RADEN LONDON LTD
Co. n. 14887434
124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX



Wind power has been used for centuries by sails, windmills and windpumps.
Today, wind power is one of the most used renewable energy sources, second only to photovoltaics.
In 2022, wind power produced 7.6% of global electricity (2,160 TWh) and, as photovoltaics, these numbers are expected to grow further.


Wind power is converted to electric power by wind turbines made up of the following components:

  • Rotor: the core of wind turbines, it includes the blades for converting wind energy to low speed rotational energy.
  • Electrical generator: used to convert rotational energy in electrical energy.
  • Power electronics: used to regulate the power output of the electrical generator.
  • Gearbox: it can be used to convert low speed rotational energy to high speed rotational energy. In most recent technologies low speed generators coupled with frequency converters are used instead.

Wind power is typically used in large wind farms generating over 650 GW of power, however small wind turbines (up to 300 kW) are already available on the market and represent a promising technology to be coupled to small and medium size PV systems in hybrid systems.





Advantages of wind power are:

  • It is a renewable and efficient energy source: wind turbines are able to convert up to 40% of the wind power to electrical power (comparable to traditional gas turbines) and does not rely on any kind of fuel neither fossil nor other kinds (i.e. biofuels, hydrogen, synfuels) eliminating the related costs of production, storage and distribution.
  • Minimal maintenace costs: a new generation wind farm operate for many years before requiring maintenance other than inspections, cleaning, lubrication and minor repairs.

Disatvantages of wind power are:

  • Wind availability: in order to be cost-effective, wind turbines require for wind to blow constantly. This is a requirement that cannot be met in every location thus the designer must evaluate the wind availability when performing the feasibility study. We provide our customers with feasibility reports based on the most updated wind measurements.
  • Thunderstorms: wind turbines can be more than 500 ft tall so they are susceptible to lightning strike. This is why we can provide the wind poer systems designed by us with lightning protection systems to protect the power plant.
  • Visual impact: tipically wind farms are located far from urban sites. Several 500 ft tall towers in the middle of the coutryside have a significant visual impact on the landscape. As designers, it is our task to try to integrate as much as possible wind turbines in the landscape architecture.

Wind power is not for you? Take a look to our PV systems and hybrid power systems pages.