ADEME Guide to Wind Energy, June 2013 version.
For centuries, man uses energy from the wind to move ships, grind grain or pump water. This source of energy is used now to produce electricity.
In recent years, wind power generation is in full industrial development. It has indeed many advantages: it is first of all a clean renewable energy that contributes to better air quality and the fight against the greenhouse effect. It is also an energy using domestic resources and thus contributes to energy independence
and security of supply. Finally, the dismantling of installations and management of waste generated can be done without major difficulties and implantation sites can be reused for other purposes.
Difficulties still exist: the technical management of production on the power grid, some environmental impacts (birds, landscape, noise) and spatial planning. In this guide, we discuss various aspects of wind power generation.
Glossary
energy mix:
proportion of different energy sources (renewable, mineral, fossils) in energy production.
specific electricity:
electricity used by equipment that can only work with electricity. The electricity used for heating, hot water or cooking is not of the specific electricity because other energies may be used.
Renewable energy:
natural source of inexhaustible energy.
The first is solar radiation and most of the others flow more or less directly (wind, water cycle and tides, biomass production, surface geothermal energy, etc.). The second is the earth energy (deep geothermal). The third is the moon that influences the tidal cycle.
Megawatt (MW):
unit of electrical power equal to one million watts.
Wind farm:
Site equipped with several wind turbines connected to the grid. We talk about wind farm. Wind farms can be installed on land or offshore (offshore parks or sea).
peak consumption:
period brief in general and occurring
suddenly, during which the electricity consumption exceeds production "normal."
Rotor:
movable part of an electric motor, a turbine.
tonne oil equivalent (toe):
conventional unit for performing multi-energy energy balance with reference to oil equivalence.
1 11 626 toe = kWh (that is
the calorific value of a ton of oil).
wind energy development zone (ZDE)
area where the wind énéficient of the purchase obligation made to EDF (or some non-nationalized distributors mentioned in article 23 of the Act of April 8 1946) of the electricity generated. It is created on the initiative of a common or public establishment for cooperation (EPCI) with their own tax (common community, agglomeration, etc.) and validated by the Prefect.