes the rotation of a turbine that generates electric current.

Eolic Energy

The yield of a windmill clearly depends on the diameter of their shovels and, up to a certain value, of the wind speed at the place where it is installed. For this reason, the installation of a central wind lacks a prior study about the conditions of the location where the windmill’s installation site.

Windpark at Sines (Portugal).

The cost of installation was in the beginning the biggest obstacle to the installation of such plants. However, scientific research has helped the income earned by such plants to improve over time as the relation benefit/cost increases.

Huge shovels with more than 100m are starting to be common. Offshore windmills are installed to guarantee wind that is strong enough to keep these huge generators working.

Offshore eolic park.

In the present the European installed wind power increases on a daily basis. Wind, as well as solar and other renewable-energy technologies that were once considered more appropriate for single homes or small communities. Today they are begining to be considered as a real alternative to coal and gas fired plants and to nuclear reactors. In other words, energy is going green.