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Alta Wind Energy Center
The Alta Wind Energy Center is a wind farm located in the Tehachapi Pass in Kern County,
California. As of 2013, it is the largest wind farm in the world, occupying about 9,000 acres of
land and with a capacity of about 1,320 MW. Enormous companies such as Google have invested
hundreds of millions of dollars in this project and as a result the Alta Wind Energy Center was
commissioned in 2010.
The Alta Wind Energy Center is the worlds largest wind farm. It consists of over 600
turbines. The cost of the entire project is estimated to be around $1.2 billion. With the help of many
investors the wind farm was commissioned in 2010. Its rated capacity is around 1,320 MW and an
estimated annual production of 2,680 GWh. This project is believed to have helped power over
200,000 homes.
Avoiding the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy is extremely vital to the well-being
of our planet. Fossil fuels produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that aid in heating the
Earth more than it is needed. By using the energy created from the Alta Wind Energy Center about
52 million metric tons of carbon dioxide will be reduced. This number is equivalent to taking about
446,000 cars off the roads.
One of the most important factors in efficiency of wind farms is the location at which the
farm is located in. When talking about efficiency of wind turbines, it all comes down to the strength
and speed of wind in the area. The Tehachapi Pass is a mountain pass located in the Tehachapi
Mountains, meaning that the land is elevated. Wind speeds are generally higher on higher
elevations. Suitable locations for wind farms are said to have average wind speeds of at least 15 to
16 miles per hour. According to the wind potential map of California, the wind speeds in the
Tehachapi Mountains range from about 19.7 miles per hour to 24.8 miles per hour. This provides
an excellent condition for these wind turbines to operate at an extremely efficient level.
Finding or creating the suitable place for windmills to get enough wind is another problem
on its own. The wind farms should not be in areas where the land is rugged, or in other words there
are many great changes in the elevation in the area. This is due to the fact that in rugged areas wind
will not be able to travel smoothly to power the turbines. The solution to this problem is simply
building the farms on flat land or trying to flatten the land. Even though the Alta Wind Energy
Center is built in a mountainous area, the land is flat enough to be able to get the high speeds of
wind to get the maximum efficiency out of the turbines.
In order to be able to let the turbines have access to winds there have to be little or no
obstructions. The ideal places that would fit this criteria would be any remote areas. This is the
reason why most wind farms are not located in cities or vastly populated areas, rather they are
located in deserts, valleys, or any open land, similar to the Alta Wind Energy Center. There is also
the problem of the turbines obstructing each other. This means that no matter how strong or fast
the wind is one turbine will not let the other get enough of the wind and this will lead to the domino
effect and it would be total disaster. The solution is to space the turbines at appropriate distances
from each other. Also, it is better for turbines in the same row to be equidistantly spaced from each
other.

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The installation of this wind center has helped to spur a local job inflation, which will create
an estimated number of three thousand jobs. This in itself is a great outburst of nonhazardous
production of energy by avoiding emission of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, which
increase the rate of change of climate. Although the initial set up costs for these wind mills are
quite substantial and could not quite outmatch the convenience of fossil fuels, there is a great
potential of job creation and a huge step towards flourishing green economy. And as explained
earlier, this huge investment will pay off in long-term by thwarting the dangerous increase of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the planet and would save huge sums of money by averting
the possibility of relocating the coastline establishments to avoid destruction by the increase in sea
level.
The figure on the
left is a demonstration on
the variation of the wind
levels within the state of
California. The most
outlandish area for
generating wind power is
the mountainous area of
Tehachapi. Not only the
speed of winds go up to
24.8 mph, but the
frequency of occurrence
of high speed winds.
The simple idea
behind the wind mills are
to use the mechanical
energy of winds to create
electrical power. The
power that can be
generated from a wind of
certain speed depends
upon the density, velocity,
area spanned by the sail of
the windmill. The
equation below shows a
simplistic model of the
power that can be
generate by a certain
windmill:
=
1
2

3

This shows the relationship between the power and the velocity of the wind, which is of order
three. The density of air (winds) are, however, very complexly modeled in real life, and are not
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assumed to be constant. Similarly, since the velocity of the winds vary, more complex models
should be used to account for an accurate amount of extracted power by a single windmill.
Therefore, it can be deduced that in order to choose an appropriate location for building a windmill
site, the climate and weather factors should be greatly studied. Moreover, the conditions of land
should be taken into consideration, as the construction of windmills or any building depends upon
the strength of land.
The efficiency of the windmills are also of great importance. The advancement of technology has
allowed for higher efficiencies, however, it could still be troubling to maintain a high efficiency
rate in all domains of energy production, from conversion of mechanical energy of the winds to
the distribution of electricity in the city. If the efficiency level is low in different domains of the
energy extraction and production, then the output energy that can be utilized might be insubstantial
in comparison to the costs of building and running the machinery.
Therefore, in the hope of a more efficient and green environment, wind power centers such as Alta
are providing a great step forward to maintaining a more stable and safer environment. Investments
in this type of economies will not only provide the grounds to stop the outrageous change of
climate that is currently taking place with an increasing magnitude, but will also help provide a
new field of research and explore a domain of science that could be essential to the survival of
humans and the planet from any potential risk of destruction.
















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http://www.terra-genpower.com/News/TERRA-GEN-POWER-BREAKS-
GROUND.aspx
http://www.terra-genpower.com/News.aspx
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/21/terra-gen-power-to-build-largest-wind-farm/
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-best-wind-farm-locations.htm
http://www.ehow.com/way_5159049_places-wind-turbines-produce-electricity.html
http://www.energy.ca.gov/maps/renewable/Wind_Potential.pdf
http://www.cleanenergyactionproject.com/CleanEnergyActionProject/Wind_Power_Case
_Studies_files/Alta%20Wind%20Energy%20Center%20.pdf