ABSTRACT
Extracting energy from the wind is not a new idea by any means. Wind power has been used for over a 1000 years and prior to the industrial revolution, wind mills were a key source of power for many decades if not millennia. However, more recently, the oil crisis of the 1970s, awareness of climate change issues, peak oil, and energy security concerns have all increased the interest in renewable energy sources. Although not the only renewable source, wind power has huge potential and is also very cost effective. As a result, the last 25 years have seen a rapid growth in the generation of grid connected electrical energy from the wind.
