The Blades

• The blades are curved to catch the wind.
• Bigger blades catch more wind so make more electricity.
• The longest blades are 45m.
• Most blades are made of a light material like fibreglass and turn between 10-30 times a minute.

The Nacelle

• Inside the nacelle is a gear box which controls a generator.
• The gear box helps the blades turn efficiently to produce the most electricity.
• They go down a gear when the wind is low and up a gear when the wind speed is high- just like a car or bike.
• The generator is a machine made up of two magnets. When it turns it makes, or generates, electricity

The Tower

• Inside the tower is a ladder that lets people climb to the top to check the blades.
• Towers are usually steel tubes.
• Towers range from 25m-75m. You need a good head for heights to do this job!

The Footing

• The footing is made of concrete.
• To make sure it doesn’t fall down a special type of engineer called a civil engineer needs to carefully calculate how much concrete to use. The engineer wants to use the least possible amount of concrete to reduce any harm to the environment.