Category: Wind Energy

Introduction

In the globalized society, the issue of climate change prompts stakeholders to take part in the establishment and implementation of strategies that enhance the sustainability of the environment. Essentially, strategies geared towards fostering environmental sustainability have a positive influence on socio-economic growth and development. Currently, industrial activities contribute to the emission of hazardous greenhouse gasses, including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In this concern, international conventions usually agitate for the embracement of practices that reduce the depletion of the ozone layer besides other forms of environmental degradation. An international summit held in October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, saw almost 200 members of the Montreal Protocol agree to cut the emission of HFCs significantly to reach the lowest levels ever to be achieved.

In this light, several countries, including Saudi Arabia, have invested in engineering projects aimed at tapping the alternative sources of energy to reduce environmental depletion. Notably, the development of wind power plants in strategic places such as offshores is regarded as a strategic move towards enhancing energy production, as well as curbing further degradation of the ecosystem. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the status regarding wind power plants before looking at the importance of such projects in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the paper will cover the background of wind power plants by addressing the technical aspects, similar projects in different parts of the globe, and the significant statistical figures for the case of Saudi Arabia.

Overview of the wind power status: possible deficiencies and limitations

The need for creating a society that upholds the essence of combating detrimental climate change calls for the establishment of projects that capture and distribute renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind (Shaahid 169). Further, the overdependence on fossil fuels besides oil reserves is worrying since it undermines environmental and economic sustainability to a considerable degree. Besides, for the sake of improving energy security, the establishment of wind power plants is considered a strategic move in the contemporary world (Energy Information Administration- Official Site par.2).

Axiomatically, wind power plants produce more power that they consume compared to other ways of producing energy. Notably, wind farms can generate between 17 and 39 times of the power consumed in the production process in comparison with 11 times for coal plants and 16 times for nuclear energy plants (Baseer 39). Therefore, the generation efficiency associated with wind power plants denotes the suitability of the energy alternative. In this regard, between 2007 and 2015, countries in the different regions have shown an increase in the establishment of wind power plants to promote the generation of renewable sources of energy to combat climate change. The figure below shows the trend of the power plants installation capacity in various regions.

The upward trend shows that more countries consider the integration of wind power plants to enhance the efficiency of their energy generation strategies by supporting the essence of sustainable development. For this reason, in 2015, wind-power plants led the advanced power technologies globally. However, economies in the Middle East and Africa require a greater installation of wind energy plants, owing to the advantages of such energy technologies.

The wind, as a power source, is advantageous in an array of ways. The cleanliness of the source implies that it does not contribute to the pollution of the air as compared to the toxic emissions generated when combusting fossil fuels (Ramli et al. 296). The turbines do not contribute to the emission of greenhouse gasses besides triggering acid rain. Further, wind power plants generate energy from a readily available source. Thus, its abundance enhances the capacity of different countries to meet their energy needs. Additionally, the sustainability of the wind as a source of power has seen the significant installation of turbines in the Asian region, led by China (Ramli et al. 290). Moreover, the cost-effective aspect of wind power estimated between two and six cents per kilowatt-hour has encouraged countries such as the Saudi Arabia to consider establishing their first power plant.

Amid the advantages, wind power plants pose several challenges. Notably, wind power projects are usually capital intensive. Thus, they require significant investments. The location of the facility also matters since areas with less energetic winds can increase the cost of generating energy. Further, the usage of land or offshores for wind power plants competes with other land uses that can generate greater benefits. Despite its insignificant contribution to environmental degradation, wind energy generation causes noise and aesthetic pollution. The turbines usually create noise besides altering the natural appearance of landscapes.

Moreover, the renewable energy plants have raised concerns in different countries over the threat to the conservation of the wildlife. Prominent cases have shown the damage of birds caught in the area of the spinning turbines. Therefore, countries that seek to install wind power plants need to consider the possible ways of mitigating the deficiencies or limitations of such projects for the sake of maximizing the benefits.

The importance of wind power plants in Saudi Arabia and the expected improvement

The integration of wind power plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a decisive move towards combating climate change in the Middle Eastern region, as well as promoting energy efficiency and security. Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 targets to foster productivity and effectiveness in different fields of the economy, including the energy sector. In particular, the countrys Vision 2030 seeks to realize a generation of at least 9.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy (Ramli et al. 379). Therefore, the installation of wind turbines to generate energy would be crucial towards the realization of the countrys envisioned targets.

Saudi Arabia seeks to install its first-ever wind turbine at the Turaif Bulk Plant that is situated in the northwestern region of the Gulf Kingdom. The contractors of the project include Saudi Aramco and General Electric (GE) partnering to facilitate the pioneering of wind power plants in the Middle East region (Ramli et al. 378). The partners aim at the installation of the highest quality wind turbines in the region to meet the heightening energy needs of the kingdom in a way that promotes the embracement of renewable energy generation as an alternative to its fossil fuels that cause environmental pollution.

Furthermore, the northern regions of Saudi Arabia provide suitable sites for the installation of wind turbines to bolster the reduction of the costs incurred in the energy sector. Notably, the central and northeast regions of Saudi Arabia experience winds exceeding 8.0 m/s, thereby offering strategic locations for wind power plants (Baseer 40). Therefore, the establishment of the projects in the identified areas would put the arid land to profitable use, thereby bolstering the diversification and efficiency of the kingdoms economy.

Evidently, Saudi Arabians expect the integration of wind power plants in the Kingdom to enhance energy security, combat the degradation of the environment, and/or trigger economic development. A similar project launched in Jordan seeks to get rid of the countrys energy woes since the Tafila Wind Farm has the capacity to generate 400 GWh of electricity yearly (Ramli et al. 376). Thus, the case of Saudi Arabia would also be relevant in promoting energy efficiency.

The renewable energy project is also crucial since it undermines the over-reliance on hydrocarbons for energy production. As such, Saudi Arabians anticipate the project as a key move towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Since the reduction of poisonous gas emissions such as HFCs is a global objective, the participation of Saudi Arabia towards the attainment of such targets is considerable.

Technical illustration of the proposed technology

A simple engineering principle facilitates the functionality of wind turbines. Normally, wind energy propels two or three blades affixed to a rotor. A shaft connected to the rotor spins a generator, thereby resulting in the creation of electricity. The simple engineering principle reverses the way a fan functions. In this respect, instead of using electricity to turn the blades in the turbine, the blades turn to create electricity (Shaahid 170). Therefore, the energy in the wind triggers the spinning of the blades that rotate a shaft linked to a generator that produces electricity.

The main types of wind turbines include the vertical axis and horizontal axis. The installation of the turbines can take place at the offshore of large water bodies such as lakes or oceans. Primarily, installed wind turbines facilitate the conversion of kinetic energy to mechanical power. Wind power plants offer the mechanical force to the electrical components for supply to consumers (Ramli et al. 293). The mechanical power or electricity may be deployed for various purposes, including domestic and industrial use. A network of power cables that link different homes, premises, and industries facilitates the channeling of the generated power to the grid.

Important to note, the wind is one of the forms of solar energy that develops as an outcome of the suns uneven heating of the atmosphere. The rotation of the earth and the irregular nature of the earths surface also influence the generation of wind. The setting up of wind turbines needs to consider areas with high wind speed, at least 8 meters per second (Shaahid et al. 8044). Usually, the factors that undermine the speed of wind include vegetation, terrain differences, and water bodies.

International overview of the industry and similar practices worldwide with possible achievement

By the end of 2015, the various wind power plants situated in different countries realized a cumulative generation of electricity summing up to 432,883 MW (The International Renewable Energy Agency par.1). The figure represents a 175 increase when compared to the 2014 records. Between 2013 and 2015, the generation of electricity from wind increased by a substantial 100%, as denoted by the witnessed 35,467 MW increase in 2013 since 2015 saw an additional of 63,330 MW (Ramli et al. 380). Globally, China and the US lead the pack among the countries that have engaged in the significant installation of wind power plants (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency par.3). In 2015, Chinas installation capacity generated 145,362 MW, which accounted for a significant 34.1% of the global installation ability. The US follows with an installation aptitude of 74,471 MW, thereby accounting for 17.5% of the global total production.

Since 2010, new installations of wind power plants occurred outside North America and Europe as denoted by the boom of nearly half of the worlds new installations in China and India. However, Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan lag behind in the creation of wind power plants. Amid the slow progress, the region shows positive signs of fully embracing renewable energy sources, in particular, the wind. As such, the region managed to add 317MW of wind power in 2015 (Shaahid et al. 8042).

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continue showing optimism in the generation of wind power. The Turaif Bulk Plant in the northern region of Saudi Arabia is a promising move geared towards energy efficiency. Similarly, the Shagaya and Gamesa turbines in Kuwait aim at generating at least 100 MW of power. This capacity will improve the production of renewable energy in the region (Ramli et al. 290). The African region has also shown interest in tapping wind power where countries such as Kenya, Namibia, and Ethiopia continue installing wind turbines.

Statistics about Saudi Arabia concerning wind power technology

Saudi Arabia holds an important energy policy that focuses on the mitigation of waste besides bolstering the efficiency of the efforts put in place to streamline the Kingdoms energy sector. In this regard, the country plans to generate at least 50GW of electricity from solar and wind power by 2040 (Shaahid 169). Currently, the Kingdom has allocated over $2 trillion to fund wind power projects that would generate at least 9.5GW of the wind and solar energy before the deadline of its 2030 national vision (Baseer 37).

Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 seeks to streamline the efficiency of the energy sector in a way that fosters the diversity and sustainability of the economy. In this regard, the establishment of the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative is geared towards the modification of the available regulatory and legal frameworks to promote private-public partnerships (Ramli et al. 289).

