The 11+ Biggest Wind Farms and Wind Power Constructions That Reduce Carbon Footprint

Gansu Wind Farm, China

Pollution levels in China have soared in the last few years. According to WHO, more than 1 million Chinese citizens died prematurely as a result of the deadly airborne toxins. Hence, China has started investing in green energies to curb this situation.

The Gansu Wind Farm in China is the biggest in the world and is capable of generating nearly 7,900 MW. The sheer power generation is a resultant of 7000 wind turbines arranged in rows in the Gopi desert. This wind farm is also known as Jiuquan Wind Power Base.

Unfortunately, more than 60% of the farm’s capacity goes unused each year due to weak demand. The giant Windfarm is capable enough to power a small country and is expected to provide an output of 20,000 MW by the year 2020.

Muppandal Wind Farm, India

If you don’t know where the third-largest wind farm is situated, it’s in Tamil Nadu, India – The Muppandal Windfarm.

There are about 3000 turbines set up on the farm, which produces 1500 MW of clean energy. As per the wind power reports, the state of Tamil Nadu has a gross wind potential of 3050 MW.

The wind farm has helped to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and will eventually lead to a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. The Government has plans to extend the initiative of clean energy to provide electricity for the villages in Tamil Nadu.

Roscoe Wind Farm, US

The Roscoe Wind Farm is located in Roscoe, Texas. It was once the world’s largest wind farm. The wind farm spread over 100,000 acres of land, and it can power about 265,000 homes easily!

For a fun fact, Texas produces more energy from wind than the combined efforts of the other 25 states in the US! The wind farm has about 627 wind turbines with the capacity to produce a combined total of 781.5 MW clean energy.

The construction of the Roscoe Wind Farm took place in four phases. The first phase in 2008 and consisted of 209 1 MW Mitsubishi turbines. The 2^nd phase was also completed in the same year and included 55 2.3 MW Siemens machines. The 3^rd phase was completed by mid-2009 and added 166 GE 1.5 MW turbines. And the last phase added 197 Mitsubishi 1MW turbines.

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Centre, US

Texas is famous for its wind potential. There are large spaces of privately owned land that makes investing in wind energy an attractive offer for landlords as well as investors.

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is the seventh-largest wind farm with a capacity of producing 735 MW of clean energy. The farm is distributed over an area of 100,000 acres in Nolan County and Taylor of Texas. The project has been operational since 2009. Completed in three phases, the farm consists of 421 turbines, including 142 GE 1.5 MW, 130 Siemens 2.3MW, and 149 GE 1.5MW wind turbines.

Jaisalmer Wind Park, India

The Jaisalmer Wind Park, located in the district of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, is the largest onshore wind park in India. The farm makes use of the wind from the Arabian Sea to produce clean energy of 1,065 MW.

The project uses a variety of turbines, as it is a mix of old machinery like the 350kW models to the newer S9Xs that are capable of producing 2.1MW of power.

London Array Offshore Wind Farm, UK

The London Array wind farm rest on the coast of the United Kingdom. The farm has 175 turbines, which produce 630 MW of clean energy, enough to power half a million UK homes. In terms of capacity, it is the largest one in Europe. The farm alone helps in reducing more than 925,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Having an offshore wind farm has some perks over onshore wind farms. One of them is the advantage of higher wind speeds available over the water compared to ground. Also, there is no restriction on boundaries. The only restriction comes in the form of depth at which the seafloor lies. This is why many countries are eyeing offshore wind farms as opposed to offshore ones.

Fowler Ridge Wind Farm, US

The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm spreads over 50,000 acres in Benton County of Indiana, United States. The wind plant is owned and operated jointly by the Dominion Resources and the BP Alternative Energy North America (each with a 50% stake).

With 537 wind turbines, the farm produces 750 MW of clean energy, which is used to meet the power consumption of about 200,000 American homes.

Gemini Wind Farm, Netherlands

The recently opened Gemini wind farm is the second most powerful offshore wind farm that comes after the London Array, constructed in the Netherlands. The Gemini wind farm is capable of producing 600MW of power using 150 Siemens SWT -4.0 Turbines. The project started in 2015 and was finished in 2017. It was in the same year that it was commissioned.

The project was allowed a total of 2.8 billion as funding, but it was completed with money to spare. The turbines became operational in 2016 and generated 250 million euros even before the date of its commission.

Alta Wind Energy Center, US

National Renewable Energy Laboratory or NREL of the United States has released its verdict of green energy. A study made by the organization concluded that the US could make 80% of power from renewable energy sources by 2050.

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The Alta wind farm energy center is an effort in this direction. It stands as the largest wind facility in North America and is located in the Tehachapi Mountains of California. The farm is also known as Mojave Wind Farm and is spread across an area of 3,200 acres.

The Alta wind farm has been providing renewable energy of 1,548 MWs to the SCE (Southern California Edison) for more than 25 years and is estimated to reach 3000MWs by the year 2040. The turbines have been installed at an altitude between 3,000ft and 6,000ft above the sea level.

Sweetwater Windpower, US

The Sweetwater Windpower is the 9^th largest wind farm in the world, located in the Nolan County of the United States. It has 392 GE, MHI, and Siemens wind turbines, which produce about 585.3 MW of electricity supplied to Austin Energy, CPS and others.

Operational since 2003, the farm is jointly owned by Duke Energy and Infigen Energy and was built in five phases added through 2007.  

Buffalo Gap Wind Farm, US

The Buffalo Gap Wind Farm is the tenth largest wind farm in the world located in Texas. The 524MW wind farm was completed in three phases and made use of 155 GE 1.5MW turbines with windCONTROL system along with 74 Siemens wind turbine generators. The windCONTROL feature allows regulating voltage and power in real-time, supplying reactive power to the grid when needed to stabilize weak grids and regulate the system voltage.

Dogger Bank Wind Farms, North Sea

Breaking previous records, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm is opening at Dogger Bank in the North Sea and will be operational by 2023. It will begin powering no less than 16,000 British homes next year.

It is built as a joint venture between SSE and Norway’s Equinor. It is unique in using 12MW turbines with a height of 260m high, as opposed to traditional 8MW turbines. This will significantly reduce the operational costs of these farms.

Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm, Texas, US

Texas has many examples of the proper utilization of the state’s wind potential. The Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm is located in Sterling and Coke counties.

NextEra Energy Resources own the texas farm. It started in 2008 with investment from GE Energy Financial Services and JPMorgan Chase, who said that they would invest $225m in Capricorn Ridge.

The farm has 342 GE 1.5MW wind turbines and 65 Siemens 2.3MW wind turbines, producing a total of 662.5MW that can power up to 220,000 households easily.

Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, UK

Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm is located in the Irish Sea, 19km off the shore of Walney Island, Cumbria.

It is partly owned and run Ørsted, with the Danish pension funds PKA and PFA collectively owning 50%. The project launched in September 2018.

It has 40 MHI Vestas 8MW wind turbines and 47 Siemens Gamesa 7MW wind turbines with a total capacity of 659MW, enough to power 600,000 homes in the UK. The electricity is transmitted using two 4,000t offshore substations.