Frequently Asked Questions
This page briefly answers some common queries regarding wind farm. For further information, the clean energy council here, they amongst others have more detail on their websites.
Westwind Energy Pty Ltd have produced a short film entitled Wind Energy: Separating the fact from fiction to help you understand the wind energy debate. We have provided the text of the narration along with video clip extracts for you to read and view.
No, wind turbines are very efficient. They typically convert up to 50% of the energy in the wind into electricity. By comparison Victorian brown coal power stations only convert approximately 25% of the energy in coal into electricity. Each megawatt hour of wind energy generated in Victoria avoids the production of more than one tonne of the greenhouse gasses that are causing climate change. In typical Victorian conditions, each modern wind turbine will produce between 6 million and 9million kilowatt hours of electricity each year – equivalent to the consumption of between 1,100 and 1,700 average Victorian homes. The embodied energy in a wind turbine – that is, the energy used in its manufacture, transport, erection and operation – is generally paid back within just 6 months of operation. Over its lifetime a wind turbine will produce more than 50 times its embodied energy!