In 2014, the Gulf Kingdom allocated more than $3 trillion to the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative to bolster the competitiveness of renewable energy. The cost competitive nature of wind energy makes it a suitable choice for the Saudi Arabian government. Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon view wind power plants as the alternative to hydrocarbons since the production of the former averages at $c5/kWh (Ramli et al. 382). Therefore, Saudi Arabia would reap considerable economic benefits, owing to the competitiveness of the costs incurred in the production of wind power.

Conclusion

The development of wind power plants in Saudi Arabia would play a considerable role in fighting against climate change, fostering energy sufficiency, and facilitating the diversification and sustainability of the Kingdoms economy. Other countries led by China and the US have shown commendable progress in the new installation capacity, thereby accounting for almost half of the worlds generation capacity through wind energy. However, the Gulf kingdom still lags behind in the installation of wind power plants in the country. Thus, for the attainment of the energy targets spelled out in the Kingdoms Vision 2030, the intensification of wind power projects is relevant.

Works Cited

Baseer, Mildred. Wind Power Characteristics of Seven Data Collection Sites in Jubail, Saudi Arabia using Weibull Parameters. Renewable Energy, vol. 102, no. 1, 2017, pp. 35-49.

Energy Information Administration- Official Site. EIA, 2015. Web.

Ramli, Makbul, et al. Techno-economic Energy Analysis of Wind/Solar Hybrid System: Case Study for Western Coastal Area of Saudi Arabia. Renewable Energy, vol. 91, no. 1, 2016, pp. 374-385.

Shaahid, Swaleh, et al. Feasibility of Development of Wind Farms in Northern Province of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, vol. 11, no. 13, 2016, pp. 8041-8045.

Shaahid, Syed. Economic Perspective of Hybrid Wind-Diesel Technology for Commercial Loads of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Thermal Science, vol. 19, no. 1, 2015, pp. 167-178.

The International Renewable Energy Agency. IRENA, 2014. Web.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA, 2014. Web.

The demand for renewable energy has contributed immensely towards the growth of wind energy industry. Nations such as the United States have shifted away from using fossil fuels. However, the success of wind energy industry depends greatly on wind turbines. A wind turbine is a technological device used in converting energy present in the moving wind into mechanical energy.

Occasionally, the mechanical energy that rotates the shaft is converted by a wind turbine generator into electrical energy (Rivkin 2011, p.1). The generators are usually fixed at the top of the towers in order to maximize the output of wind energy turbines. To enhance their activity, generators are usually joined to the rotors by gears that multiply the speed of the generator.

This paper seeks to describe how wind turbines convert wind energy into electrical energy. This paper also provides broad explanation on how various parts of the turbine work together in enhancing conversion of wind energy into electrical energy.

First law of thermodynamics

According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot undergo destruction or creation. In essence, energy is prone to conversion from one state to another. Thus, energy produced by the turbines ought to have great relation with the energy that was drove into the turbine generators by the blades.

The turbine is made up of various parts that work together. For instance, the connection of the blades of the wind turbine to the shaft, and the shaft to the gearbox of the turbine plays a crucial role in the generation of electricity (Rivkin 2011, p.4).

Stages for generating electricity

The process of generating electricity from wind energy is a bit complex. It involves two stages. In the first stage, it dictates for the conversion of kinetic energy present in the moving wind into mechanical energy that drives the shaft fixed into the wind generator. The crucial elements that play a significant role during this stage are the wind blades.

Therefore, careful designs of the blades aid in maximizing the efficiency of the turbines in electricity generation (Tong 2010, p.20). However, diverse factors affect the amount of mechanical energy produced by the blades. For instance, the shape of blade tips and general profile of the blades determines the amount of mechanical energy produced by the blades.

The second stage of electricity generation from wind energy involves the conversion of trapped mechanical energy into electrical energy via aid of wind generators. This stage also aids in outlining various parameters that assist in determining the conversion efficiency of the generators. For instance, it aids in calculating the efficiency of gearbox, generators, and electric appliances.

Movement of the wind

The wind blows play a significant role in enhancing the movement of the generators; they enhance the spinning of the shaft via rotating the turbine blades. Additionally, the connection of the shaft to the gearbox expounds the output of the turbine.

The gearbox plays a significant role in multiplying the rotational speed of blade shaft to the speed recommended for the generator. On the other hand, the generator plays a significant role in converting kinetic energy into electrical energy.

Wind blades

Wind is the product of the movement of air caused by variation in atmospheric pressure gradients. Occasionally, wind flows from regions experiencing high pressure to regions that have low wind pressure. Its effect is greatly felt when the atmospheric pressure gradient is very large (Tong 2010, p.6).

Most modern wind turbines blades have great relation to the blades used in flights; their blades are tilted in order to maximize wind power output. The kinetic energy of the wind can be calculated by using the formula below

In the above equation, m is the mass of the flowing air, and is the mean speed of the wind over a given period. The differentiation of the moving energy in wind with time leads to production of wind power that is calculated by the formula below

Unfortunately, only a small portion of wind power is turned into electrical power. The movement of the wind across the turbines leads to the creation of wind mass that rotates the blades. The air mass responsible for the rotation of the blades is calculated using the formula below

In which p represents the air density and A the area swept by the rotating blades.

The area swept by the blades plays a significant role in determining the amount of power generated by the turbines. The larger the swept surface area the greater the amount of wind power produced by the wind turbine (Tong 2010, p.10). The area swept by the blades is calculated by the formula below

The rotor

The rotor is a central device to which the blades are connected. It plays a significant role in directing the energy tapped from the blowing wind by the blades to the shaft. Its spinning leads to the spinning of the shaft which as a result leads to the generation of mechanical energy.afts and the gearboxes. The rotation of the shaft leads to the spinning of the devices within the generator.

The spinning of the devices within the generators also contribute significantly towards creation of voltage. Some of the devices that make up the generator include slip rings, commutators, armature, and magnets (Rivkin 2012, p.65).

Slip rings

Most wind turbine generators use alternative current. They are made up of a pair of slip rings that are connected to different devices; one is connected to the armature coil and the other one to another armature winding. Slip rings play the role of transferring electric power from stationery devices within the generator to rotating devices.

Slip rings possess some brushes that pave way for the movement of the current from one ring device to another. Additionally, slip rings play a significant role in enhancing the rotation of armature; they help in the determination of the amount of voltage produced by the armatures.

Commutators

The efficiency of the generators can also be enhanced by replacing slip rings by commutators. Most commutators are made up of two segments that are 180 degrees apart. During the rotation of the generator, the brushes get into contact with the commutator segments one at a time.

Magnets

Magnets play significant role in the process of generating electricity; they enhance movement of current from one device to another. They also enhance the creation and movement of current within a magnetic field. However, wind turbines contain artificial magnets that are generated electrically.

Power converters

Power converters play the role of converting electricity into different forms. They have the ability of converting electric current from either AC to DC or DC to AC. They have also the potential of converting electric voltage from voltage n to voltage i.

They are made up of devices such as diodes, power transistors, and silicon-controlled rectifiers. Power converters play significant role in enhancing the generation of useful electricity. For instance, they lead to production of controlled electricity that can be used domestically (Rivkin 2012, p.67).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the demand for renewable source of energy has played a significant role towards advancing the usage of wind energy as the source of electricity. It is not only a significant source of energy, but also a pollutant free source of energy. Its effect is greatly felt by great advancement in technology that has led to the production of effective turbines.

Wind turbines are made up of diverse elements that work as a unit. Some of the devices that make it include the blades, rotor, shaft, and the generator.

The surface area of the wind turbine blades plays a significant role towards the generation of electricity. The rotation of the blades leads to the spinning of the rotor which results to the rotation of the generator. On the other hand, the rotation of the devices within the generator results to the production of electricity.

A source of energy can be described as a system from which electricity can be extracted or generated. There are a number of sources of energy, each with its characteristic advantages and disadvantages. Among the many energy sources is power generated from turbines tuned by wind. Wind energy is classified as a renewable source of energy since it can be considered to be unlimited. This paper is an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy.

Wind power can be credited for its production of clean energy. Therefore, unlike some other sources of energy, wind energy does not pollute the environment. The turbines that are used for generation of wind power do not produce any emissions to the atmosphere.

In some of the other sources of energy, emissions are produced which cause greenhouse effects and global warming, and acid rain. This is normally the case with natural gas or coal-powered plants. Another advantage is the fact that wind energy depends on the power of wind, which is renewable. Wind can actually be viewed as an indirect form of solar energy.

This comes from the fact that heating is the main source of wind-current creation. It is also important to note that wind energy can be regarded as a domestic source of energy. This is because its users can be able to produce it in their backyards, provided their homes are strategically located (Williamson, 2010). This is a common occurrence in the United States. Also advantageous is the fact that wind supply in the United States is abundant, and thus generation of power using wind produces substantial volumes of power.

Also among the numerous advantages of wind power is the fact that wind energy is regarded as being among the renewable energy sources that have the lowest cost implications. The average cost of generating power using wind has been proved to be from 4 cents to 6 cents for every unit (kilowatt-hour) of power produced.

This, of course, depends on the availability of wind in the location of the project under review, and the intricacies of financing a particular project. Another advantage is the fact that most of the turbines that are used in the generation of wind power are located in ranches, and on farms. This is a very beneficial aspect since farms and ranches are located in rural areas, and locating turbines in these areas potentially uplifts the economy of these areas.

