Some of the major considerations for implementation of wind conversion systems over other solar powered systems are listed below; a. Advantages 1. Wind-powered systems produce no air or water pollution and little noise. 2. Adapts to mechanical storage systems such as flywheels, compressed air and pumped storage. 3. Wind power is frequently available throughout the 24-hour period while direct solar energy is limited to daytime. 4. . With mass production, construction time should be much quicker to bring wind power on-line than conventional and other solar energy types. b. Disadvantages 1. Changing weather patterns, both short and long term, limit wind powerplants in base and intermediate load modes. 2. Only very large structures will be practical since (a.) wind velocity is diminished within about 200 feet of the ground, (b.) terrain roughness causes turbulence resulting in nonuniformity of performance and (c.) rotor power output is not only a function of the wind velocity, but of the rotor's airstream diameter. 3. Size limits location. Investigation into the ocean thermal gradient as a potential electrical energy source is only at a feasibility study stage, no prototypes are near detail design stage, let alone construction. Although the theoretical aspects of this power source may not provide major drawbacks to this constant energy source, the design uniqueness does. The systems major components are a cold water pipe which brings cold water up from the ocean depths to cool the working fluid in a condensing heat exchanger and boiler feed pumps. The much warmer, near surface water, warms the working fluid to the boiler heat exchanger, turbine and generator set. The entire system must be constructed on a floating platform and, despite major improvements in underwater and off-shore technology, many areas must be greatly advanced for this application. The relatively low temperature differences involved dictate low Carnot efficiencies, therefore the equipment such as transfer pipe, heat exchangers and turbines must be huge and the flow rates extremely large in order to reach an economical output.
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