Question

A wind turbine takes in energy from wind with the goal of converting it into electrical energy. Much of the wind energy is also converted into the kinetic energy of the spinning turbine and heat lost to the air around it. If the goal of the turbine is to put out electric energy, what is the efficiency of the turbine?

Answer 1

Efficiency is ratio of output energy and input energy

`Efficiency = (Electrical \: energy)/(Wind\: Energy)`

Step-by-step explanation:

Efficiency is defined as the output that we will get from a given machine for a given input of energy.

So here we know that input energy that we are getting from wind is in the form of electrical energy converted by the turbine and the input energy here is in the form of kinetic energy of wind or air molecules

so here this kinetic energy of wind will help to rotate the turbine due to which we will get the output electrical energy but in this whole process some of the wind energy is converted into heat due to frictional force between several components of turbine which shows our energy loss in this process

so efficiency is given by

`Efficiency = (Electrical \: energy)/(Wind\: Energy)`

Answer 2

German physicist Albert Betz (in 1919) demonstrated that the highest efficiency you can achieve with a wind turbine is around 59%

We would have to analyze the design of an specific turbine to determine its efficiency, however it is unlikely to achieve 50% , as todays turbines have an average efficiency in the 20-35%

The answer would be around 25%