Also advantageous is the fact that after wind turbines are installed in these farms and ranches, the land can be used for other economic activities since the turbines occupy limited space (Ryan, 2009). Plant owners also benefit the land owners by paying rent for their use of the land in which plants are located.

Additionally, access to the energy provided by wind is free. This implies that anyone capable of accessing a turbine can be able to generate energy by the use of wind power without further charges. The harnessing of the wind can also be done efficiently.

Also advantageous is the fact that a number of people are thrilled by the mere sight of wind turbines, and thus the turbines can be used as a landscape feature for other commercial purposes like tourism. It is also worth mentioning that both the developing and developed countries are aided in filling their energy gaps by wind energy.

The turbines used to generate wind energy also come in various sizes, and thus they can be utilized by a variety of users, ranging from corporations to individuals (D’Silva, 2010). The advantages of wind energy are inexhaustible. Let us now have a look at the negative aspects of wind energy.

There are a number of disadvantages that can be associated with wind energy. Firstly, wind energy competes with the conventional sources of power in terms of cost. The competitiveness of a wind plant generating power is highly dependent on the energy of the wind site.

Thus wind sites in which the wind is not so energetic may be more expensive than the conventional means of power generation. This is in spite of the fact that costs associated with wind power have dramatically reduced in the last decade. However, wind energy is known to have a higher initial investment as compared to the use of fossil-fuelled generators.

Also disadvantageous is the fact that the turbines used to generate wind power are mostly located in rural areas. This is because these areas are far away from the towns and cities, in which the power is greatly needed. Thus in cases where cities use wind energy generated in rural areas, transmission is necessary.

This adds to the costs associated with the wind energy. In some areas, benefits of the development of the wind resource and the use of turbines to achieve this goal may be beaten by other forms of land use. This is because the alternative uses of the land may have more returns than the generation.

Investors in wind energy have, and other stakeholders, have been increasingly worried about the noise pollution characteristic with the generation of wind energy, the visual effects that can be associated with the rotating blades, the occasional killing of birds by the blades, etc. This is in spite of the fact that some of these problems have already been solved or reduced by the use of technologically improved plants.

It is also argued that wind energy generation also contributes to environmental pollution, and consequently global warming as the turbines are manufactured. Also disadvantageous is the fact that, in order to provide sufficient amounts of power for communities, large wind farms are required (D’Silva, 2010).

The wind is also not constant, and therefore, generation of power using wind is not as predictable as its conventional counterparts. It should, in fact, be noted that there could be times when a wind plant does not produce any power.

As evidenced in the discussion above, most of the aspects of wind energy are counterproductive. For instance, the location of most of the plants for wind generation in rural areas is an avenue for betterment of the economic status of the people living there. At the same time, this aspect of wind energy may lead to more cost being incurred due to transmission to cities which may need the power more than the local people. In a nutshell, wind energy can be considered to have more benefits than challenges, and thus it is advisable that more wind plants are used in the generation of electricity.

Coal has been a source of energy for various countries within and around the world for many decades. This rock is formally identified as a dark, hardened sedimentary rock of which is formed by decayed plant substances which are then further burnt and used as a fuel hence providing energy for various tasks. The formation of the rock may take several years as opposed to the transformation of the rock to a fuel however, the process in which the rock is converted to fuel, has a negative impact on the environment.

Within South Africa, coal has been used to provide energy for household and industrial use since the discovery of the fuel on South African land consequently, coal mining commenced in various regions of the country possessing this energyproviding rock. According to studies found by energy, approximately 77% of the countries core energy requirements are sourced by this fuel. This is in relation to the easy access along with the large numbers of the fuel on South African land nevertheless; these coal mines are destroying land and put those in labor within the mines at health risks as the inhalation of the underground coal fumes may result in server health issues. In addition, to create the required energy, it is required that the rock is burnt and furthermore processed to create energy. This releases greenhouse gases, polluting the atmosphere and harming those constantly inhaling the substance.

To prevent the loss of lives and preserve our environment, it is necessary that the country adapts to an alternative, eco-friendly source of energy. There are numerous substitutes the country could consider, however; a feasible option would be the application of wind power as the main source of South African energy provider, this owing to the available land within the interior of the country along with the strong winds received along the country’s coastal regions as well as those further inland. The research will be made to discover the feasibility of this energy source within the country unpacking questions regarding its efficiency within the country along with the benefits the country could gain from the use of wind energy. This substitute should be beneficial to the country for a range of various reasons which will be discussed below.

Contrasting the energy supplied by fossil fuels such as coal, wind power (also referred to as Wind Energy) is a form of energy that is a non-polluting and renewable form of energy. For adequate energy to be generated through wind power, wind turbines with generators are built to function with assistance from prevailing winds within an area. These winds are formed by the longwave radiation along with the rotation of the earth.

Winds are formed as a result of the rotation of the Earth along with the distribution of longwave radiation from the sun. Solar energy heats up the Earth’s surface at different rates with the large landmasses heating up at a faster rate than water masses. The heat received by the land will influence the temperatures of the air surrounding it by either cooling the air or heating it up. Due to the density of this air when heated, that which is heated by the land is forced to rise due to hot air possessing a lower density consequently, being forced to rise up and cool whilst the air surrounding water masses will sink due to its value of density. The movement of the air will further create winds whilst also being influenced by the rotation of the Earth. The movement of the air possesses vast kinetic energy which can be converted into electrical power with the aid of wind turbines.

The force of the winds against the blades of the turbine causes the kinetic energy force to be transformed into mechanical energy which may be used for various activities however, with the use of a built-in generator, the mechanical energy can further be advanced and convert to electrical energy suitable for household usage and within various industries. The diagram below illustrated by Chip Gribben from Green homes challenge depicts various parts of a wind turbine. This will assist in giving a visual view of the functioning of the turbines which is explained below.

The kinetic air received by the blades of the wind turbines will rotate the blades of which are connected to a shaft that further fuels a generator within the turbine. The generator transforms this energy and supplies an electrical current thus providing electrical energy. The process of this transformation does not require any human labor nor does it release detrimental toxins into the environment hence why South Africa should resort to wind power as opposed to the countries current source of energy.

Industrial wind power projects are often built within open land areas due to the required space for effective functioning. The objective of placing the turbines within open land is due to the fact that the turbines require constant airflow consequently; these winds received by the turbines may not be obstructed or deflected by an opposing object. However, wind power may also be sued within residential lands, therefore, limiting the effectiveness of the turbine as residents have limited open lands as there are various obstructions including houses and/or tress within the observed area nevertheless, Wind Farms may be constructed at a rational distance from households with the use of transmission lines which will be connected from the source to the various households within a region. Research made by Richard Gaughan found evidence that the distance of the turbines from influencers impacts the efficiency furthermore discovering that household turbines require a distance of 150 meters from different wind barriers to producing sufficient power. In addition, the blades of the rotor demand a height of 9 meters, exceeding that of their obstructers. Furthermore, the wind turbines constructed for industrial use within wind farms require a minimum spacing of 7 rotor meters from one other. These studies made by Richard revealed that spacing the rotors at this sufficient distance will enhance the performance of the turbines.

As the above states, wind turbines require a large amount of space for sufficient performance. Due to various provinces within South Africa possessing open land, this alternative form of energy will be the most feasible as various regions within the country already possess sufficient winds and land to generate the necessary energy. According to rain harvest, for optimal production of electricity (by small turbines), the speed of the winds rotating the blades needs to be at a minimum rate of 16kph. As stated by Batteries and energy technologies, wind turbines which are commonly used within households thus reduced in size, require a wind force reading between 3 and 7 on the Beaufort scale. This scale is used globally to illustrate the wind force within a region. The scale ranges from clam (0) to hurricane (12). Observations are made and the forces are further classified according to their effect on surrounding objects such as trees. The larger industrial wind turbines on wind farms require reading between 9 and 10 (±90km/h) on the scale on the word of Batteries and energy technologies. As a result of turbines being dependant on the wind force along with the availability of land, one may conclude by saying that this form of energy will be sufficient within South Africa due to the country currently possessing these requirements.

Various provinces within the interior of South Africa do not possess any inhabitants due to a range of diverse reasons one of which is the Northern Cape. This province is recognized as South Africa’s desert area as rainfall is low, therefore; the region’s agricultural activities have limitations whilst also restricting the population growth as those within this province are limited to various services. This subsequently means that the province is a practical location for wind farms due to the available space. There is limited infrastructure along with vegetation within the province, therefore, obliterating concerns of obstructers influencing the effectiveness of the turbine. In addition, the province receives a moderate breeze which produces sufficient energy for the functioning of wind turbines.

Due to this province being in an isolated desert area, it would be required to construct transition lines that will transport the converted energy from the wind turbine farm to the cities within different places. Although this will increase the cost of the projects, once built, the turbines will provide sufficient energy for a long period without the need for modifications. In addition, planting the farms within the Northern Cape will reduce the visual and noise pollution as this location is isolated and unseen/heard by residents. South Africa possesses various suitable sites for wind energy farms. The majority of the country obtains sufficient wind forces to power the wind turbines. Other areas which may be considered to construct wind farms include the Eastern Cape. Unlike the Northern Cape, this province constantly receives strong winds. Various studies made by Vici Markering showed that the province possesses South Africa’s windiest city along with the windiest station. Port Elizabeth, amongst one of those with dominant winds, was recorded to have wind speeds of 4.3 m/s on average.

