Codex Energy Wind Turbine

Wind Turbine

The Wind Turbine turns the wind into energy: a rotor of blade arms on a hub, a nacelle with generators behind it and a tower that carries the energy down. It needs no fuel, works day and night and gives more the higher and the more open it stands. It is a tier I plant.

How it works

1. The wind at the hub is the base wind of the place and time, times a height factor, the weather, the dimension and the free inflow around the rotor. 100 % is the rated wind.
2. The rotor takes power from the wind: volt.windPowerFactor (default 10.0, allowed 0.01–1000.0) × π × (blade length + ½)² × wind³ × Cp. Cp depends on the number of arms: 0.4 with two, 0.47 with three, 0.49 with four.
3. The generators limit what comes out: each Wind Generator gives at most 200 E/t.
4. The rotor has inertia. It follows the wind slowly (big rotors slower), and the output follows the rotor speed. After a lull it takes a while to deliver its full power again.
5. Energy goes into the buffer (100,000 E) and out through the Energy Output Ports in the tower.

Building

Shown size: 9 wide, 13 high, 4 deep (adjustable: Blade length 2–8, Rotor arms 2–4, Generators 1–4, Tower height 1–128).

One example of many: within the rules on this page, size and arrangement are up to you; the Build Projector shows the plan in every allowed size.

	Key	Block	Count
	A	Wind Rotor Blade Segment	12
	D	Wind Turbine Tower	7
	C	Wind Generator	2
	E	Energy Output Port	1
	B	Wind Rotor Hub	1
	0	Wind Turbine Controller	1

Step by step

Each picture adds one layer, from the bottom up; the newest layer is bright. The controller wall faces you on the left.

Step 1: Layer 1

Parts in this step: Energy Output Port (E) ×1

Step 2: Layers 2–4 (identical)

Place this layer 3 times on top of each other.

Parts in this step: Wind Turbine Tower (D) ×1

Step 3: Layer 5

Parts in this step: Wind Turbine Tower (D) ×1

Step 4: Layer 6

Parts in this step: Wind Turbine Tower (D) ×1

Step 5: Layers 7–8 (identical)

Place this layer 2 times on top of each other.

Parts in this step: Wind Turbine Tower (D) ×1

Step 6: Layer 9

Parts in this step: Wind Rotor Blade Segment (A) ×8, Wind Generator (C) ×2, Wind Rotor Hub (B) ×1, Wind Turbine Controller (0) ×1

Step 7: Layers 10–11 (identical)

Place this layer 2 times on top of each other.

Parts in this step: Wind Rotor Blade Segment (A) ×1

Step 8: Layer 12

Parts in this step: Wind Rotor Blade Segment (A) ×1

Step 9: Layer 13

Parts in this step: Wind Rotor Blade Segment (A) ×1

Rules

• Nacelle: the Wind Turbine Controller is the front of the nacelle. Its front faces the rotor; place it facing sideways.
• Hub: the Wind Rotor Hub sits directly in front of the controller.
• Arms: 2 to 4 arms of Wind Rotor Blade Segments start at the hub and go left, right, up or down, in the plane across the controller's facing. All arms must be equally long: at least 2 blocks, at most volt.maxWindBladeLength (default 8, allowed 2–16).
• Rotor circle: every block within blade length + ½ of the hub in that plane, apart from hub and blades, must be air. Nothing may stand in the circle, not even a torch or a flower.
• Generators: 1 to 3 Wind Generators in a straight line directly behind the controller; with blade length 8 or more a fourth one fits.
• Tower: straight down from the controller, a column of Wind Turbine Tower segments and Energy Output Ports, at least volt.minWindTowerHeight (default 4, allowed 1–64) blocks (ports included), at most 128. The tower ends at the first block below that is neither a segment nor a port, so it can stand on the ground or on a foundation of any block.
• Ports: only Energy Output Ports, only in the tower, at least one. A port gives its energy out on its back, the side that faces away from the rotor: connect the cable there.

Tip

Arm shapes Two arms can be opposite (left and right) or at a right angle (for example right and up); three arms leave out one direction, as in the example. Four arms start earlier in weak wind.

