Given the strong growth that renewable energy is experiencing, it’s no surprise that technology in the wind power sector is constantly evolving. In recent years, the industry’s development seems to be moving toward one main goal: increasing the height of wind turbines. There are many examples of pilot wind farm projects featuring tall wind turbines around the world. However, there is one in particular that rivals the height of buildings like the Sagrada Familia. If you want to learn more about the world’s tallest wind turbine, don’t miss this post!
As you can probably imagine, the choice of height for wind turbines is no accident. The high-altitude gondola situation means two important advantages, both related to ePerformance and Efficiency of the power generation process:
First of all, the amount of wind energy that the generator can capture to be subsequently converted into electrical energy depends on the sweeping area of its blades. There are already shovels on the market that exceed the 80 meters long, but obviously, in order to install blades of that size on a wind turbine structure, the tower must be tall enough so that it does not obstruct the blade’s rotation by colliding with any nearby objects. Therefore, to put it simply: The taller the tower, the longer the rotor blades can be, and the greater the efficiency (due to their swept area).
Photo: Mediemluemmelediemluemmel (Pixabay)
On the other hand, wind currents that are formed at large heights are less lightweight, so wind energy potential increases with height, meaning that energy production is greater with a taller structure. It is estimated that the Energy production increases by between 0.5% and 1% for every meter of elevation.
Given these conditions, it's no surprise that the energy industry already has a a wind turbine that is nearly 250 meters tall. Can you imagine that?
This enormous instrument, which has the distinction of being the world's tallest energy structure It is currently located in Gaildorf (Germany) and was built between 2015 and 2017 by Max Bögl Wind AG. The figures that earn it such a title are staggering: only The tower is already 178 meters tall, or, in other words, the height of the Sagrada Familia. It's hard to believe, isn't it?… Well, that's not all! The total height of the structure, including the blades, it reaches 246.5 meters, that is, the same height as The Torre de Cristal building in Madrid, the tallest in Spain.
Photo: miguelibars (Pixabay)
This wind turbine is part of a pilot project that combines wind power with pumped-storage hydroelectricity whose construction required an investment of 81 million euros. Each of the wind turbines at the project's wind farm has a passive water reservoir at its base and a raft located below it, so that in times of surplus energy production by the generator, so that it can be used for pump the water from the reservoir into the tank, where it is stored so that it can later be used for hydraulic jump which involves the movement of water in opposite direction.
The wind turbine has a The rated power is 3.4 MW has values of annual generation about 10,500 MWh. Its tower consists of concrete and two tubular steel segments and the base's storage facilities are connected to the power grid via polyethylene pipes. The pumping station is capable of change activities between consumption for pumping and electricity generation in 30 seconds and the system has a 70 MWh of storage capacity.
Undoubtedly, in light of the advantages which accounts for the increase in height of the wind turbine structures for the energy utilization, wind power technology will continue to moving in this direction, but will we ever see wind turbines taller than 300 meters? We'll keep you posted on that!
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