How Does a Wind Power Plant Work?

by Javohir Mahmudov, Murod Aslamov

Published: June 09, 2025

Last Updated: June 09, 2025

Dilmurod Masaidov’s 2019 “Qo’qon shamoli” (“Kokand’s wind”) movie and Muqaddas Jo’rayeva’s 2014 song by the same name are inspired by a phenomenon of strong wind periods of 30-34 m/s currents that annually happen in the Fergana region. This influence of a natural occurrence on popular culture is not accidental – it tells about an important geographic advantage of Uzbekistan that might bring economic development and foreign investments. For many years, the country had untapped wind energy potential. Now efforts are made to turn Uzbekistan into the wind energy capital of Central Asia. In this article, you will learn about the working principles of wind power plants, Uzbekistan’s current wind market state, and its prospects.

Working Process

Wind power plants (WPPs) turn wind's kinetic (Ancient Greek: “kinesis”, movement or to move) energy into usable electrical energy. WPPs consist of individual wind turbines. In this article, we will focus on onshore Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines (Figure 1). Each wind turbine has an 80-120 meter tower, on which the egg-shaped nacelle stands. Nacelle holds the sharp-ended metal frame – the hub – which connects the three 60-75 meter blades. Nacelle, with its mechanical devices inside, serves as a box that turns the kinetic energy of wind into electricity (Figure 2).

The process starts with wind turbines adjusting direction perpendicular to the direction of the wind current for optimal performance. The direction coordinates are calculated by a wind vane (a device for detecting the wind direction) and an anemometer (a device for measuring the speed of the wind) on the nacelle. The optimal position is achieved with three rotational motions. First, the bedplate of the nacelle calibrates its direction to the one of the wind current. Second, each individual blade adjusts its degree to the speed of the wind. Third, the hub starts rotating at its optimal performance.

After the turbines are locked at optimal performance, the main hub rotates the main low-speed shaft. At this phase, kinetic energy transforms into mechanical energy. This shaft rotates slowly but with high torque, which is supported by the main bearing system. This shaft rotates gears, which rotate the output shaft. The output shaft is a high-speed shaft that rotates the rotor of the electrical generator. Afterward, an electrical generator generates usable electricity. This is how kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy.

Solar Power Plants in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has a very good onshore wind market potential by global standards. By onshore wind speed, Uzbekistan, with 8.21 m/s wind speed (Figure 3), has a class 5 out of 10, standing on the top 8-16% percentile, which puts it in the upper-middle class category (Figure 4). Additionally, Central Asia, where Uzbekistan is located, proved to be 1 of 6 regions in the world with good metrics that favor wind power generation (Figure 5). Additionally, Central Asia’s largest operating wind farm is located in Uzbekistan.

Geographically, Uzbekistan is a convenient place for wind farms. This is because 80% of Uzbekistan's land is dominated by deserts, flat plains, and steppes (Belolipov et al., 2012). The northwestern region – particularly Nukus, Kungrad, Ak Bajtal, and Buhara – is the best site for wind energy development in Uzbekistan (Bahrami et al., 2019).

Uzbekistan’s government is highly determined to accelerate its transition to renewable means of energy generation. On May 21, 2019, Uzbekistan’s senate enacted a law about the use of renewable energies, which included a strategy of building 4 GW of wind energy by 2026 (Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 2022). This incentivized local and foreign suppliers to invest in large renewable energy projects. In fact, the first-ever large-scale wind farm, Zarashshan Wind Farm, achieved grid connection on December 11, 2024 (PowerChina, 2024).

Uzbekistan’s government is highly determined to accelerate its transition to renewable means of energy generation. On May 21, 2019, Uzbekistan’s senate enacted a law about the use of renewable energies, which included a strategy of building 7 GW of solar energy by 2030. This incentivized local and foreign suppliers to invest in large renewable energy projects. In fact, the first ever large-scale photovoltaic power station, Nur Navoi Solar Project, was launched on August 27, 2021. This exemplary/demonstrative project gave rise to several more large-scale PV plants. However, most of the announced solar power plants are still under construction. In the greenification of Uzbekistan’s electricity generation sources, the GULF countries are showing the highest interest. Large-scale photovoltaic plants. Masdar and ACWA Power alone are responsible for 9 of the 12 published projects.

Ecological Concerns

Wind farms have several disadvantages. Migratory birds and bats collision (Kumara et al., 2022), wildlife habitat displacement (Teff-Seker et al., 2022). Disposal of decommissioned turbines is another vexing issue. For both onshore and offshore wind farms, regulatory bodies usually lack a clear method, timeline, and assessment of site-specific environmental effects for decommissioning (Hall et al., 2020).

Conclusion

In conclusion, although issues like wildlife disturbance and decommission methodology transparency should be addressed, wind farms are a promising source of energy. Particularly, Uzbekistan and Central Asia as a whole are one of the rare places with a good wind market. While this region is in its early stages of development, it offers high prospects for future developers.

Reference

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