GC: n
CT: How big is a wind turbine? Industrial wind turbines are a lot bigger than ones you might see in a schoolyard or behind someone’s house.
The widely used GE 1.5-megawatt model, for example, consists of 116-ft blades atop a 212-ft tower for a total height of 328 feet. The blades sweep a vertical airspace of just under an acre.
The 1.8-megawatt Vestas V90 from Denmark has 148-ft blades (sweeping more than 1.5 acres) on a 262-ft tower, totaling 410 feet.
Another model being seen more in the U.S. is the 2-megawatt Gamesa G87 from Spain, with 143-ft blades (just under 1.5 acres) on a 256-ft tower, totaling 399 feet.
Many existing models and new ones being introduced reach well over 400 feet high.
How much do wind turbines weigh? In the GE 1.5-megawatt model, the nacelle alone weighs more than 56 tons, the blade assembly weighs more than 36 tons, and the tower itself weighs about 71 tons — a total weight of 164 tons. The corresponding weights for the Vestas V90 are 75, 40, and 152, total 267 tons; and for the Gamesa G87 72, 42, and 220, total 334 tons.
What is the nacelle? The gearbox — which transforms the slow turning of the blades to a faster rotor speed — and the generator are massive pieces of machinery housed in a bus-sized container, called the nacelle, at the top of the tower. The blades are attached to the rotor hub at one end of the nacelle. Some nacelles include a helicopter landing pad.
Can the area around a wind turbine continue to be used? Only by putting oneself in danger. Besides the unpleasant noises and distracting motion, wind turbines are not safe. They are high-voltage electrical devices with large moving parts. It is estimated that for every 100 turbines, one blade will break off (see Larwood, 2005). In the winter, heavy sheets of ice can build up and then fall or be thrown off. Access to the land around wind turbines is usually restricted, even to the landowner.
S: https://www.wind-watch.org/faq-size.php (last access: 28 February 2015)
N: 1. Old English blæd “a leaf,” but also “a leaf-like part” (of spade, oar, etc.), from Proto-Germanic bladaz, from PIE bhle-to-, suffixed form (past participle) of bhel- (3) “to thrive, bloom,” possibly identical with bhel- (2) “to blow, swell” (see bole). Extended in Middle English to shoulders (c.1300) and swords (early 14c.). The modern use in reference to grass may be a Middle English revival, by influence of Old French bled “corn, wheat” (11c., perhaps from Germanic). The cognate in German, Blatt, is the general word for “leaf;” Laub is used collectively as “foliage.” Old Norse blað was used of herbs and plants, lauf in reference to trees. This might have been the original distinction in Old English, too. Of men from 1590s; in later use often a reference to 18c. gallants, but the original exact sense, and thus signification, is uncertain.
First Known Use: before 12th century.
2. The component of a wind turbine rotor that is driven by the wind, thus producing a useful torque at the rotor shaft by aerodynamic forces.
3. The terms vane and sail are often employed to describe specific types of blade.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=blade&searchmode=none (last access: 28 February 2015); MW – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blade (last access: 28 February 2015). 2 & 3. GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=17025375 (last access: 28 February 2015).
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CR: aileron , cavitation, [multibladed windmill], nacelle , rotor , wind energy, windmill park, wind turbine (1).