The application of wind power within South Africa has a range of benefits. Despite it being renewable and clean, this form of energy is cheap as winds are constant and independent of other factors. In addition, the use of this energy will assist South Africa in reducing the amount of pollution which is produced by current power generators such as coal. The burning of these fossil fuels is toxic however, once the country resorts to wind power as the main source of energy, the use of these natural fossil fuels will be reduced therefore preserving them for generations to come. This form of energy does not release any pollutants into the Earth’s atmosphere when converting the winds into electricity consequently making it amongst the supreme eco-friendly energy sources. Although the turbines are considered to produce visual pollution when insight along with noise pollution, they do not entirely jeopardize the environment by releasing toxins into the atmosphere, therefore, making them more feasible than other energy alternatives.

Concerns may arise with discussions relating to the placing of the turbines as they are only effective when placed within open areas away from obstructing objects. Due to South Africa having a large agricultural sector that provides the country with various foods whilst some is traded amongst neighboring countries, constructing wind turbine farms may be a concern to local farms as the land used for agricultural growth will be used to plant wind turbines. However, the turbines, once constructed, do not disrupt the ground beneath thus farming may continue without complications. This would be a benefit for the country as land will be used to perform two activities.

In addition, wind energy can be supplied in various regions thus one is able to provide isolated, areas with electricity from wind turbines. In these cases, the supply of modern-day electricity producers would be unrealistic or too costly to transmit the energy. This energy is very reliable as it is renewable and sustainable. Due to the functioning of the turbines relying primarily on winds, the country does not need to worry about replacement when facing a possibility of winds stopping as they will always be present whilst they also do not require high maintenance. Once constructed and the turbine is functioning at its optimal potential, the wind turbines will last a long period of time without the necessity of yearly reviews. Whilst providing energy for the country, the wind turbine industry creates jobs within various sectors. One may obtain a job within the construction phase whilst furthermore pursuing employment within the manufacturing of the turbines or as a wind turbine consultant.

Although this form of energy has a lot of benefits once constructed, there are a few disadvantages the country could encounter before the manufacturing of the turbine farms as costs prior to the construction is high. The government will be required to survey various locations within the country measuring the wind speed to find the most suitable place for the wind turbines which may be costly. The construction of the farms is also pricey nevertheless, once these stages have been overcome, a small amount of capital will be required for optimal functioning as wind is free. Furthermore, wind turbines have negative impacts on the wildlife/ecosystem within the regions they are placed in. Birds often fly into the blades of the turbine thus killing them and reducing the species. The construction of the turbines also negatively impacts ground species are the wholes dug will ruin the land of which small insects acquire. Despite these minor disadvantages, the discussed advantages will assist the efficiency of energy within South Africa as these outweigh the disadvantages.

South Africa is required to resort to an alternative energy provider as the current supply is insufficient and is threatening our environment however, due to the available land along with the force of the wind received by South Africa, the implementation of wind power will effectively produce energy for the country. The studies obtained allow us to conclude that this energy source is feasible for use within South Africa. This alternative of energy is reliable and eco-friendly. Unlike the fossil fuels currently used by the country, no pollutants are released by the use of this source of energy which is beneficial to the country as South Africa is currently releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases in order to provide electricity for various activities.

Incorporating wind energy as the main source of energy will be beneficial to the country as not only does the use of turbines reduce the amount of pollution released but, as discussed, the land on which the turbines are built is not affected therefore allowing other agricultural activates to resume without disturbance from the wind turbines. Despite the minor disadvantages, wind power is sufficient and obtains numerable advantages of which will assist the country in reducing the amounts of greenhouse gasses released along with reducing the unemployment percentages of the country.

For the various reasons mentioned above, we can conclude by saying that South Africa should convert to this energy source. As a result of South Africa possessing sufficient winds along with open areas, the functioning of the turbines will be effective as strong forces of unobstructed winds are required for effective functioning of which regions within South Africa already meet these specifications therefore, the project costs will be reduced as the country is not required to create additional space for the placing of the turbines.

The need for energy from sources with less environmental effect has brought scientist’s attention and greater investment interest in the wind farms sector; which is a solution for the generation of electricity based on the power of the wind but this sector considers to be new and bring occupational risks. This paper will present a brief historical review of the development and growth of the wind farm sector and evaluation of the occupational hazards, risks, and safety that workers in wind farms could be exposed to during installation, operation, and maintenance, which focus mostly on the health-related hazards, safety hazards for the wind farm workers beside of the control measures for those risks and possible preventive actions for improvement are also provided but this sector still lacks adequate information since the existing fleet of wind turbines is fairly new. Therefore, it is vital to conduct investigations on the impact of these work activities on the career and long-term health of all workers entering the sector of wind farms.

Wind energy is one of the common renewable energy which has a lower environmental impact. However, windmills have been used for 3000 years at least, for different purposes such as grain or pumping water; The utilization of windmills (or wind turbines) to produce power began in the late nineteenth century with the 12 kW direct current windmill generator built by Charles Brush in the USA and the exploration did by Poul la Cour in Denmark; Although, there was little enthusiasm for utilizing wind energy for electricity generation one surprising advancement was the 1250 kW Smith-Putnam wind turbine built in the USA in 1941which had a steel rotor 53 m in diameter, full-span pitch control, and flapping blades to reduce loads(Wind energy handbook, 2011). The history of early wind turbine development started with Golding(1955), Shepherd, and Divine in Spera (1994), they record the 100 kW 30 m diameter Balaclava wind turbine in 1931 and the Andrea Enfield 100 kW 24 m diameter pneumatic design built in the UK in the early 1950s; In this turbine, hollow blades, open at the tip, were utilized to draw air up through the tower where another turbine drove the generator; In Denmark, the 200 kW 24 m diameter Gedser machine was constructed in 1956, while Electricite de France established a 1.1 MW 35 m diameter turbine in 1963. In Germany, Professor Ulrich Hutter created several innovative, lightweight turbines in the 1950s and 1960s; In spite of these technological advances in the electrical research association in the UK, there was little concern in wind generation until the price of oil climbed significantly in 1973(Wind energy handbook, 2011). And energy independence encourages after the global growth of wind capacity(Yue et al., 2001). Besides the costs is cheaper than other renewable energies, for example, solar power(IEA, 2019). Moreover, wind power generation is usually regionally decentralized and therefore has the potential to promote economic development in various local areas. As a result, many industrialized and developing countries actively support renewable energy through legislative and policy initiatives (including China, the United States, European Union countries, and many developing countries)(May & Nilsen, 2015). Despite the benefits for the generation of electricity from the wind, adverse health effect has been linked to wind farms workers. Wind turbines generate noise that can be classified into a mechanical noise which is produced from the rotor or gearbox and an aerodynamic noise which is generated by turbulent wind flow near the wind turbine blades; the adverse health effects of wind turbine noise can produce physiological effects, for example, anxiety, tinnitus or hearing loss(Abbasi et al., 2015). World health organizations linked noise annoyance with harmful effects on health-related quality of life(Berglund et al., 1999). This paper will examine the main health-related hazards and risks besides safety hazards and risks which are discrete for wind farmworkers.

General hazards and risks: There are many issues have been related to the wind farm. The most common types of potential wind turbine hazards are related to, infrasound, dust, sound/noise, low-frequency sound, shadow flicker; Risks: electromagnetic fields, severe weather; ice fall/ thrown .occupational risk assessment (OSRA) methods are commonly used to cover causes and features of accidents and workplace circumstances in different sectors, In order to produce a safe and healthy work environment that guarantees sustainability in wind turbines, determination of existing and external hazard sources and management of the risks occurred gain great importance(Gul et al., 2018).

Installation in the wind turbine building is a very complex and perhaps a highly dangerous step. Because it is cover the basic components, including the basis, transition piece and the building of the wind turbine contains the majority of the heavyweight of turbine components with the completion of various tasks in quick sequence, and this represents many issues; It is depending on the size of the wind farm despite the number of workers involved in the installation stage; So, it is essential to consider the installation activities take place in windy areas and that turbine tops are designed to position the blades where the wind blows most strongly; The safety implications of working need to be carefully considered throughout the installation phase as a consequence to exposure to high wind conditions and height; workers can be exposed to fall risk(Webster et al., 2013). Exposure to high winds might make the work at high elevations even more harmful. During installation, workers may need to access individual turbine sections to weld or fit individual sections together, run electrical or other lines, and install or test equipment often at heights greater than 30.5 m(Webster et al., 2013). For example, one of the construction workers was killed after falling 30 m down the shaft of a wind turbine; he was working on the inside of the turbine while they were under installation(BBC, 2007). So workers on wind farms should be protected from falls by guardrail systems, safety net systems, and personal fall arrest systems(Webster et al., 2013). And one of the most common hazards in this sector is noise which can be defined as unwanted sound. Wind turbines generate noise that can be mechanical noise which is produced from the motor or gearbox but if performing correctly, this type of noise from modern wind turbines should not be an issue another type of noise is aerodynamic noise which is coming from the wind passing over the blade of the wind turbine, moreover, wind turbine produces a general audible range of sound emissions, that includes a range of Special audible Characteristics (SACs) such as low-frequency noise and tonality, impulsivity, amplitude modulation(Health & Council, 2010). Noise can affect human health and cause hearing loss. (Rogers et al., 2006). Most claims regarding potential adverse noise impacts of wind turbines are concerned with low-frequency noise and infrasound; however, according to (Leventhall, 2006)there is normally little lowfrequency noise because there is insignificant infrasound generated by wind turbines. Besides there is a survey of all known published results of infrasound from wind turbines found the new design of wind turbines, where rotor blades are in front of the tower, make a low level of infrasound. But (NRC, 2007)notes that low-frequency infrasound (less than 20Hz) could affect humans health but it is adverse not well understood yet.

