How does a wind turbine make electricity?

The simplest way to think about this is to imagine that a wind turbine works in exactly the opposite way to a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, turbines use the wind to make electricity.

Almost all wind turbines producing electricity consist of rotor blades, which rotate around a horizontal hub. The hub is connected to a gearbox and generator, which are located inside the nacelle. The nacelle is the large part at the top of the tower where all the electrical components are located.

Most wind turbines have three blades, which face into the wind. The wind turns the blades around, this spins the shaft, which connects to a generator, and this is where the electricity is made.

A generator is a machine that produces electrical energy from mechanical energy, as opposed to an electric motor, which does the opposite.