Wind farm

Wind farm in Lower Saxony, Germany

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used for production of electric power. Individual turbines are interconnected with a medium voltage (usually 34.5 kV) power collection system and communications network. At a substation, this medium-voltage electrical current is increased in voltage with a transformer for connection to the high voltage transmission system.

A large wind farm may consist of a few dozen to several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other purposes. A wind farm may be located off-shore to take advantage of strong winds blowing over the surface of an ocean or lake.

The world's first wind farm – consisting of 20 wind turbines rated at 30 kilowatts each – was installed on the shoulder of Crotched Mountain in southern New Hampshire in December, 1980.^[1][2] The Roscoe Wind Farm (780 MW) in the state of Texas, United States, is the world's largest wind farm.^[3] Spain, Denmark, and Germany are Europe's main wind energy producers; although, the largest wind farm in Europe is the Vlorë Wind Farm (500 MW) located in Albania^[4].

Location planning

A quantity called the Wind Power Density (WPD) is used to select locations for wind energy development. The WPD is a calculation relating to the effective force of the wind at a particular location, frequently expressed in term of the elevation above ground level over a period of time. It takes into account velocity and mass. Color-coded maps are prepared for a particular area describing, for example, "Mean Annual Power Density, at 50 Meters." The results of the above calculation are used in an index developed by the National Renewable Energy Lab and referred to as "NREL CLASS." The larger the WPD calculation the higher it is rated by class.^[5]

Wind farm siting can be highly controversial, particularly when sites are picturesque or environmentally sensitive. Related factors may include having substantial bird life, or requiring roads to be built through pristine areas. The areas where wind farms are built are generally non-residential, due to noise concerns and setback requirements.

Access to the power grid is also a factor. The further from the power grid, the more transmission lines will be needed to span from the farm directly to the power grid. Alternatively, transformers will have to be built on the premises, depending upon the types of turbines being used.^[5]

Wind speed

Map of available wind power over the United States. Color codes indicate wind power density class.

As a general rule, wind generators are practical if windspeed is 10 mph (16 km/h or 4.5 m/s) or greater. An ideal location would have a near constant flow of non-turbulent wind throughout the year, with a minimum likelihood of sudden powerful bursts of wind. An important factor of turbine siting is also access to local demand or transmission capacity.

Usually sites are preselected on basis of a wind atlas, and validated with wind measurements. Meteorological wind data alone is usually not sufficient for accurate siting of a large wind power project. Collection of site specific data for wind speed and direction is crucial to determining site potential.^[6] Local winds are often monitored for a year or more, and detailed wind maps constructed before wind generators are installed.

To collect wind data, a meteorological tower is installed with instruments at various heights along the tower. All towers include anemometers to determine the wind speed and wind vanes to determine the direction. The towers generally vary in height from 30 to 60 meters. The towers primarily are guyed steel-pipe structures which are used for one to two years to collect data and then are disassembled and removed. Data is collected by a data-logging device, which stores and transmits data for analysis. The siting of turbines during installation (a process known as micro-siting) because a difference of 30 m can nearly double energy production.

For smaller installations where such data collection is too expensive or time consuming, the normal way that developers prospect for wind-power sites is to look for trees or vegetation that are permanently "cast" or deformed by the prevailing winds. Another way is to use a wind-speed survey map, or historical data from a nearby meteorological station, although these methods are less reliable.

Altitude

The wind blows faster at higher altitudes because of the reduced influence of drag. The increase in velocity with altitude is most dramatic near the surface and is affected by topography, surface roughness, and upwind obstacles such as trees or buildings. Typically, the increase of wind speeds with increasing height follows a wind profile power law, which predicts that wind speed rises proportionally to the seventh root of altitude. Doubling the altitude of a turbine, then, increases the expected wind speeds by 10% and the expected power by 34%.

