There are really two main types of wind farms small scale and large scale. Small wind turbines produce enough power to generate an average twelve-volt appliance. Any equipment within your home or other small sized buildings can be operated using alternative energy in the format of wind. The appeal of wind turbines is easy to see; they are a clean and cost effective source of renewable energy.

Large facilities have turbines that are connected as a grid which are able to function as one unit and can store vast amounts of energy. These turbines function as a whole by self-adjusting to the direction of the wind in order to maximize efficiency. Large-scale wind farms also require a lot more funding than the small-scale farms. These large-scale farms will require a lot more funding, expertise and also research. In a lot of cases the smaller wind farms are actually a lot more logical. Despite this the large-scale farms are certainly worth considering. Using wind generate electricity will encourage people to look at the amount of electric that they actually use. As an increasing number of people opt to use wind generated power there will be an increasing number of funding options that become available for larger scaled wind farms.

For large scale wind projects there has been a lot of debate to whether wind turbines are actually worth the investment. These turbines are costly but they are also cost effective and efficient. Many people wonder if the reward outweighs the investment. Over time large scale wind farms have proven very efficient.

After all, new wind farms are really only an improvement on a process that has been around for decades. There are many remote areas of the world that rely solely on wind power as a way of generating electricity. If small villages around the world can use the wind effectively then it only makes sense that it can be replicated on a larger scale.

One of the most common arguments regarding wind farm energy production is that until recently, the original equipment manufacturers have taken care of much of the unscheduled maintenance and wind turbine repair under maintenance/warranty agreements. However, in the past couple of years warranties have begun to expire causing maintenance and repair issues to become a much larger concern for farm owners and operators.

Many owners have found that avoiding unexpected maintenance issues by hiring professional O&M companies to do routine service checks and implementations has helped maintain a good rate of return. It is important that up to date maintenance is carried out in order to maintain the turbines and continue to be cost effective. There is a lot of preventative maintenance that has to be carried out on the turbines and this work is very important in order to continue to produce energy effectively. The regular maintenance work that will need to be carried out on a large scaled wind farm is changing gearbox oils, cleaning the blades of the turbines, checking the tension on the bolts and also monitoring the control of the blade pitches.

New wind energy projects are using the information gained at these existing facilities to eliminate flaws that may create unscheduled maintenance. Maintenance aside, once a wind facility has been constructed they have no fuel costs and therefore are not affected by fuel price volatility associate with natural gas-fired power plants. Long term benefits can also be associated with wind turbines because they do not produce CO2 or other greenhouse gases. This will actually make wind energy even more competitive if current discussions about carbon regulations are enacted.