Wind turbines commonly operate on a simple principle: instead of employing the electricity to create wind—such as a fan—wind turbines utilize the wind to produce the electricity. The wind rotates the propeller-like blades of a turbine within a rotor, which turns the generator to. . Step inside the nacelle: watch the rotor (“fan”) drive the main shaft, the red planetary gears multiply RPM in the gearbox, and the high-speed shaft spin the generator to make clean electricity. This page offers a text version of the interactive animation: How a Wind Turbine Works. A wind turbine turns wind energy into electricity using the aerodynamic force from the rotor. . Wind turbines use blades to collect the wind's kinetic energy.
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