Wind park effect

The "wind park effect" refers to the loss of output due to mutual interference among turbines. Wind farms have many turbines, and each extracts some of the energy of the wind. Where land area is sufficient, turbines are spaced three to five rotor diameters apart perpendicular to the prevailing wind, and five to ten rotor diameters apart in the direction of the prevailing wind, to minimize efficiency loss. The loss can be as low as 2% of the combined "nameplate" rating of the turbines.

In a large wind park, due to "multifractal" effects among individual rotors, the behaviour deviates significantly from Kolmogorov's turbulence scaling for individual turbines.^[7]

Environmental and aesthetic impacts

Livestock ignore wind turbines,^[8] and continue to graze as they did before wind turbines were installed.

Compared to the environmental effects of traditional energy sources, the environmental effects of wind power upon greenhouse gases are minor; however, there are other adverse impacts of wind power including bird mortality.^[9] Wind power consumes no fuel, and emits no air pollution, unlike fossil fuel power sources. The energy consumed to manufacture and transport the materials used to build a wind power plant is equal to the new energy produced by the plant within a few months of operation.^[10] Garrett Gross, a scientist from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, states, "The impact made on the environment is very little when compared to what is gained."^[10] While a wind farm may cover a large area of land, many land uses such as agriculture are compatible.

Danger to birds and bats has been a concern in many locations. Some dismiss the number of birds killed by wind turbines as negligible when compared to the number that die as a result of other human activities, and especially when considering the adverse environmental impacts of using non-clean power sources. Others strongly disagree about the placement of wind farms. New evidence suggests that the critically endangered California Condor is being killed at the Tehachapi Pass wind farm in Southern California.^[11][12] Bat species appear to be at risk during key movement periods. Almost nothing is known about current populations of these species and the impact on bat numbers as a result of mortality at windpower locations. Offshore wind sites 10 km or more from shore do not interact with bat populations, but researchers are concerned if there are nearby bird colonies.

Aesthetics have also been an issue in some areas. In the USA, the Massachusetts Cape Wind project was delayed for years chiefly because of nearby residents' aesthetic concerns. In the UK, repeated opinion surveys have shown that more than 70% of people either like, or do not mind, the visual impact. According to a town councillor in Ardrossan, Scotland, the overwhelming majority of locals believe that the Ardrossan Wind Farm has enhanced the area. They say the turbines are impressive looking and bring a calming effect to the town.^[13]

Effect on power grid

Utility-scale wind farms must have access to transmission lines to transport energy. The wind farm developer may be obligated to install extra equipment or control systems in the wind farm to meet the technical standards set by the operator of a transmission line. The company or person that develops the wind farm can then sell the power on the grid through the transmission lines and ultimately chooses whether to hold on to the rights or sell the farm or parts of it to big business like GE, for example.

Types

Onshore

Onshore turbine installations in hilly or mountainous regions tend to be on ridgelines generally three kilometers or more inland from the nearest shoreline. This is done to exploit the so-called topographic acceleration as the wind accelerates over a ridge. The additional wind speeds gained in this way make a significant difference to the amount of energy that is produced. Great attention must be paid to the exact positions of the turbines (a process known as micro-siting) because a difference of 30 m can sometimes mean a doubling in output.

Nearshore

Nearshore turbine installations are on land within three kilometres of a shoreline or, on water within ten kilometres of land. These areas are good sites for turbine installation, because of wind produced by convection due to differential heating of land and sea each day. Wind speeds in these zones share the characteristics of both onshore and offshore wind,depending on the prevailing wind direction.

Offshore

Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen.

Offshore wind development zones are generally considered to be ten kilometers or more from land. Offshore wind turbines are less obtrusive than turbines on land, as their apparent size and noise is mitigated by distance. Because water has less surface roughness than land (especially deeper water), the average wind speed is usually considerably higher over open water. Capacity factors (utilisation rates) are considerably higher than for onshore and nearshore locations.^[14]

Transporting large wind turbine components (tower sections, nacelles, and blades) is much easier over water than on land, because ships and barges can handle large loads more easily than trucks/lorries or trains. On land, large goods vehicles must negotiate bends on roadways, which fixes the maximum length of a wind turbine blade that can move from point to point on the road network; no such limitation exists for transport on open water.

