ScienceFreePrintable

Wind Energy Analysis

A free science worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Wind Energy Analysis

A regional energy team is deciding whether to add wind turbines to an Australian power network. Use the evidence on this sheet to analyse how wind energy works and make a justified recommendation. Show working for calculations. Wind power output depends strongly on wind speed; for this investigation, assume power is proportional to the cube of wind speed when other conditions stay the same.

Read the evidence

A technician records average wind speed and electrical power from the same turbine during four test periods. The turbine and air density remain unchanged.

Average wind speed (m/s) | Electrical power (kW)

4 | 8

6 | 27

8 | 64

10 | 125

1.Use the turbine test results. What happens to electrical power when wind speed rises from 4 m/s to 8 m/s? Choose the best description.

Power doubles, from 8 kW to 16 kW.
Power increases eightfold, from 8 kW to 64 kW.
Power increases fourfold, from 8 kW to 32 kW.
Power stays the same because the turbine is unchanged.

2.The team estimates the same turbine will produce 216 kW at 12 m/s. Use the cube relationship to explain how this estimate can be checked using the 6 m/s result. Include the calculation.

3.A wind turbine cannot remove all the kinetic energy from moving air. Which explanation best describes why?

Air must keep moving past the blades; stopping all the air would prevent more wind from flowing through the rotor.
The blades create energy, so they do not need to interact with moving air.
Wind contains no kinetic energy, only heat energy.
The generator intentionally wastes all energy above a fixed wind speed.

Make an energy recommendation

A remote Australian community uses 2,400 kWh of electricity each day. Its diesel generator supplies this energy at $0.35 per kWh. A proposed wind-and-battery system could supply 1,500 kWh on a typical day, but wind output varies. The remaining energy would still need another source or stored electricity.

4.If the community continues to meet all 2,400 kWh of daily demand using diesel at $0.35 per kWh, what is the daily fuel cost? Show your calculation.

5.On a typical day, how much of the community's 2,400 kWh demand would remain after the proposed wind system supplied 1,500 kWh? State one way the community could cover that shortfall.

6.The wind-and-battery proposal could reduce diesel use, but wind is not constant. Write a short recommendation to the community energy team. Explain one benefit, one limitation, and one practical way to keep electricity reliable.

7.Put these stages in the correct order, from the initial energy source to electricity supplied to the network: generator produces electricity; moving air turns the rotor; electricity travels down the tower; the shaft transfers rotation to the generator.

8.A proposed wind farm is near habitat used by birds and bats. State one possible effect on wildlife and one action developers could take to reduce the risk. Explain why the action may help.

9.Plan a fair investigation into how wind speed affects a small turbine's electrical power. Name the independent variable, the dependent variable, and two factors to keep the same. State a testable hypothesis.