Question

A typical wind turbine extracts 40% of the kinetic energy of the wind that blows through the area swept by the blades. For a large turbine, 110,000 kg of air moves past the blades at 13 m/s every second. If the wind turbine extracts 40% of this kinetic energy, and if 80% of this energy is converted to electric energy, what is the power output of the generator?

Answer 1

Answer:

2.9744 MW

Explanation:

The air blowing through the wind turbine at 110000kg at speed of 13m/s for every second would have the kinetic energy of

$E_k = 0.5mv^2 = 0.5*110000*13^2 = 9295000J/s$

If the wind turbine is able to extract only 40% of this kinetic energy, and 80% of this is converted to electricity, then the power output of the generator must be

$E = 80\%*40\%*E_k = 0.8*0.4*9295000= 2974400J/s$

or 2.9744 MegaWatt