Where to place the mill?

It is known that the maximum power that can be generated by a horizontal mill is

PMAX  =  8/27. AV3,

where A is the area swept out by the blades, V is the wind speed, and is the air density.

The adjacent graph maps PMAX against V, assuming that and A remain constant.

Look closely at the graph. How important do you consider the wind velocity to be in the generation of power? Do you understand why sites experiencing very high wind velocities are in high demand?

What problems might occur if the wind velocity is too great?


Check

Since the maximum power that can be generated increases in proportion to the cube of the wind velocity, a high wind velocity is very important. Of course, if the wind is too strong the whole generator may topple!