WIND

Introduction

Wind energy (or wind power) refers to the process of electricity production using the wind, or air flows that occur naturally in the earth’s atmosphere. Modern wind turbines are used to capture kinetic energy from the wind and generate electricity.

There are three main types of wind energy ¹:

• Utility-scale wind: Wind turbines that range in size from 100KW to several megawatts, where the electricity is delivered to the power grid and distributed to the end user by electric utilities or power system operators.
• Distributed or “small” wind: Single small wind turbines below 100KW that are used to directly power a home, farm or small business and are not connected to the grid.
• Offshore wind: Wind turbines that are erected in large bodies of water, usually on the continental shelf. Offshore wind turbines are larger than land-based turbines and can generate more power.

As an inland country, the offshore wind is not considered for Switzerland.

Wind energy evolution in Switzerland

The 37 wind turbines installed in Switzerland, amounting to 75MW power capacity, produced 122 GWh in 2018. It corresponds to the electricity consumption of 36500 households, namely 0.2% of the total electricity demand of Switzerland.

Monthly production

The electricity production from windfarms reaches the peak in winter, while the output in summer is merely half of the maximal value approximately.

ES Model Parameters

All the parameters concerning the WIND are listed in the table below. Detailed information on the data is available in the section Parameters.

References

1. Confédération Suisse
2. Suisse éole, https://www.suisse-eole.ch/fr/energie-eolienne/statistiques/ ⧉
3. Swiss Energyscope
4. Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. Energiestrategies 2050, Tech. rep, Bern Swtizerland, Sept 2012

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1. Basic https://www.awea.org/wind-101/basics-of-wind-energy ⧉ ↩