Question

A large coal-fired power station produces 2000 MW of electrical energy. A wind turbine with 33 m blades can produce 300 kW.

(a) How many turbines would be needed to replace the power station ?

(b) Why, in actual practice, this number of turbines could not replace the coal-fired power station ?

Answer 1

(a) Electrical energy produced by coal-fired plant = 2000MW = 2000x106W Electrical energy produced by wind turbine = 300kW = 300x103W No. of wind turbine required = 2000×106/300×103 = 6666.6 So, 6667 wind turbines would be needed to replace the power station.

(b) In actual practice, this no. of wind turbines could not replace the coal-fired power plant because the efficiency of wind turbines keeps changing due to changes in wind speed but the efficiency of steam turbines used in coal-fired power stations remains the same.