The number of workers in the operational phase is lower than in the installation phase. For example, over 500 persons working on-site, but an average operational crew contain four or people for every 20 or 30 wind turbines and smaller wind farms they maybe rely on a regular visit from regional teams(Webster et al., 2013). One of the significant risks that face the operational workers is weather and therefore work strategies should take into account information from national meteorological; advice that national meteorological offices can provide to wind farm operators should take into consideration; In Finland, since it is proximity to the arctic circle, climate atmospheres can make it tough for workers to carry out certain tasks, such as the operation of wind turbines; moreover to ensure that workers can take suitable measures to prepare and protect themselves(Webster et al., 2013). Warning of anticipated weather conditions such as ice formation is provided constantly from the ( Harsh Weather Testing Network, 2011) in Finland. ice Fragments fall or be thrown from the rotor when this ice melts or is shaken off the rotor it causes a serious problem for the workers especially operational staff as they work near the turbines so when significant risk is believed to happen, the following procedures are recommended; stop the operation of turbines during the ice accumulation or applying turbine with special features which prevent ice accretion or change turbines places to more safe areas; besides operational staff should be more conscious of the conditions that lead to ice accretion on the turbine(Morgan et al., 1997). Another risk in the operation for the marine wind farm(offshore farm) is the transferring of staff to the turbines because the turbines can be only accessed by boat or helicopter as to reach to the turbines is dependent on the sea state; if waves increase in magnitude while work is being conducted workers might find themselves trapped on a turbine structure (Webster et al., 2013). The broadcast platform can accommodate personnel indefinitely, and in extreme conditions, this fact should be kept in mind while designing for human safety. The need for personnel, which must be based on a central transmission platform, will increase if operations are moved further from the coast and the logistics of moving people on land becomes more difficult. Possible design requirements for stationary personnel on transmission platforms in inclement weather should also be taken into consideration(Webster et al., 2013). Report by the (CMOH, 2010) in Ontario noticed potential health risks that involve shadow flicker, which happens when the blades of the turbine rotate in cast shadows and bright conditions, nevertheless, the CMOH derivations this as a potential risk by 3 % of people with epilepsy are photosensitive and that most turbines rotate at a speed below 5–30 Hz, which is the flicker frequency that usually triggers seizures. The CMOH also discounts the ill health effects of wind turbine-created electromagnetic fields (EMFs)(Webster et al., 2013). However (Rideout et al., 2010) indicate that the low percentage of EMFs which come from wind turbines do not represent any risk.

After the tower building is finished and running. Several maintenance actions must happen in the life structure of the tower and the usual maintenance period for the current wind turbine could take 40 hours a year; however, the issue has a relation to design especially as the installation may have a design life of 20 years, and there are some pieces of the installation like gearboxes, which need to be repaired or changed; but nowadays, gearboxes have to be changed from 7 (https://gradesfixer.com/freeessay-examples/a-study-of-plastic-pollution-in-the-pacific-ocean/) and 11 years into service(Webster et al., 2013). The author also states the chance to exposure to occupational health risks is depends on the time spends working on and maintaining a wind turbine, the more time workers spend the greater they will exposure to OHS; moreover, the skill shortage technicians in some EU countries, labors employed by some of the bigger companies maybe need to do maintenance work in various countries, frequently working away from home for a long time. Maintenance works contain tasks like, lubricating parts, full generator overhaul, cleaning blades, repairing electrical control units, and replacing components, these may be more repetitive tasks which means that maintenance technicians become usual with the risks and the strategies for working at heights, interacting with electricity(Webster et al., 2013). The industry tends to concentrate on gearbox failures, as these cause wind turbines to be non-operational for the longest period. Regarding gearboxes, there has been some argument about improving their reliability to reduce the instances of workers having to carry out maintenance, and the new turbine designs are opting for direct drive, which does away with gearboxes altogether and about electrical risks, it looks that going over the nacelle may have the risk of hurt from electric shocks and electrocution or spark, particularly on smaller, commercial-scale turbines that do not have brakes or shut-off mechanisms to avoid the turbine from accidentally being switched on through maintenance actions; so, it is important to recognize, detach, block and free energy sources present in the wind turbines before maintenance work happened(Webster et al., 2013). besides Maintenance work around the nacelle is involved risks associated with moving parts should the nacelle turn, hot parts causing burns and high-voltage cables; If moving parts of the turbine such as blades and gears are not protected well, they will cause extreme wounds, for example, squashed fingers or hands, amputations, burns or serious eye injuries; therefore a high level of moisture ingress protection should be offered which could protect the equipment from damages(Webster et al., 2013). Maintaining turbine blades will also involve operations such as resurfacing and buffing, which may expose workers to harmful gases, dust, and vapors that could affect the respiratory system causing asthma or another disease when inside the turbine, satisfactory ventilation ought to be given to reduce inhalation hazards; If the ventilation alone is not sufficient, at that point laborers may likewise need to utilize fitting respirators; the utilization of respirators may give a false sense of security and laborers ought to comprehend the impediments of the respirators. For instance, during the substantial effort, the respirator seal is often compromised, which permits the unsafe substance to enter the breathing zone without being separated through the holes between the wearer’s face and the respirator (Webster et al., 2013). Hence workers must be trained in the proper use of respirators, counting maintenance, and storage. It is particularly important to monitor workers exposed to dust and gases during work in confined to ensure their safety.

This paper has tried to bring together relevant hazards and risks related to the wind farm industry by using data from the European agencies for safety and health at work reports, reviews, and others. but it was obvious that the amount of data accessible is fairly sparse and vague. Since there is an absence of exploratory information on hazard exposures to laborers, for example, most research focus on public safety or businesses in the wind energy sector tend to be guarded not only at a recruitment and training level, yet additionally at an operational level; the operational information of turbines are kept private by the manufacturer; Some wind power administrators share between themselves essentially between individuals from wind power trade associations their data on occupational incidents and accidents but do not make this data public, so restricting opportunities for OSH and occupational hygiene actors to contribute to research and activity to improve occupational health conditions in the segment; also, the discussion on the adverse effects of wind turbines on human wellbeing and the earth still continues (Webster et al., 2013). In 2012, the American Wind Energy Association, Australia’s Clean Energy Council, the Canadian Wind Energy Association, the European Wind Energy Association, the Global Wind Energy Council, and Renewable UK stated: “As a responsible industry that has been delivering clean electricity for more than 30 years, we collectively continue to engage with experts in science, medicine, and environmental health to monitor on-going credible research in the area of wind turbines and human health… the balance of scientific evidence and human experience to date clearly concludes that wind turbines are not harmful to humans”(Casey, 2013). This statement is not cover the occupational health impact that the industry has on its own workforces but on the effect of the wind farm on public health; so the Caithness windfarm data gathering has now included human wellbeing involved human health incidents in its accident database, including incidents associated with turbine noise, shadow flicker, etc; however there were six incidents impacting on human wellbeing in 2012 and 11 up to 31 March in 2013; in addition, more reports are anticipated to rise altogether as additional turbines are built; besides, more occupational-based research is required on new combinations of traditional risks and hazard in new environments, noise, vibration, electromagnetic radiation, use of dangerous substances, vibroacoustic disease, and wind turbine disorder; since the number of accidents and ill health incidents that have been reported and the hazardous activities to which wind energy workers are exposed (Webster et al., 2013).

The future of wind farms is still unknown. According to Vestas, the company which produced the first turbine in 1979, the operational lifetime of an active wind turbine can be 30 years or longer(Webster et al., 2013). In 2010, so few turbines have been decommissioned but there are still first- and second-generation wind turbines in operation, that are repowered and still used. The author states that technological developments in the design and building of wind turbine blades have extended the life of several wind turbines, despite the earliest generation because they are less efficient and it is expected that in the coming years there will be an increased level of withdrawing activity besides there is no clear guidance to occupational risks in the place and the national trade bodies are still working in improve the standards within the industry by producing best-practice occupational safety and occupational hygiene recommendations. However, there is still a clear need to develop guidelines or global standards for OSH management to guarantee a holistic approach from a life cycle view. Moreover, The European standard EN 50308: 2004 Wind turbines – protective measures – design, operation and maintenance requirements; is currently being updated and this standard is expected to ensure that OSH is taken into account as soon as possible; from the beginning of the life cycle of wind turbines and the all workers entering the industry(Webster et al., 2013). Which minimizes the risks and ensures the safety of workers for the wind farms industry.

Recent developments in the renewable energy sector suggest that the wind turbine and photo voltaic as Distributed Generation systems in the distribution network is gaining popularity as a new source of energy. Thus, this interconnected system consistently imposes new challenges in the power system stability. This study investigates the affect of distributed generators on distribution network during fault condition and includes voltage dips, transients and line short circuit fault current. With the increase in power demand, renewable energies such as wind turbines, solar panels and wave power plants have started to play a vital role in the global energy system. The integration of renewable energy into the power system can potentially cause severe challenges for the control and protection of large central generators and the distribution system Despite the capacity of such a complex network, constant disturbances remain in the system which may be dangerous both for the customers and the power electronics equipment in the network.

Advancement in the technology of renewable energy such as wind turbines in the MW range has developed more interest in general and its connection to the distribution network. Today large scale integration of wind turbine is connected to the Grid with high power density and controllability. As the quantity of distribution generation increases, as a result the distribution network becoming more like transmission network and the complexity of the network increases, A fault on such a complex distribution network can have serious consequences on the stability of the power system. A fault in the distribution system creates severe voltage dips and transients which can cause instability. As Distributed resources (DR) or distributed generators (DG)— connected to the distribution systems provides a different type of possibilities for energy conversion and generation compared to large generators connected to the transmission system. For various renewable energy resources like wind turbines, small and micro size wind turbines, conventional diesel generators, internal combustion generators, gas-fired turbines, PV cells and energy storage technologies, converters are required to provide electricity from these resources.

