History of Wind Turbines | How did Wind Turbines transform from the Early Centuries to Becoming the Modern Technology
History of Wind Turbines:
We all have seen how wind turbine have reshaped the world and helped to protect the climate by generating electricity from the wind which is the most renewable source of energy. With the rising oil prices the popularity of renewable energy resources is in demand. Some of them that are in demand are hydraulic turbine, wind and solar energy, etc. With the emerging importance of smart buildings in UAE and demand of electric vehicles EVs, UAE has marked a potential development in developing a sustainable future. They have also marked one of its emirates as – Dubai: A Sustainable and Smart City to live in. Let’s just have a glimpse of its history and who were the inventors behind discovering this technology.
The Early Years
Wind Power is not a revolution, it’s an evolution. In ancient times, travelers used to explore the world through their boats or sails, and they used to rely on winds.
Many articles about the history of wind turbine make us believe that James Blyth was the first inventor to generate power from the cleanest and a free renewable energy resource i.e. the wind. However, the man who discovered this technology at the first was none other than Hero of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and an industrial engineer, who is been known for all his inventions, including the most popular origination Wind Wheel.
Some reports who studied the history of wind turbines hereby say that this invention was not to be seen for several years, until the 7th Century, wherein the people who were located in the Sistan Region of Iran used windmills to perform day to day activities like grind corn and pump water. These windmills gradually started becoming visible in the areas of China and Sicily to make salt.
The first wind turbine was developed by a person named James Blyth, a Scottish Engineer and a Professor in Anderson’s College. He is known as the first wind power engineer as he originated his first ever wind turbine in the year 1887 in Scotland. He placed this turbine in the garden of his holiday cottage, to produce power hence becoming the first house generating electricity from the wind power. He thought of supplying this electricity with this same technology to his entire neighborhood, but his neighbors refused the offer. Later Blyth, supplied the electricity to a local asylum, but at that point of time it did not grabbed the attention of the neitizens.
After Blyth, American Charles Brush developed his first wind turbine with some changes in diameter and the materials used. He was making the first attempt to introduce a large-scale wind turbine to generate electricity.
Later a Danish scientist, named Paul La Cour also gives a contribution by building a wind turbine technology that relatively had fewer blades resulting in spinning faster and generating a steady speed of electricity. His power plant turbine was used to provide electricity to the whole village of Askov. Denmark was so much influenced by the invention of Paul La Cour, that it developed 2000 windmills giving over 30MW of power. However, it didn’t become popular, as the world was dependent on fossil fuels for its energy consumption.
History of Wind Turbines – The Growing Popularity
The popularity of windmills started growing when the fuel crisis began in the early 1970s, and the government had no other option, but to adapt themselves to a more sustainable and renewable source of energy to develop a sustainable future. Many of the report articles came from NASA, which actually supported the research and development of wind turbines.
In today’s times, governments from several countries are offering incentives to companies who are willing to use a renewable source of energy, due to its environmental issues and concerns for environmental management solutions. For example, the U.S federal government is funding the R&D department to search for alternatives that can help to reduce the cost of wind turbines so that even small and medium-sized businesses can afford them. Apart from funding, this government is also providing tax incentives and financial investments for wind power projects.
Concerns regarding climate change and environmental issues, wind turbines are being seen in the large wind farms or they are hidden beneath the sea mist offshore also called floating wind turbine. One of the biggest and the largest wind farm is located nearer to the United Kingdom (UK). A news article from Khaleej Times has also provided information that Dubai is planning to develop its first wind farm in the Hatta Region.
Wind Turbines are one of the fastest growing renewable sources of energy, with the biggest contribution coming from offshore wind energy investments in the world and the government is making several initiatives to develop these technologies to supply electricity to a larger scale of people and future needs. Global energy industry investments are also estimated to hit high in future years. Energy efficiency in UAE is achieve by implementing these low carbon emission technology of renewable sources of energy.
Leading companies like RSE FZE are making significant decisions that will help to reduce the cost and it may be affordable in comparison to today’s prices. Forged components are critical to the efficient operation of modern wind turbines. Various types of forging methods (closed, open die forgings) are available in the industry. Mechanical seals and abrasive blasting are some techniques used in the refurbishment of forged components. We are the number one company in forging industry. In this era emerging demand for forging (forging vs casting) mechanical components, we ensure our clients meet with high quality products from our end.
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