Wind energy is derived from the differential heating of the atmosphere by the sun, and
irregularities on the earth’s surface. Although only a small fraction of solar energy reaching the
earth turns into kinetic wind energy, the total amount is extremely huge.
Therefore, this energy resource should be exploited. What we have tried to proof in this thesis
is that if wind farms were built in Spain, it could prevent a large amount of CO2 from being
emitted into the atmosphere and that is an economically viable solution for electricity
production.
To reach this conclusion this thesis has been divided into two blocks. The first one, more
theoretical, studies in depth wind energy and offshore technology. It describes both the
components of a wind turbine as the impacts and potential problems that offshore technology
may have.
The second block, analyses three possible wind farms in three areas of Spain with a high wind
resource potential. To this purpose, it has been chosen different types of wind turbines with
different powers in order to analyse the power generated by each wind farms, the distribution
of costs and the economic viability.Outgoin