The Power quality is a measure of the voltage, the current and the frequency. Power quality problem may be of different nature which includes interruption, under and over voltages, flickers, harmonics and voltage sags. (The term dip is also used instead of sag).

Distributed generation (DG) is an emerging concept in the electricity sector, which represents good alternatives for electricity supply instead of the traditional centralized power generation concept. The main technical issues for DG connection relate to reliability and quality of supply, protection, metering, and operating protocols for connection and disconnection, islanding and reactive power management. Voltage regulation, voltage flicker, harmonic voltages and DC injection are key quality of supply issues.

Power quality is a measure of how close the voltage at the end user is to being sinusoidal with the rated frequency and the rated voltage magnitude. The cut-in and cut-out of units, especially old wind turbines and large capacitors generate transient voltage variations, also known as switching flicker. Fluctuations in the wind speed cause cyclic voltage fluctuations, also denoted continuous flicker. Frequency converters can generate harmonic currents. The inertia and low negative sequence impedance of induction generators and synchronous generators can, however also contribute to reduction of voltage fluctuations, harmonic currents and imbalance generated by consumers or other generation units.

Wind energy is the use of wind to make power through wind turbine and forms electricity. Wind energy is renewable and sustainable energy which is good for the environment. It also has the least impact on the environment and the cheapest source compare to other renewable energy.

Wind turbine captures wind energy within the area swept by its blade. Then, the spinning blade drive an electric generator that produces the electricity that we need to use daily. Technology is better now which means that wind turbines are bigger and better, also more efficient. Rotor diameter and hub height had increase to collect more energy per turbine. Which means that now fewer wind turbines can collect more energy than before.

What is the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy?

the advantages of wind turbines are more than its disadvantage which is good. The main advantages for this energy producer is that it is unlimited, free, renewable resource, economic value, maintenance cost, and placement of wind harvesting facilities. Firstly, wind turbine is unlimited because the earth itself have wind and air that moves around the world and it is free and unlimited because the wind won’t finish. Next, harvesting wind power is clean and won’t pollute the earth to get electricity to use because of the technology that engineers used in this big fan machine. The wind turbine harmlessly generates power for us from the wind that is passing by it. wind energy is way more ecofriendly than the burning of fossil fuel for electricity current. Currently the US is struggling with their economic system but if they used wind energy it can give positive advantages for their country and it is way cheaper. Once the wind turbines and energy is installed it won’t cost much for maintaining turbines and generating wind power like nothing for the government. The other advantage for wind energy is that it can be installed anywhere that have an open space for the wind to pass the wind turbine. [image: Image result for wind turbine on sea] After performing research and finding the best are to provide more energy by getting more wind is offshore because it is usually unpolluted and it is windier in that area.

Disadvantages for wind turbines are lesser than its advantages but it still can affect some area or society of the earth. The two major disadvantage for wind energy includes initial cost and technology immaturity. Firstly, to construct a wind turbine can cost a lot of money due to the material that it is needed to build. Next, technology immaturity high cost of energy can be address directly with technology innovations that increases reliable and energy output and lower system capital expenses. Offshore is definitely more wind than onshore which will also cost more to build one offshore than onshore. New technology is needed to lower the costs, increase reliability and energy production, solve regional deployment issues, expand the resource area, develop infrastructure and manufacturing facilities, and mitigate known environmental impacts. Therefore, one may argue that implementation of wind energy must be delayed until technological advancements are made. Other disadvantages that can affect this such energy producer is that it can affect the wildlife, aesthetic, remoteness of location and noise. It can be harmful for flying living things and noises can be unpleasant. Also it can cause the aesthetic of scenery that we use to see and it can be dangerous or wasting to fix it.

Wind energy helps global warming by decreasing carbon dioxide and it does not release greenhouse gases which won’t affect global warming. Wind is unlimited which is produce by a sun so we won’t have to worry about loss of electricity when wind energy is installed. It uses wind to produce electricity which won’t have greenhouse gases and the cost is not a problem to build one. By installing wind turbines, it can help human society to manufacture electric cars because they have more electricity that won’t affect the earth. Also it helps decrease carbon dioxide because it produces more electricity for us to use which people don’t have to worry about ran out of electricity for their cars.

In conclusion, I think that it is good to have wind energy because it helps decrease that chances of global warming and due to its advantages that we get from it but there are also some problems that can cause this power resource to not work as good as it should be like the disadvantages for it. if engineers could improve better technology and find better place to put these large machine it can surely help global warming.

Solar energy is the energy which comes directly from the sun in the form of light and heat that is converted in the useful form with the help of a variety of technologies, such as solar heating, photovoltaic, molten salt power plants, solar thermal energy, etc. The wind is the form of solar energy. Power generators are used to convert the kinetic energy of the air passing through wind turbine into electric energy (Sumathi, 2015). However, 95% of the world energy production still comes from non-renewable energy or nuclear power (https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/is-nuclearenergy-safe/), which plays an essential role in fulfilling the energy requirement of the world. This research project focuses on the current energy status and the obstacles related to the development of solar and wind energy scaling up in India. The fastgrowing demand for electricity exerts huge pressure on conventional energy sources. Due to the intermittent nature of irradiation and wind velocity, a hybrid grid structure is more preferable in the present scenario.

The use of alternative energy sources like solar and wind is the measure, which helps to attain eco-friendly, green environment. It decreases the dependency on fossil fuel energy for the highly populated country like India. India today finds itself on the path of becoming one of the leading nations in solar energy by taking steps towards implementing large scale solar power projects and is assured to position itself as a one of the world’s major solar producer as well as a manufacturing hub for solar power plants. The propagation of solar and wind energy technology in India faces different types of Barriers. In India, the most common energy generation fuel is coal, which will last until 2050. The use of coal is the main factor for global warming and health hazards. Renewable energy is the best solution to overcome these hurdles. If renewable energy plans are implemented in rural areas, it will not only meet the growing energy needs but also stop them from migrating to urban areas. However today the main drivers in India are Energy Shortage, Climate change, and Energy Security. The primary technological obstructions involve low conversion efficiency of the PV modules, performance limitations of energy storage devices and inverters, inadequate supply of raw materials like silicon (Si). The main problem of a standalone PV system is the storage of the surplus energy produced. The battery used in the system for this purpose is characterized by a very short lifetime comparable to that of the PV module. In some aspects, barriers are linked to financial measures. Finance resources become a leading hurdle. Wind and solar energy projects as estimated by financial organizations are characterized by lesser durability, but the payback period is very long and revenue structure is small.

In order to evade further problems after planting or implementation of the solar-wind projects, it is crucial to consider the beliefs, traditions, and superstitions of the local society. It is very important for solar and wind plants developers to include local societies and people to know their opinion regarding planned projects (IDFC, 2010). There are also some hitches in a project under green energy, such as market competition risk, technology up gradation, credit returns, and fewer income risks.

Economic Barriers

Solar:

The proper financing mechanism is absent in India. Banks provide debt at a rate much higher than what is available in the developed nations. Due to the lack of funding, many projects are struggling to finish. The access to advanced technology is very restricted for a general population, which causes either availability of the technology at very high cost or its unavailability. The tax issue is also a dominant hurdle for low-cost power tariff based on renewable power generation. Furthermore, trade complication occurs for the import of such power due to its high tax rate. For developing countries like India, it is not economically tolerable to install windmills and solar modules at a high rate. Hence, initial financial funds are required in terms of subsidies at the initial phase of rooftop projects. High initial and installation costs lead to loss of consumer interest, which causes a decrease in the market size. Overseas companies from Europe and China link up with new solar and wind entrepreneurs’ which shrinks the local market. Therefore, the Indian solar and wind projects are more dependent upon import. High initial investments for robot technology for the cleaning process of solar panels are required for the project like Kamuthi Solar Power Project commissioned by Adani Power with a generating capacity of 648 MW at a single location at Kamuthi, India. The Kamuthi solar power project in Tamil Nadu, India is the world’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant at a single location.

Wind:

The high initial investment is required to establish a wind energy generation farm. Good wind sites are usually located at remote areas, but load centers are located at urban places, hence, extra investments are required to compensate for the transmission & distribution losses. High cost and low efficiency is a major drawback of SavoniusVAWT. Since these turbines are lower to the ground, they do not harness the higher wind speeds often found at higher levels. Vibration can be an issue at times, and even increase the noise produced by the turbine.

Technical Barriers

Solar:

Intermittent nature of solar irradiation is a problem to meet the consumer’s power demand. Absence of sun position tracking mechanism decreases the overall efficiency of the system. Dust over the surfaces of the panel for a long duration causes adverse effect over the generation of electricity. PV panels are designed for standard test conditions but, due to diversified weather condition in India during the year, factors like temperature, isolation, humidity, air mass, etc. changes, which causes less rated output. Component Failure, like cracking of the PV panel, is causing the unusual penetration of light into the panel surface, which further reduces the efficiency and maximum energy output of the panel. Hence, a complete replacement of the panel is required to maintain the desired output level of power. Visual discoloration occurred in the solar panel due to humidity, very high surrounding temperature and also when panels are installed near oceanic regions. This causes deterioration in the absorption of the desired wavelength of light. Subsequently, causes the loss of power and decreases the energy output of the panel. The snow that spreads over the surface of the panel in some geographical locations does not slide off the panel naturally. This can damage the panel, and also adversely affects the power output of the panel. If the panel has been installed in the coal mine areas or the places where the environment is dusty in nature, a formation of carbon layer starts over the surface of the panel due to tilt angle less than 5 degree. In order to maximize the gain of solar irradiance, the tilt angle is kept 5 or less than 5 degree which increases the chance of dust formation over the surface of the panel, and subsequently decreases the panel efficiency. Considering wind with variable speed, large scale frequency of vibration is observed in the corners of the solar panel because it is the most sensitive part for dynamic wind speed. Therefore, the lifespan of the panel decreases with installation over high wind speed prone region. Lack of technical knowledge becomes a hurdle in the selection of PV panels. Considering efficiency and cost, a monocrystalline panel is best suited, whereas thin-film panels are a poor choice.

