Wind is simply air in motion. Air moves  due to temperature difference in the atmosphere in different regions. Mankind has been utilizing wind from time immemorial. One example is the sailing of ships. Till the invention of steam engine ships in eighteen century, sailors were taking the advantage of wind flow for sailing in the sea. Other examples of using wind energy are dying, pumping water and grinding crops.

            From the second half of the last century, electricity is being generated from wind flow. The turbine and generator are mounted on a tower. Turbine has three or four blades. Wind rotates the blades and hence electricity is generated from the  generator. It is just like hydroelectric power where water rotates the turbine blades to generate power.

            The place where wind flows with adequate velocity for most of the time in a year is suitable for establishing the wind farm. In a wind farm a number of wind turbines are put to extract power from the wind.

            Conventionally electricity is generated from coal, water and to some extent from nuclear materials. But the demand of electricity is increasing day -by-day and the 2 conventional sources of energy are gradually depleting. Hence, scientists and engineers thought of some non-conventional sources of energy like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy. Out of this, wind power system is well developed and accounts for a major share of power production from these sources.

            Wind is a clean source of power. Wind farm does not cause any air or water pollution as no fuel is burnt. India’s potential for wind power has been assessed  at 45,000 MW. Wind farms have been established in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Total installed capacity of wind power in our country is 7,082 MW as on 31.03.2007. India ranks fourth in the world after Germany, USA and Spain in wind power generation.

In Orissa, there is a wind farm established at Puri with installed capacity of 2 MW. But due to some defects in the imported machines, it has become defunct after some initial run. Gopalpur is another suitable location in Orissa for generation of wind power.