Offshore wind turbines will probably continue to be the largest turbines in operation, since the high fixed costs of the installation are spread over more energy production, reducing the average cost. Turbine components (rotor blades, tower sections) can be transported by barge, making large parts easier to transport offshore than on land, where turn clearances and underpass clearances of available roads limit the size of turbine components that can be moved by truck. Similarly, large construction cranes are difficult to move to remote wind farms on land, but crane vessels easily move over water. Offshore wind farms tend to be quite large, often involving over 100 turbines.

Fixed-bottom, foundation-based tower technologies

In areas with extended shallow continental shelves, water not deeper than 40 m (130 feet), windy but without Category 4 or higher storms, fixed-bottom turbines are now available and practical to install.^[15]

Offshore installation monopile wind turbines are generally more expensive than onshore installations but this depends on the attributes of the site. Offshore fixed-bottom towers are generally taller than onshore towers once the submerged height is included. Offshore foundations may be more expensive to build. Power transmission from offshore turbines is through undersea cable, often using high voltage direct current operation if significant distance is to be covered. Offshore saltwater environments also raise maintenance costs by corroding the towers, but fresh-water locations such as the Great Lakes do not. Repairs and maintenance are usually more costly than on onshore turbines, motivating operators to reduce the number of wind turbines for a given total power by installing the largest available units. An example is Belgium's Thorntonbank Wind Farm with construction underway in 2008, featuring 5 MW wind turbines from REpower, which were among the largest wind turbines in the world at the time. Offshore saltwater wind turbines are outfitted with extensive corrosion protection measures including coatings and cathodic protection, which may not be required in fresh water locations.

Examples

Denmark, for example, has many offshore windfarms.^[16]

The United Kingdom plans to use offshore wind turbines to generate enough power to light every home in the U.K. by 2020.^[17]

The province of Ontario in Canada is pursuing several proposed nearshore locations in the Great Lakes, including Trillium Power Wind 1 approximately 20 km from shore and over 400 MW in size.^[18] Other Canadian projects include one on the Pacific west coast.^[19]

REpower 5MW wind turbines D4 (nearest) to D1 on the Thornton Bank

As of 2008^[update], Europe leads the world in development of fixed-bottom offshore wind power, due to strong wind resources and shallow water in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and limitations on suitable locations on land due to dense populations and existing developments. Denmark installed the first offshore wind farms, and for years was the world leader in offshore wind power until the United Kingdom gained the lead in October, 2008, with 590 MW of nameplate capacity installed.^[20] The United Kingdom planned to build much more extensive offshore wind farms by 2020.^[21] Other large markets for wind power, including the United States and China focused first on developing their on-land wind resources where construction costs are lower (such as in the Great Plains of the U.S., and the similarly wind-swept steppes of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia in China), but population centers along coastlines in many parts of the world are close to offshore wind resources, which would reduce transmission costs.

On 21 December 2007, Q7 (later renamed as Princess Amalia Wind Farm) exported first power to the Dutch grid, which was a milestone for the offshore wind industry. The 120 MW offshore wind farm with a construction budget of €383 million was the first to be financed by a nonrecourse loan (project finance). The project comprises 60 Vestas V80-2MW wind turbines. Each turbine's tower rests on a monopile foundation to a depth of between 18–23 meters at a distance of about 23 km off the Dutch coast.