India is lacking sufficient laboratories and organizations, like National Institute of Solar Energy, to provide certifications, standards, etc. for the quality confirmation and its suitability of solar panels and wind turbines for renewable energy technology utilization. This adversely affects the perception of technology. Only a skilled and technically sound person can replace a skillful professional. However, developing countries like India have very much deficiency of such people, which is a big constraint for the entrepreneurship to establish the startups for a solar or wind company. Off-grid solar-wind hybrid generation system requires energy storage devices to store the surplus power when the generated power is greater than the demand by the consumer. It constitutes an extra initial investment for the entrepreneur. The problem of hotspots, in the PV panel, is a noteworthy issue while operating at very high temperature, since panels are configured with the interconnection of PV cells. Even one small hot spot in a panel can heavily diminish the energy output and the efficiency of the panels.

Wind:

Challenges of L3 i.e., low cost, long term operation, and low maintenance are required and for developing countries like India, it becomes difficult to maintain the challenges of L3 because most of the parts are imported from other countries and gradually operation cost and maintenance cost also increase. Sometimes, the sound produced by blades in the wind turbine system causes noise pollution countries like India where the population is rapidly increasing it becomes difficult to find a suitable place to install these Wind turbines. Icing is also a prime concern over the wind farm for cold places. Ice builds up when turbine blades do not move. It causes a change in the turbine blade shape and hence, reduces its overall efficiency. When bearings in the turbine are overheated, it causes a spark and leads to fire damage to the system. Moreover, lightning is also a natural factor for the fire damage issue in the windmill. On the other hand, applications of wind and solar has major technical barriers, such as increase in the level of onshore wind which can produce a dramatic dip in between 9 am to 4 pm in which low load requires less power from conventional power plants and wind-solar generation at the peak need to ramp up quickly as the sun sets.

Institutional Barriers

Absence of synchronization and collaboration between government, educational institutes, and agencies delays the development and growth of the solar and wind energy projects. Lack of research and development environment and infrastructure is the biggest hurdle to attain India technological leadership in solar and wind energy projects. Shortage of the better financing infrastructure, models and arrangements decelerate the solar and wind energy industry. Lack of institutions to publicize needful information leads to a lack of information for the customer as well as the entrepreneurs. In a country like India, the stability of the economy is not fixed. Therefore the thing mentioned before rises a high risk and unpredictability for novel investors. Therefore there are other products which provide high payback period. Unavailability of proper skilled training and development of human resources to drive the solar and wind industry. There are insufficient numbers of workshops and conferences organized to share technical information to install and run the solar and wind power projects.

Environmental Barriers

It is a challenge to have an availability of suitable land which must be non-agricultural and unused, with good solar irradiance especially for a country like India with such a high number of population. Although traditional silicon panels constitute no chemical hazard after the end of their life, cadmium Tellurium (CdTe) panels become toxic when unused. If these panels are disposed of in a landfill, it becomes harmful as cadmium is taken in the process of getting easily mixed. Lubricating material in wind turbines ends up in the environment via total loss applications, volatility, spills or accidents. It is a threat to the environment and becomes a hazard for human health. Sometimes, a catastrophic event occurs on wind farms, such as fire and explosion, due to high wind speed. During the installation and operation, environmental hazards occur to the personnel, including worker’s injuries from cranes and heavy lifts, musculoskeletal injuries from lifting, slips, and trips. Visual impact and landscape perception is a crucial obstacle in the application of wind farm for the power generation. Both are associated with nature and geographical location of the place. Therefore, it varies with the position of the farm.

Social Barriers

Solar:

With the increase in the population, the total requirement of electricity in India will be of 5,000 Terawatt hour in 2040 which is a four-fold increase from 2014. Instead of indulging financial and technical efforts in the growth of solar and wind energy programs, India’s priority is to start antipoverty programs to overcome poverty by providing industries and health care facilities. Raw Industrialist faces the problem of high-cost capital requirement to establish renewable energy based generation units. At the same time, subsidized government policies on generation units give a negative impact on the competitiveness in the market. Negative perception about the products reduces the acceptance rate of the technology. This is a major issue of the reduced market size of renewable energy technology. Lack of consumer understanding of finance and usage of photovoltaic rooftop system leads to nonrecommendation for new houses and buildings by planners. Land acquisition is a difficult task in India if religious places come in between solar power plants. According to the Land Act, 2013, it will take up to five years for acquiring land if all steps followed smoothly.

Wind:

Local wildlife damage is observed with the operation of the wind turbine. Flying birds get killed on the spinning blades of the turbine. At night time, red light in the wind system disturbs the biological clock of night-migrating birds, which causes adverse effects on their lifecycle. It leads to a decrease in the local population. Considering the aircraft safety, wind turbines cannot be installed near airport runways and helipads. Potential displacement requiring immigration, when land is expropriated for the installation of wind farms. The shadow flickering effect is observed when turbine blades cut the sun rays causing a reappearance of the shadows. This causes serious health-related problems like headache, stress, etc. For onshore wind farms, the problem of land acquisition is a major obstacle. It occurs in the process of the material, prices, penalties, and the distinction between the voluntary and landowner. Loss of income, as well as assets, occurs in the process of potential displacement and resettlement to install a wind farm.

This universe is composed of Matter and Energy. The genius of the last century, rather than the civilization Albert Einstein showed that the two – matter and energy are two faces of the same coin or two manifestations of the same. Also, that the two can be and are keep interchanging into each – other. However, not wandering into the philosophical aspect of the subject, it is better to restrict the subject in the realm of the day to day life. While matter signifies inertia, a resistance to change and can be likened to death or the dead constituent of the universe; energy on the other hand signifies the force to overcome this inertia and inculcate the drive or actuation or better still life into the matter or the inertial constituent of this universe. Thus energy and matter symbolize life and death respectively in the Universe.

Needless to say how important is life and therefore, energy for this civilization. The creator has provided us with energy in different forms and it is for us to identify and utilize the different forms of energy for the benefit of humanity in a sustainable manner. Different important forms of energy are – Eatables, being produced by green plants by photosynthesis on a continuous basis every day; Trunks of trees, Fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, etc., tidal energy, wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, wind energy, etc. to name a few. It is worth mentioning here that the source of all the energy on this planet is the energy radiated by the Sun, which takes different forms on the Earth by different processes.

Different sources of energy were exploited and used by humans in the order of the ease to exploit them. It is, therefore; not surprising that the form of energy easiest to be exploited i.e. sunlight was used by all the living bodies from the very first day. This still continues to be the most used form of energy and maximum utilization of this form of energy is still considered to be one of the most important solutions to the present-day energy crisis. The next important energy resource to be utilized was eatables produced by green plants, which convert and store the solar energy into the food items they synthesize in the form of chemical energy. The wooden trunks in the form of dry wood were used to produce fire and get heat light, protection against wild animals, and most importantly to cook food. Fossil fuels were then used to serve different purposes like producing heat, cooking food, running plants or engines, producing electricity, etc. With time it was realized that fossil fuels are being consumed at a face much faster than they are being synthesized by Nature and this knowledge alarmed humans and began the search of potential alternatives which are either very huge resources or are seemingly perpetual in supply. A huge energy resource is nuclear energy and this has been exploited to great success and has the potential to offer energy security for a couple of centuries. But this is not the everlasting solution. Some seemingly perpetual energy resources are solar energy and wind energy and the latter will be discussed in the subsequent sections in somewhat detail.

History of Wind Energy Utilization

Humans have been using wind energy either knowingly or unknowingly from time immemorial. It is not so easy to realize that drying clothes by hanging the same in the air is another application of wind energy and how many people use this aspect of wind energy is very large, little realizing that they are using wind energy.

Another very prominent and historical use of wind energy is to propel ships and large boats in the sea. What was being done is that cloth used to be tied across the boat and this used to push the boat when the wind was blowing. It is not easy to say how many sailors have been helped by wind energy in past. Wind energy has been used for many other applications like to pull water from the wells for irrigation, for running various mills, etc.

Electrical energy has been one of the most important discoveries in the history of science. There are different forms of energy like potential energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy or heat, sound, light, electricity, etc. Of these the most important form of energy is electricity. The position of electricity in different forms of energy can be equated with that of cash in different forms of the asset. Like cash can be spent any time and with the kind of ease into other forms of assets one can also spend electricity with the same degree of ease. Modern civilization has its foundations over electricity. It is no wonder, therefore, that humans have tried to convert almost every form of energy into electricity. Fossil fuels are burnt and the resultant heat is utilized to boils water into steam, which in turn rotates a turbine that produces electricity. In the case of a power plant based on a nuclear reactor; the heat produced in a nuclear reactor produces the steam to rotate the turbines. It can be seen that all that is required to produce electricity is a means to rotate a turbine and it is not surprising, therefore, that someone got the idea as to why not run a turbine from wind itself and so realized the concept of modern day wind energy. Yes, in modern age wind energy refers to the system that produces electricity from the wind using turbines. The scale of this electricity production can vary from a small turbine to cater to the electrical needs of a house to a large network of turbines producing and supplying huge amount of electricity to a grid.

