A wind farm is a collection of wind turbines used to produce electricity, along with the related parts like the power grid and substation. Both onshore and offshore regions contain them. What countries currently have the biggest wind farms, and how big is the biggest wind turbine?
KnowInsiders.com profiles the world’s ten largest wind farms by capacity.
Overview, History of Wind Farms in the World
Wind energy has been utilized by ships for almost 6,000 years. Since the seventh or eighth century, people have used windmills to grind grain and pump water, but it took another 1,100 years for the first wind turbines to appear.
The lights in Professor James Blyth’s cottage on Scotland’s east coast were powered by an accumulator that was charged by a ten-meter high cloth-sailed wind turbine he built in 1887. resulting in the construction of the first wind-powered home in history.
Wind power generation made significant strides in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, it is estimated that there are 400,000 wind turbines in use worldwide, producing 840 GW or so.
Let’s quickly go through the list of the biggest wind farms in the world, as determined by installed capacity, or the amount of energy produced, in megawatts.
Wind power is one of the renewable energy sources whose demand is increasing most quickly in the world. In fact, the global wind energy market has grown to almost four times its size from 2010 and is now estimated to be worth around £70 billion.
What is the Biggest Wind Turbine in the World?
The Haliade-X manufactured by General Electric is the largest wind turbine in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Its towering height is 260 meters, and its rotor diameter is 220 meters.
The rotor blades are 107 meters long, which is two meters more than the length of the football field at Wembley Stadium. They will be installed at the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the UK, which when it goes online around 2025 will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world. It will be able to power six million homes in the UK with an installed capacity of 3,600 MW (3.6 GW).
Top 10+ Biggest Wind Farms by Capacity in the World
1. Jiuquan (Gansu) Wind Power Base, China
Location: China | Wind Turbines: 7,000 | Installed capacity: 7,965 MW (7.96 GW)
With a planned installed capacity of 20GW, Jiuquan (Gansu) Wind Power Base will be the largest wind farm in the world. It will have 7,000 wind turbines installed throughout the Chinese provinces of Jiuquan,
2. Jaisalmer Wind Park, India
The largest wind farm in India is the 1,600MW Jaisalmer wind park. The project, created by Suzlon Energy, includes a collection of wind farms situated in Rajasthan, India’s Jaisalmer district.
For a variety of clients, including both public and private sector organizations, independent power producers, and energy utility providers, Suzlon built the wind farms. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals, and CLP India are a few of the clients.
The wind farms are equipped with a range of Suzlon wind turbine models, including the S97-120m, S97-2.1MW, and S111-90m.
3. Alta Wind Energy Centre, US
Location: California, USA | Turbines: 600 | Installed capacity: 1,550 MW (1.55 GW)
The AWEC, also known as the Mojave Wind Farm, is the largest wind farm in America and the third largest wind farm in the world. It cost almost $3 billion to build and occupies 130 square kilometers of land.
The 1,548MW operational capacity of the Alta Wind Energy Centre (AWEC) in Tehachapi, Kern County, California. The AWEC’s initial five stages were launched in 2011.
The following year saw the installation of two more stages. There are 100 GE 1.5MW SLE turbines in the first stage. Vestas V 90-3.0MW turbines are installed for the remaining six operational stages. The same Vestas turbines are used in the seventh, eighth, and ninth stages of operation. GE 1.7MW and GE 2.85MW turbines have been installed in the final two stages.
Terra-Gen Power developed the onshore wind farm at first, but later redistributed different project phases to various businesses. The wind farm is owned and operated by NRG Renew for 948MW, BHE Renewables for 300MW, and EverPower for 150MW. Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners is the owner and operator of the remaining 150 MW.
4. Muppandal Wind Farm, India
Location: Tamil Nadu, India | Turbines: 3,000 | Installed capacity: 1,500 MW (1.50 GW)
The largest onshore wind farm in India is the 1,500MW Muppandal wind farm. It consists of several wind farms in the Tamil Nadu state of India’s Kanyakumari district.
On the southernmost tip of India, in the state of Tamil Nadu, is a desolate area that is ideal for a wind farm because it receives high-pressure winds from the Western Ghats mountain range to the west.
Although the vast amount of arid land in and around Muppandal is unsuitable for cultivation and boasts strong winds, it is the perfect location for the construction of wind farms. Due to the presence of the Western Ghats mountain range, Muppandal experiences strong winds from the west for nine months out of the year.
The project’s wind farms include turbines made by manufacturers such as Vestas, NEPC India, AMTL, TTG, and Suzlon, and they have varying installed capacities.
5. Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, US
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| Shepherds Flat Wind Farm |
The fifth largest wind farm in the world is the 845MW Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Eastern Oregon, United States, close to Arlington.
The wind farm, created by Caithness Energy, spans more than 30 square miles in the counties of Morrow and Gilliam.
The $2 billion Shepherds Flat Wind Farm project began construction in 2009. The US Department of Energy granted the project a $1.3 billion loan guarantee in October 2010. Operations at the wind farm started in September 2012.
Shepherds Flat consists of 338 GE2.5XL turbines, each with a 2.5MW rated capacity. The wind farm’s power output is delivered to Southern California Edison. The wind farm produces enough renewable energy to power 235,000 homes.
6. Roscoe Wind Farm, US
The German company E.ON Climate and Renewables owns and runs the Roscoe Wind Farm, which is 45 miles south-west of Abilene in Texas, United States.
The 781.5MW wind farm, which spans 400km2 of agricultural land, has 627 wind turbines spaced 900ft apart from one another. Between 2007 and 2009, the renewable energy project was constructed in four stages, and it started operating in October 2009.
The wind farm’s first phase includes 209 Mitsubishi 1MW turbines, and its second phase has 55 Siemens 2.3MW turbines. 166 GE 1.5MW and 197 Mitsubishi 1MW turbines are present in the third and fourth phases, respectively.