Deep-water, floating turbine technologies

New deep-water, floating-turbine technologies are only recently beginning to be deployed. The first large-capacity floating wind turbine is the Hywind, a 2.3 MW turbine mounted on a 120-meter-tall tower in 220-meter-deep water in the North Sea off of Stavanger, Norway.^[22] It will be tested for two years.^[23][24] The unit was constructed during the summer of 2009 and became operational in September, 2009.^[25]

Until 2003, existing offshore wind turbine technology deployments had been limited to water depths of 30-meters utilizing fixed-bottom technology, which necessarily limited deployments to the near-coastal sea surface.^[26]

Worldwide deep-water wind resources are extremely abundant in deep-water areas with depths up to 600 meters, which are thought to best facilitate transmission of the generated electric power to shore communities. The U.S. deep-water wind resource is second only to China.^[26] Although limited early conceptual work on deep-water floating turbine technologies was done in 1972, it was not until the mid 1990’s, after the onshore, foundation-tower, commercial wind industry was well established, that design of deep-water technologies was taken up again by the mainstream research community.^[26]

Airborne

Airborne wind turbines would eliminate the cost of towers and might also be flown in high speed winds at high altitude. No such systems are in commercial operation.

Wind farm capacity

Brazos Wind Farm in the plains of West Texas

Albania

1. Vlorë Wind Farm (500 MW) - 250 turbines
2. Kryevidhi Wind Farm (150 MW) - 75 turbines

Australia

In 2007, there were 42 wind farms operating in Australia. Some of the largest wind farms in Australia are:

1. Lake Bonney Wind Farm (SA) - 239.5 MW
2. Woolnorth Wind Farm (TAS) - 140 MW
3. Brown Hill Range Wind Farm (Hallett, SA) - 94.5 MW
4. Wattle Point (SA) - 90.75 MW
5. Alinta/Walkaway (WA) - 90 MW
6. Emu Downs Wind Farm (WA) - 80 MW
7. Mount Millar Wind Farm (SA) - 70 MW

Barbados

During the 1980s the country of Barbados experimented with the construction of a wind turbine at the Lamberts, St. Lucy area of Barbados. A lone tower was built for testing purposes after it was determined that this part of the island had the best potential for the usage of wind power. The Barbados Light and Power Company (BL&P) Co. met opposition due to concerns by local residents about noise concerns.^[27] Attempts have been made to replace the current abandoned wind turbine, but opposition continues to mount against the development of the 11 additional turbines for the site which could provide an estimated roughly 10 MW of energy.^[28] The Government of Barbados has also reiterated its commitment to developing wind power but has been unsuccessful to date in the last five years.^[29]

Brazil

1. São Gonçalo do Amarante/CE (10 Turbines)
2. Prainha de Aquiraz-CE (20 Turbines)
3. Mucuripe-CE (4 Turbines)
4. Fernando de Noronha Island-PE 1&2 (2 Turbines)
5. Olinda-PE 1&2 (2 Turbines)
6. Morro do Camelinho-MG (4 Turbines)
7. Palmas-PR (5 Turbines)
8. Osório-RS (75 Turbines)
9. Rio do Fogo - RN (61 turbines)

Canada

Huron Wind farm in Tiverton, Ontario, Canada, includes five Vestas V80s installed in November 2002

The total capacity of all wind farms in Canada is 2,369 MW as of January, 2009.^[30] There are currently no operating wind farms in Nunavut (territory) or the Northwest Territories.

The largest wind farms in Canada are:

1. Melancthon EcoPower Centre - Shelburne, Ontario, 199.5 MW
2. Wolfe Island Wind Project - Kingston, Ontario, 197.8 MW
3. Prince Project — Phase I & II - Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 189 MW
4. Enbridge Ontario Wind Farm - Bruce County, Ontario, 181 MW
5. Murdochville Project; Phase I & II & III - Murdochville, Quebec, 162 MW
6. Centennial Wind Power Facility - Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 149.4 MW
7. Carleton Wind Farm - Carleton, Quebec, 109.5 MW
8. Bear Mountain Wind Park - Dawson Creek, British Columbia, 102 MW
9. Port Alma Wind Farm - Chatham-Kent, Ontario 101 MW
10. Anse-à-Valleau Wind Farm - Gaspé, Quebec, 100.5 MW
11. Erie Shores - Port Burwell, Ontario, 99 MW
12. St. Leon Wind Farm - St. Leon, Manitoba, 99 MW
13. West Cape Wind Park - West Cape, PEI, 99 MW
14. Caribou Wind Park - Bathurst, NB, 99 MW
15. Kent Hills - Moncton, New Brunswick, 96 MW

