How wind turbines work
Wind turbines are designed to harness the energy in the lift forces of the wind and convert it to electricity.
Typically, a turbine consists of three aerodynamic rotor blades that turn in the wind and drive a generator to produce electricity. In grid-connected systems this is changed to AC/alternating current via an inverter and is fed into a building's mains network to supply power to electrical 'loads', e.g. lights, appliances.
Small-scale wind turbines can be mounted on free standing and wire tethered/guyed masts, or on the roofs of buildings. A wind turbine system will usually incorporate a monitor to show how much electricity is produced in kilowatts (kW).
In grid-connected systems, an export meter will enable excess energy to be sold to the mains electricity provider.
In off-grid systems the electricity is stored in batteries.