7. Hornsea 2
Hornsea 2, a 1.3GW offshore wind farm with 165 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, is situated 89 kilometers off the Yorkshire Coast and is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2022. The wind farm is situated next to Hornsea 1, and the two facilities together have a capacity of 2.5 million homes. Hornsea 3 will also be included in the Hornsea zone, a region of the North Sea that spans more than 2,000 km2. The turbine blades are 81 meters long, and according to Orsted, the Danish energy company that built the farm, “One revolution of the wind-turbine blades can power an average UK home for 24 hours.”
8. Horse Hollow Wind Energy Centre, Texas, US
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| Horse Hollow Wind Energy Centre |
The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is in Taylor and Nolan Counties in the US state of Texas. It is a 735.5 MW facility that NextEra Energy Resources owns and runs.
In 2005 and 2006, the wind farm underwent four phases of commissioning. The project’s engineering, procurement, and construction contractors were Blattner Energy. The windmill’s output of electricity is sufficient to supply the energy requirements of about 180,000 homes.
The wind farm has a 47,000-acre footprint. 142 GE 1.5MW wind turbines, 130 Siemens 2.3MW wind turbines, and 149 GE 1.5MW wind turbines, respectively, are installed in the project’s first three phases.
9. Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm, Texas, US
NextEra Energy Resources is the owner and operator of the 662.5MW Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm in the Texas counties of Sterling and Coke.
It was constructed in two stages, the first of which was put into service in 2007 and the second in 2008. In February 2012, GE Energy Financial Services and JPMorgan Chase declared they would contribute $225 million to Capricorn Ridge.
342 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines and 65 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines are installed in the wind farm. The height of each turbine, measured from the ground to the hub’s center, exceeds 260 feet. More than 220,000 households can get electricity from the wind farm.
10. Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, UK
The Irish Sea’s Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm has a total installed capacity of 659 MW. The project is operated and owned to a maximum of 50% by rsted, with the remaining 50% being equally split between the Danish pension funds PKA and PFA.
The 145km2 wind farm in the Irish Sea is 19 kilometers from Cumbria’s Walney Island coast. It has 47 Siemens Gamesa 7MW wind turbines and 40 MHI Vestas 8MW wind turbines installed.
The project, which can produce enough electricity to power 600,000 homes in the UK, was formally launched in September 2018. Two 4,000t offshore substations are used to transmit the wind farm’s electricity onshore.
11. London Array Offshore Wind Farm, UK
With a 630MW installed capacity, the London Array Offshore Wind Farm is the largest offshore wind farm in the world and the sixth-largest wind farm overall. More than 20 kilometers off the coasts of Kent and Essex, it is situated in the outer Thames Estuary.
In July 2013, London Array was formally inaugurated. Denmark’s Dong Energy, Germany’s E.On, and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar are the companies that own and developed it. The £3 billion ($4.8 billion) offshore wind project began offshore construction in March 2011.
In December 2012, the last turbine was installed.
175 Siemens 3.6 MW wind turbines that are 87 meters above sea level make up the wind farm. Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 120 meters. Two-thirds of Kent’s households could be powered by the offshore wind farm.
12. Dogger Bank Wind Farm, UK
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| With 277 of GE’s Haliade-X turbines, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, UK, currently under construction, will produce 3.6GW. Photo: GE Renewable Energy |
Off the NE coast of England, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is a three-phase offshore wind farm that is currently being built. With a total capacity of 1.2GW for each phase, when it goes into operation in 2026, it will surpass all other offshore wind farms combined. Dogger Bank will house 277 of GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbines, which are currently among the most powerful in operation. Up to six million homes will receive power from the 3.6 GW wind farm, which will generate 5% of the electricity used in the UK.
To explore options for developing a fourth phase, Dogger Bank D, which would add 1.32 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind capacity to the 3.6 GW currently under construction, Equinor and SSE Renewables are currently conducting early scoping work.
13. Greater Changhua 1 & 2a, Taiwan
Greater Changhua 1 & 2a, which is 35–60 kilometers off Taiwan’s west coast and has a total 900 MW capacity, is the country’s first and biggest offshore wind farm. One million homes can receive clean energy from the wind farm, which began operating in August 2022.
14. The World’s Largest Wind Farm in Future
China is preparing to build the largest wind farm in the world in the Taiwan Strait, off the coast of Chaozhou, a city in the Guangdong province of China. The ten-kilometer-long farm, which will be located between 75 and 185 kilometers offshore, will have thousands of strong turbines with a combined output of 43.3 gigawatts, which is sufficient to power a small European nation. The turbines are anticipated to run between 43% and 49% of the time due to the windy location. When finished, it will surpass the Jiuquan Wind Power base in China, which is currently the largest wind farm in the world. Construction on the project is expected to begin before 2025.
Final Thoughts
The United States is home to half of the largest wind farms in the world. China, India, and the United Kingdom are also major producers of wind energy.
Renewable energy is in high demand right now. With more than 350,000 wind turbines installed worldwide, wind energy is one of the most popular renewable energy sources.
This ranking of the top 10 wind farms in the world is undoubtedly a preliminary one. Other wind farms that will replace the current ones will soon appear given the growth of this renewable energy.
Larry Mimosa
Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong. This project is also known as Gansu Wind Farm.
The project is being carried out in accordance with the Renewable Energy Law, which was announced in February 2005 and aims to install 200GW of wind capacity nationwide. The wind farm’s initial 5,16GW, 3,500-turbine phase was finished in November 2010.
The State Grid Corporation of China is also building a 750kV high-voltage direct current transmission line to connect the booming central and eastern regions of China with the electricity produced by local wind and solar projects.
