The advantages and disadvantages of wind energy Advantages and disadvantages of wind energy

Advantages ● A renewable energy source ● Doesn't produce greenhouse gases ● Practically no costs when in use ● Doesn't produce waste

Disadvantages ● Requires a lot of space ● Loud noise ● Can spoil the landscape ● Needs specific conditions (speed of wind) ● Can't be utilized all the time ● Storage of electricity can be difficult (only in batteries or as thermal energy in water) ● Might kill birds or bats ● Low efficiency

Wind power plants can spoil the landscape...

Wind energy in Finland

Usage in Finland ● Wind energy is only 0,7% of all produced energy ● The aim is to increase the share of wind power to 6-7% of all of the energy we use (2020)

Wind power plants ● In Finland there are ● about 120 wind power ● plants ● The biggest are in ● Kemi, Hailuoto, Korsnäs, ● Kuivaniemi and Reposaari ● The power plant in Kemi ● has 10 turbines. The size of each ● turbine is 3 MW and together they ● produce MWh energy per year

Locations ● The windiest areas are located on the west coast ● → power plants are there ● Most of them are near Oulu and Åland Islands Oulu Kemi Åland Islands Åland Islands

Locations

Reasons for low usage ● Planning is complicated and it takes a lot of time ● The amount of wind varies during the year ● Snow and coldness during winter can damage turbines ● We have two nuclear power plants (four reactors in total), which produce approx. 23% of total electricity produced in Finland

Private owned wind turbines ● Some of us have small private turbines ● They are used in: – Farming – Households – Summer cottages – Sailing boats ● The price of a small wind turbine is about € ● The size of them varies from 100 W to 2 kW

Production and the amount of installations grows every year Installed capacity (MW) Production (GWh) Production index (%)

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