China

Having more than doubled its installed wind power capacity each year from 2005–2009, China grew its wind power faster on a percentage basis than any other large country. With wind power investment of US$600 million in 2006 and total installed capacity of 2300 MW, China was the eighth largest wind-power producer in the world. At the end of 2007, China had increased its installed capacity to just over 6000 MW to move into fifth place globally. The Chinese wind industry reached the official target of 5 GW for the year 2010 three years early, so policymakers doubled the target to 10 GW;^[31] however, by the end of 2009 China had already reached 25 GW, having installed more new wind power generating capacity in 2009 than any other country.^[32] Chinese analysts estimate that the total potential wind power generating capacity in China exceeds 1000 GW.^[33] Large wind resources are in the northern part of the country, including Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, with vast windswept plains constituting China's "wind belt" similar to the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. Wind power development is increasing incomes and tourism in these formerly remote regions.^[34]

European Union

A wind farm in a mountainous area in Galicia, Spain

Germany has the second largest number of wind farms in the world after the United States. Its installed capacity was 20,622 MW as of December 2006. The second country in capacity was Spain with 11,615 MW. The third was Denmark with 3,136 MW. Italy was in the fourth position, with 2,123 MW.^[35]

In May 2006, operational wind farms in the UK comprised an installed capacity of 1,693 MW, in Portugal 1188 MW,^[36] in France 918 MW and in Ireland 1255 MW as of the 1st March 2009. A 322 MW wind farm Whitelee, south of Glasgow, Scotland, is the biggest wind farm in Europe, 55 km sq.. The €350 million farm was built for Scottish Power and the 140 wind turbines were delivered by Siemens.

In 2006, the British government gave planning consent for the world's largest offshore wind farm, the 'London Array'. It is to be built 12 miles off of the Kent coast and will include 341 turbines. A small farm of eight turbines has been erected at North Pickenham run by Enertrag UK Ltd^[37] with two smaller units at nearby Swaffham run by Ecotricity.

An important limiting factor of wind power is variable power generated by wind farms. In most locations the wind blows only part of the time, which means that there has to be back-up capacity of conventional generating capacity to cover periods that the wind is not blowing. To address this issue it has been proposed to create a "supergrid" to connect national grids together^[38] across western Europe, ranging from Denmark across the southern North Sea to England and the Celtic Sea to Ireland, and further south to France and Spain especially in Higueruela which was considered for some time the biggest wind farm in the world.^[39] The idea is that by the time a low pressure area has moved away from Denmark to the Baltic Sea the next low appears off the coast of Ireland. Therefore, while it is true that the wind is not blowing everywhere all of the time, it will always be blowing somewhere. Such a supergrid would therefore reduce the need for backup capacity.

India

A wind farm in Aralvaimozhy, Tamil Nadu, India

At the end of September 2007, India had 7660 MW of wind generating capacity and is the fourth largest market in the world.^[40] Indian Wind Energy Association has estimated that with the current level of technology, the ‘on-shore’ potential for utilization of wind energy for electricity generation is of the order of 65,000 MW.^[41] There are about a dozen wind pumps of various designs providing water for agriculture, afforestation, and domestic purposes, all scattered over the country. The wind farms are predominantly present in the states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. Other states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have a very good potential.

