Wind comes from atmospheric changes; changes in temperature and pressure makes the air move or flow around the surface of the earth. Wind energy involves converting these airflow into electricity by using wind turbines. Besides from generating electricity, other wind energy usage like windmills for mechanical power for grinding grain, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships. Wind energy is a clean energy source that can be relied on for the long-term future. A wind turbine creates reliable, cost-effective, pollution free energy. It is affordable, clean and sustainable. One wind turbine can be sufficient to generate enough electrical energy for a household.
Offshore wind power can harness the better wind speeds that are available offshore compared to on land, so offshore wind power’s contribution in terms of electricity supplied is higher. Technically, wind energy is considered a secondary or indirect solar energy because the sun is the main source of wind, warming the air, creating different temperature and pressure to make the air flowing.
In Malaysia, wind energy conversion is a serious consideration. In present technology, wind energy in Malaysia is not suitable to generate electricity commercially or wind is not particularly good in Malaysia as compared to the UK or Denmark, but islands like Perhentian Island can definitely gain a lot of power. A more recent research in 2005, a 150 kW wind turbine in Terumbu Layang-Layang was demonstrated with some success by a team from UKM. However, the availability of wind resource varies with location.
The potential of wind energy for Malaysia is level 1 which is the velocity of wind is less than 5.9 m/s. The mean wind speed over the sea surface around the sea surrounding Malaysia is generally below 5 m/s. Researchers observed that the highest wind speed is in east peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. Wind speed at these locations reach above 5m/s during the northeast monsoon season and for the rest of the year wind speed is low. The direction of the wind is from the northeast and east quadrant during the northeast monsoon season, and south and southwest quadrant during the southwest monsoon season. These mean that the wind energy in Malaysia is available all year round but in the opposite direction for different monsoon season.
The stronger the wind, the better...
... but lets hope it's not too strong.
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