CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

Since ancient times, people have harnessed the winds and energy. Over 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used wind to sail ships on the Nile River. Later, people built wind mills to grind wheat and other grains. The earliest known wind mills were in Persia. These early wind mills looked like large paddle wheels. Centuries later, the basic design of the wind mills was improved. It was given a propeller type blade. The evolution has been slow but continuous, with two major phases. The first in which wind energy was directly use for mechanical work, as in windmills, sawmills, water lifting etc. and a second phase in which mechanical energy was changed into electrical energy.

Since their first appearance, it have undergone many changes and improvements in their major components. For instance, the major structure varied from wood frames to more stable masonry works and subsequently to steel frames.

The interest here is on manufacturing system of which my goal will be looking at wind as a means to effective power generation and system integration given a complete program activities addressing electric power market rules.

This wind in question has played a long and important role in the history of human civilization and is the world fastest growing energy technology, when

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flowing wind is captured and is turned into electricity and this process is called

HYBRID WIND SYSTEM OR WIND GENERATED POWER.

Wind powered generation. Turbine and generator coverts the energy into electricity which can be used in isolation or fed into the electrical grid to be used in homes, farms, business and by industries.

1.1       BACKGROUND OF STUDY

As the search for energy is now probing the realm of the wind and the sun, human beings are sure to get a lasting solution to electricity problem. In using energy to produce mechanical work, humans, since the beginning of civilization, have focused their attention on those forces found explicit in

nature. Animal, hydraulic, and wind energy did not require transformation into other energy types.

Instead, the use of such energy type necessitated the invention of mechanisms whose complexity has constantly increased with the progress of technology. In particular, since ancient times, the kinetic energy of the wind has been used to propel ships and machines, such as windmill that proceeded the industrial age. The wind power has been used for the production of electricity itself, but in small scale. However, because of world wide energy crisis, wind energy once again is being studied for large-scale application, along with other

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sources neglected. In the utilization of the wind or other natural energy forms, the unlimited potentials of the source must be recognized in contraposition to the limited supply of fossil fuel presently used.

Solar energy, which generates the wind is considered unlimited. The relationship between the dynamic force in the wind and solar radiation is direct. Another major characteristic of wind energy is the absence of any form of pollution, either in its direct utilization for the production of mechanical work or in its transformation into electrical energy. Yet, despite such positive factors, wind energy was neglected until a few years ago. An estimate 1% to

3% of energy from the sun that hit the earth is converted into wind energy.

Most of this energy can be found at high altitude where continuous wind speeds over 160km/h (100mph) occur. This wind energy is converted through friction into diffuse heat throughout the earth’s surface and the atmosphere.

The wind power estimated apply to areas free to local obstruction to wind terrain features that are well exposed to wind such as open plains, table/and hilltops, Exposed coastal areas are also rice potentials for wind application.

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1.2       ENERGY FROM-WIND

Wind is simple air in motion. It is caused by uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun. Since the earth’s surface is made of very different types of land and water, it absorbs the sun’s heat at different rates. During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than the air over water. The warm air over the land expands and rises, and the heavier, cooler air rushes in to take its place. Creating winds at night, the winds are reversed because the air cools more rapidly over land than over water.

In the same way, the large atmospheric winds that circle the earth are created because the land near the earth’s equators is heated more by the sun than the land near the north and South Pole.

Today, wind energy is mainly used to generate electricity. Wind is called a renewable energy sources because the wind will blow as long as the sun shines. Valleys often experience calm conditions at night even when adjacent hilltops are windy, cool, heavy air drains from hillside and collects in the valleys. The resulting layer of air is removed from the general flow above it to produce the calm condition in the low lands.