Japan

Wakamatsu wind farm, Kitakyushu, Japan

There is no particular controversy about the sightliness or otherwise of the Wakamatsu ward Hibikinada Wind Farm in Kitakyushu, as there is in some other countries. It is far from the scenic areas of Wakamatsu, and on windy reclaimed land. Asahi Shimbun reported on May 18, 2005, that many utilities have put limits on the amount of wind power they will allow, because of lack of confidence in their ability to deal with the variable output. Several European countries are successfully accommodating significantly higher shares of wind energy in to their networks and that the Japanese grid is capable of coping with large conventional power stations disconnecting unexpectedly due to faults; on the other hand, it is true that integrating wind power or unreliable conventional power stations into island grids is more difficult than into continent-wide inter-connected grids.

A partial list of wind farms in Japan include:

• Hibikinada Wind Farm (10 turbines)
• Aoyama Plateau Wind Farm (32 turbines)
• Nunobiki Plateau Wind Farm (33 turbines)
• Seto Wind Farm (11 turbines)

A number of smaller projects are run by the Japan Wind Development Company, LTD.

Morocco

1. Tarfaya Wind Farm (200 MW) "Under construction"
2. Tangier Wind Farm (140 MW - 165 turbines) "Under construction"^[42]
3. Amogdoul Farm (60 MW)
4. Touahar Farm (60 MW) "Under construction"
5. Koudia Al Baida Farm (50 MW - 84 turbines)

New Zealand

New Zealand is located in the northern latitudes of the 'roaring 40s' — an abundant wind energy resource. The Brooklyn Wind Turbine was installed on the top of a hill in Brooklyn, Wellington in March 1993 as part of a research project commissioned by the now defunct Electricity Corporation of New Zealand. Later in 1996, Wairarapa Electricity (became part of Genesis Energy in 1999) built the Hau Nui Wind Farm, New Zealand's first wind farm, south east of Martinborough on the coastal road to White Rock. Meridian Energy recently applied for, and obtained with conditions, resource consent to build a consignment of wind farms in the rural Makara Hill area west of Wellington. Meridian Energy have finished the Te Apiti Wind Farm on the Ruahine Ranges. It can be seen clearly at Ashhurst near Palmerston North. The Te Rere Hau Wind Farm is under construction nearby. Meridian Energy's White Hill wind farm at Mossburn in the South Island, reached full capacity in 2007. TrustPower purchased the Tararua wind farm, located on the Tararua Ranges behind Palmerston North, from Tararua Wind Power Limited. As of September 2007 this was New Zealand's largest wind farm, and the largest in the southern hemisphere, with an installed capacity of 161MW, half of the country's total installed capacity. Applications for resource consent have been submitted for several new wind farms, with a total potential capacity of 1900MW as of late 2007.

Antarctic

Antarctic wind farm blows into life at Scott Base. Antarctic wind farm reduces bases' reliance on diesel.

Philippines

Bangui Windfarm, Philippines

The Bangui Windmills are located in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. The windmills, officially referred to as the NorthWind Bangui Bay Project, was built to use renewable energy sources, thus reducing the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The project is the first Wind Farm in the Philippines consisting of wind turbines on-shore facing the South China Sea and considered to be the biggest in Southeast Asia. The project sells electricity to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) and provides 40% of the power requirements of Ilocos Norte via Transco Laoag.

South Africa

The first commercial wind farm in South Africa was opened on the 23rd of May 2008, near Darling in the Western Cape. The first phase consists of four 1.3MW turbines supplied by Fuhrlander, Germany. The total power generated estimated at 5.2MW will be put into the national grid at 66kV.^[43] It has taken the developer Herman Oelsner 10 years to achieve his dream of being the first private wind farm in South Africa. There has been serious concerns regarding environmental and aviation matters some of which are still under investigation. Fuhrlaender will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the wind farm until 2011 with the assistance of locally trained technicians.

