Perspective Chapter: Fundamental Wind Enegy Coversion Aspects with Illustrative Numerical Examples

Wind energy is the process of converting the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical power using wind turbines, typically arranged into wind farms for large power generation. It is naturally replenishing and green energy resource, thus being a renewable energy resource, which has shown significant technological progress and spread worldwide as a successful source of renewable energy for producing electricity. It is becoming one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources and is a key component in the global transition to sustainable power generation. It has also been globally recognized as a critical technology for conserving natural resources, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and fulfilling the rising global demand for primary electrical energy across diverse sectors. In this chapter, wind turbines were briefly introduced and described, with the main goal to present and discuss fundamental aspects of 1-D energy formulation using wind energy principles. It was found through detailed 1-D energy formulations that the maximum wind turbine conversion efficiency is approximately 59.3%, which confirms the Betz limit. Furthermore, this chapter discusses illustrative numerical examples that are grounded in the fundamentals of energy conversion and modeling, with practical applications provided.