Power by rotor size

At the rated wind (100 %) and the default 10.0 for the power factor, the rotor takes:

Blade length	2 arms	3 arms	4 arms	Generator limit
2	79	92	96	up to 3 × 200
4	254	299	312	up to 3 × 200
6	531	624	650	up to 3 × 200
8	908	1,067	1,112	up to 4 × 200

All values in E/t. Power grows with the cube of the wind: at 75 % wind a rotor takes only 42 % of the table, at 120 % it takes 173 %. The example (blade length 4, three arms, two generators) therefore gets the 299 of the table at the rated wind, and its two generators leave room for gusts up to twice 200 E/t.

The wind

• Base wind: changes slowly over time in long, medium and short waves and has small gusts of its own; it stays between about 27 % and 123 %. Turbines within the same 128 × 128 region see almost the same wind.
• Height: the height factor is (hub height above sea level / 30)^0.25, at most 1.5. At 10 blocks above sea level it is 0.76, at 30 blocks 1.0, at 60 blocks 1.19, and from about 150 blocks the full 1.5.
• Weather: rain 1.2 times, thunder 1.5 times the wind.
• Dimension: the Nether (and every dimension with a ceiling) has no wind at all. The End has a weaker wind (0.6 times) and no weather.
• Free inflow: solid blocks in front of the rotor and behind the nacelle slow the wind. The turbine samples the rotor circle 2, 4, 6 and 8 blocks in front of the rotor and behind the last generator; the free inflow falls by 1.5 times the share of solid samples (at two thirds blocked it is zero). It is checked every 30 seconds.
• Cut-in: the rotor only turns from 0.3 of the rated wind on (0.2 with four arms).
• Storm: above 1.6 times the rated wind the blades are feathered and the turbine stops, until the wind drops below 1.3 times.

The server's volt.generatorOutputMultiplier (default 1.0, allowed 0.01–100.0) scales the output.

The screen

• Status: "Formed" or the structure error; Wind: "Turning", "Too little wind", "Storm shutdown (blades feathered)" or "No wind in this dimension".
• Energy: the bar of the buffer.
• Wind at the hub: the effective wind in % of the rated wind.
• Height factor and Free inflow: the two factors described above.
• Rotor speed: in rpm. Two arms turn fast, four slowly, and long blades slower than short ones.
• Output: the energy made in the last tick. Possible output: what the rotor would give at this wind once it is up to speed. Generator limit: what the generators can deliver.
• Blades, Blade length, Generators, Hub above sea level: what the turbine found when it formed.

Error messages

Message	What to do
Missing parts: Wind Rotor Hub ×1	Place the hub directly in front of the controller.
A wind rotor needs 2 to 4 blade arms at the hub (found …)	Add arms of blade segments to the hub.
All blade arms must be equally long near … (…)	Make every arm the same length; the numbers are the expected and the found length.
Blade arms must be at least 2 blocks long (are …)	Lengthen all arms to 2 blocks or more.
Structure too large or not closed near …	An arm is longer than 8, there are more generators than allowed, or the tower is higher than 128.
Missing parts: Wind Generator ×1	Put a generator directly behind the controller.
The tower below the nacelle is too short (… segments)	Build the tower down to at least 4 blocks; the numbers are found and needed.
Missing parts: Energy Output Port ×1	Put an Energy Output Port into the tower.
Port not allowed here: …	Only Energy Output Ports belong in the tower.
The rotor circle is blocked at …	Remove the block at the position shown from the rotor circle.
Part of the structure is not loaded (…)	Load the chunks of the whole turbine.

Building the parts

	Redstone Dust
	Redstone Comparator		→ Wind Turbine Controller

	Block of Iron		→ Wind Rotor Hub

Wool	Wool	Wool
			→ Wind Rotor Blade Segment

			→ Wind Generator

	White Concrete
			→ Wind Turbine Tower
	White Concrete

In the world

While the turbine is formed, the hub and the blade blocks disappear and a spinning rotor with a spinner is drawn in their place; the blade blocks can be walked through. The rotor turns at the speed shown on the screen and coasts down when the wind drops. Breaking any part stops the turbine and shows the blocks again.

Tip

Where to build Build high and in the open: a hill top or a tall tower over flat land or water. A hub 60 blocks above sea level gets nearly a fifth more wind than one at 30 blocks, and the power grows with the cube of that. Trees and buildings in front of or behind the rotor cost power, and so do the nacelle and tower of another turbine close in front or behind; the hidden blades of a formed turbine do not count.

Note

Generators and blade length More generators only help when the rotor brings more power than the ones you have can take. Short rotors (blade length 2 or 3) never need more than one generator at the rated wind, a rotor with blade length 4 or 5 needs two to three.