The rating of a wind energy turbine depends on the size of the turbine blade. While a 10 m rotor blade has a power rating of approximately 25 kW this value increase to over 1600 kW for a 70 m rotor blade. An isolated small wind turbine can cater to a single house, a mid sized turbine can cater to a place like a school, and a hospital etc and a chain of large turbines produce electricity to either an industry or to be sold to a utility company. Thus, wind energy turbines have great scalability and have capability to serve a single house as well as a large industrial installation. This makes wind energy as a unique energy resource.

Current Status and Potential

The installed capacity of wind energy was approximately 94 GW in 2007 up from approximately 59 GW in 2005 (wikipedia.org) implying an impressive compounded annual growth rate of approximately 26.2%; which is the highest growth rate for any form of energy. The important country with sizeable installed wind power capacity are Germany, United States of America, Spain, India, China, Denmark, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Portugal etc. The installed capacity for different countries and the actual electricity generation by using wind mills are shown in tables 1 and 2 in the appendix.

While traveling across Germany can see the landscape doted with wind mills. This shows sincerity of Germany towards an eco-friendly energy generation system. It is not surprising, therefore, that Germany leads the world in terms of installed capacity (~ 22.25 GW in 2007) and actual energy generation (~ 39.5 TWh in 2007) which is approximately 6.8% of total electricity generation (~ 570 TWh in 2007)in the country. Denmark produces over one fifth of its total electricity by using wind mills and this is the maximum proportion of wind energy to total electricity generation for any country. There is great thrust in European Union on producing electricity through wind mill turbines, because this is very clean technology (Mancisidor, p. 100).

Developing countries like India and China are also rapidly joining the club of countries producing significant amount of electricity through wind mills. In 2007, India ranked fourth in terms of total installed capacity ahead of China and one of the largest global suppliers of wind mill turbines is also an Indian multinational – Suzlon.

Not only the current growth rate but the potential growth rate in the installed capacity and electrical power generation through wind mills is also very bright. Buoyed by various tax incentives and tax holidays plus the associated carbon credit trading potential many companies in developing countries are going gung ho in installing huge wind farms. Another benefit in the developing countries like India and china is huge short fall in electricity. For developed nations this route of electricity generation offers a way out to reduce the carbon emission and meet the mandatory carbon emission limits as per Kyoto protocol.

Advantages of Wind Power

There are many advantages associated with electricity generation through wind mills, some of these are briefly discussed below:

Scalability: One can have a very small isolated wind mill to cater to the needs of a small household; a medium sized wind mill to cater to the needs of a medium sized installation like a school, hospital etc as well as a chain of large wind mills to cater to a large industry or to supply to a grid. This scalability is very helpful in electrifying the remote rural areas and is of special significance to poor as well as developing countries (Whale pp 425).

No emission: Wind mill produce no harmful gas or greenhouse gas and therefore are clean source of electricity. There is no active waste as well like that in case of nuclear industry. Therefore, this technology is an effective technology to counter atmospheric pollution as well has greenhouse effect.

Perpetual source of energy: Wind energy is perpetual source of energy and therefore, there is no fear that this resource will end one day. Therefore, this is most reliable as far as the energy resource of our future generations.

Equitable distribution: This source of energy is almost equitably distributed world over and therefore, there can be no monopoly etc of this God gifted energy resource. This is probably the most positive aspect of wind energy.

However, everything is not rosy about wind energy. There are some limitations as well and some limitations are briefly discussed below:

Limitations of Wind Energy

Non uniform and uncontrolled electricity generation: The input of a wind mill turbine is the wind velocity and output is electricity. As input keeps varying so does the output. With reduced wind speed electrical output of a wind turbine decreases and vice versa. We do not have any control over wind velocity and therefore, no control over the electricity generation from a wind mill turbine. This poses some problems regarding reliability and in case of a household unit one may have to use an inverter and a battery in case he needs electricity when wind is blowing slowly.

Huge space requirements: Wind farms require huge space and therefore, are not affordable to a region where land cannot be spared as there is heavy pressure on land to cultivate crops to feed the population. This is relevant for countries with high population density like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. Due to this reason many countries in the world are focusing on off-shore wind farms.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that while energy is must for our survival, wind energy as a seemingly perpetual source of energy is the potential answer to the energy security of our generations to come. Not only this is perpetual source of power, this is non-polluting as well and will protect our planet the Earth from global warming. This offers great scalability and therefore, it can be distributed in a much easier way and will prove very helpful in electrifying the rural areas of the poor and developing countries.

Siemens Gamesa came into existence through a merger between German multinational Siemens and the Spanish wind energy company Gamesa on the 17th of July, 2016. This Strategic Partnership Agreement that benefitted both companies created a leading wind player. The market strong hold that these two companies possess are geographically diverse hence by merging created a well-balanced footprint around the world.

The global presence and network of Siemens makes it essential for a solid business strategy to be in place for the survival and growth of the company. Being a market leader in several sectors Siemens not only have to hold their current position but have to expand and growth from a position of strength. They utilize a range of tools to grow and reach their target such as Roadmapping and a process known as “Pictures for the Future”. This two-perspective process primarily carries out two functions which is developing and mapping today’s technology and creating a scenario in the future where all factors which would influence the project are evaluated together. Through this process it would be able to identify the necessary adjustments that need to be made for a project to succeed in the future. Through these various processes Siemens develops strategies to move into newer market segments. Siemens Energy is known to use a global standardization strategy to reap the benefits from economies of scale and location as they are in a high-pressure situation to reduce costs.

Researches along with the BCG matrix have shown the offshore wind sector to be a cash cow which have a steady inflow of cash. The strategy formulated to develop market segments through strategic alliance came out when the dots were connected between the opportunities that would arise in the future with a key success factor for Siemens which was its ability to form strategic alliances which made them a market leader. The very definition of strategic alliance can be applied to the proposed strategy where an alliance is created to share knowledge in a new market where risks and uncertainties are high and access to a critical asset which in this case is the oil rigs of Korean national Oil Corp can be gained only through this alliance. All in all, to gain a competitive edge to strengthen current position as market leader and learn the new capabilities.

Siemens being a market leader in the offshore wind energy market serves as a steady platform not only to develop a new market segment but to create a unique symbiotic relation. Having a successful history with strategic alliance as seen with Gamesa the company gains significant advantage through these agreements. This relationship would be with offshore oilrigs which would eventually run dry, utilizing their existing infrastructure to create a more sustainable energy producer. This project being a new upcoming development would require to be tested before being implemented in a large scale. Following the 4I- Idea Invention Innovation Imitation in order to reach the imitation stage to run the project in a large scale this alliance would provide the knowledge and know-how. Seeing on how strategic alliances have aided Siemens in the past its strength lies in these alliances to achieve reduced costs to take advantage of the opportunities such as associating with oil rigs. In 2004 two south Louisianan businessmen decided to set up a wind farm on an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This example with today’s technology would help the company further penetrate the offshore market segment all while reducing the investment cost. The strategy itself hinges on moving forward through technological advancements as a hybrid between the two energy sectors would help overcome the drawbacks of competing in an existing onshore market which was reveled through a cause and effect analysis.

The strategic alliance with Equinor would not be difficult to implement as they previously have a contract with Siemens to be their supplier in a project in South Korea. This contract would be extended for a period of 10 years which in turn would aid in geographic market development. Having secured the project with Korea National Oil Corp. Equinor would require a supplier such as Siemens for their floating wind power development with Korea National oil Corp. a bid which they won in the previous year. This strategic alliance would be carried out through a non-equity alliance which would facilitate the share of knowledge and profits while protecting the parties from unmitigated risks in an experimental project. It would be seen as a 50-50 partnership between the two companies to gain a competitive edge in the Korean market. Even as offshore wind farms are seen to have many pros to them such as stronger wind currents than those onshore there is still the complexity of the marine environment. The basic functions such as transport, installation and running of the equipment which is complicated and bears a high cost. The proposed project would attempt to bring down the cost as investment overheads are reduced due to available infrastructure on oil rigs hence a differentiation is created. The trade-off between the cost leadership and differentiation would make for a successful integration strategy as the product being offered here would be unique onto itself while the benefit of being mounted on an oil rig would lower costs.

The South Korean renewable energy goal is seen as a rather ambitious project which is in jeopardy of falling short on its determined mark. Through the PESTLE analysis we were able to determine the motivation of these countries to ratify the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Knowing this piece of knowledge was critical for the formulation of the strategy to move on the choice of geographical market segment as South Korea in order to reach their target would increase their subsidies making it a smooth process to set up an offshore floating wind turbine. Mounting on a wind turbine on an offshore oil rig not only helps us to reduce cost moving towards becoming a cost leader but it makes this strategy a sustainable model for the future to move into further geographical markets with abandoned or dry oil rigs such as the middle east. This could be achieved through mergers and acquisitions with oil and gas companies in the future. The drying up of oil rigs would not come as a surprise but with the exact date still being elusive it would be in the company’s interest to organically phase out oil and gas but use the current infrastructure in the best way possible. The previous contract as Equinor’s supplier has paved the way for this first phase of this strategy as Siemens would already be familiar with the laws and regulations of the country. The company has an ongoing onshore wind project from the year 2016 where it would carry out service and maintenance for the coming ten years. The competitive advantage which would be attained through the technological advancement as well as reduced installation cost would put Siemens Gamesa a step ahead of its competitors.