Technology · Item
Wind turbine
A rotor hub and its blades on a shaft and a motor: about 1.4 kW with small blades in an 8 m/s wind, about 16 kW with the great sails.
In the game
How to get it
Place a wind rotor hub with its back against a shaft or an electric motor, high and in the open, facing the wind; right-click the hub with a set of blades. A motor at the end of the line turns the wind into electricity.
What it is for
Free power day and night while the wind blows, even when nobody is near: the 8 kW of aluminium, a village's lamps, batteries for calm days.
Why it exists
The wind is free but capricious: it pays to choose the site, the height and the size of the blades.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
A wind turbine is three things on one line: a rotor hub with its blades, a shaft, and an electric motor that works as a generator.
How to build one
1. Make a hub and a set of blades: see Wind rotor hub and blades. 2. Place the hub with its back against a Shaft or an Electric motor, high and in the open, its face to the wind. 3. Right-click the hub with the blades. 4. At the other end of the shaft, an electric motor: cables from it carry the power.
How much power
| Blades | Across | In an 8 m/s wind |
|---|---|---|
| Small (4 wooden blades) | 4 m | about 1.4 kW |
| Large (great sails) | 14 m | about 16 kW |
Power grows with the cube of the wind speed. The weather, the altitude and the open space around decide the wind; in a cave, under a roof or against a wall there is none.
Tips
- The large blades need 7 m clear all round the hub, a steel hub and a steel shaft (a wooden hub carries only 2 kW).
- The site is surveyed slowly and the rotor takes a while to start: wait before judging it.
- It keeps turning with the weather even far from every player.
- Pair it with a Lithium battery for calm hours.
On the progress path
EN4EnergyMain path
- BeforeEN3 · Aluminium
- This stepEN4 · Wind turbine
- NextEN5 · Solar panel
Sub-actions (counted in your progress)
- Hub and blades — Hub, Blades