Additionally, Klipheuwel wind farm, the first wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa, comprises three turbines – a Vestas V66 with 1.75 MW output, a Vestas V47 with 660 kW output and a Jeumont J48 with 750 kW output, giving a total output of almost 3.2 MW.^[44][45]

United States

Aerial photo of the Meyersdale Wind Project along the Allegheny Front in southern Pennsylvania

The United States is the leading country in installed capacity and produced windpower in the world. After pioneering windpower in the 1980s, it surpassed Germany again in 2008. The American Wind Energy Association stated the United States had 21,000 MW of wind energy capacity at the end of that year. A total of 8,538 MW were added in 2008. At the end of March 2008, the United States wind power capacity was 18,302 MW, enough to serve 4.9 million average households.^[46] Currently, the largest wind farm in the US and the world is the Roscoe Wind Farm (780 MW) in Texas.^[3] Prior to this, the largest wind farm was Florida Power & Light's 735 MW Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, located in Taylor County, Texas.^[47] Other larger projects have been proposed or are under development.

Three large California wind "farms" developed in the 1980s at three major mountain passes are collections of dozens of individual wind farms. The California farms have many different owners and turbine types. They have been constructed, retrofitted and occasionally dismantled since they were first installed in late 1982. As of 2005, all three of these areas are seeing renewed growth. Older and smaller wind turbines are being replaced with much larger, more efficient models. Some of the workhorses of the past were only 65 kilowatts (kW) in capacity or even smaller, though some were several hundred kW. Today, a few models approach 6,000 kW (6 MW). Non-functional turbines are also being returned to service.

The majority of the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm as viewed from the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. (The farm continues over the hills to the north along California State Route 62 and is not visible from this vantagepoint). The layout includes a variety of large modern and older smaller turbine designs

Although California has some of the earliest and largest wind farms in the U.S., the state does not have many commercially viable wind farm sites onshore. Much of the Southwest is not much better, although there are some significant exceptions. The Great Plains states have an abundance of suitable sites for wind energy development.^[48] The region has become the major supplier of U.S. wind power. Texas (located in the South) is the leading wind power state in the U.S., followed by Iowa in the Midwest. The Pacific Northwest and the Northeast have many excellent sites as well.

In contrast, the Southeast generally has few wind energy resources. A recent study has found that an off-shore region of the Georgia coast may prove to be a commercially viable wind power resource. The Appalachian Mountains may also provide promising areas for wind turbine installation. ^[49]

See also

• Intermittent power source
• Electrical generator
• Floating wind turbine
• Net metering
• Sea breeze
• Wind energy software
• WindFarmer location planning software
• Wave farm
• List of large wind farms

References

External links

• www.world-wind-energy.info — Basic information of wind energy by the World Wind Energy Association
• Wind Power in the United States: Technology, Economic, and Policy Issues (53p), Congressional Research Service, June 2008
• Database of projects throughout the World
• Database of offshore wind projects in North America
• New York state wind projects (Wind Power Law Blog)
• Wind Project Community Organizing
• Wind fuels
• 4C Offshore's Global Wind Farm Interactive Map and Database
• Wind Farm Atlas. An open wind farm atlas.
• Offshorewind.net — Offshore wind energy information.

Country-specific links

• Wind Power and Wind Farms in Australia
• Chanson, Hubert (2004). Wind Farms in Brittany (Bretagne), France. Shore and Beach, 72 3: 15-16
• Altahullion Wind farm A Quicktime VR panorama illustrating the scale of the largest wind farm in Ireland
• MySME.de Information on Wind Farm Development in Germany

Advocacy groups

• Yes2Wind Pro windfarm campaign organisation including windfarm map for U.K.
• National Wind Watch — A coalition of US wind power opposition groups.

Media reports

• "Wind Farm Buffets Family, Town Relations by David Baron". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89432191. Retrieved 2008-04-09. 
• World's largest off-shore wind farm, in Lake Erie, moves closer
• Wind Over Water — a documentary film about the Cape Wind Project a proposed wind farm in Massachusetts, US.

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