When I was reading about wind farms online, I wondered where in the world they could possibly be located. So, I did some more research and pulled together a list of 15 wind farms across the globe.
Where is wind energy made? Wind energy can be made virtually anywhere in the world. There are wind farms in almost every country across the globe, located both onshore and out in the ocean.
There are thousands of wind farms all over the world that contribute to the global wind energy industry on a large scale. Some of these farms have wider energy capacities than others, and they all provide electricity to a network of people in their areas. Here is a look inside the production of wind energy at 15 different wind farms.
Related: Is Wind Energy Effective?
Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm – Texas, United States
Capricorn Ridge is a wind farm in Sterling, Texas, expanding from Sterling County to Coke County. It has been operating for several years since it first opened in 2007, with its final phase of construction ending in 2008.
The wind farm has a total capacity of 662 megawatts, with a total of almost 400 wind turbines each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts. Additionally, there are about 60 wind turbines with a total capacity of 2.3 megawatts. The entire Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm alone has the capability of generating such a large amount of electricity that it can power over two hundred thousand homes in the area.
The wind farm is an extension of the company NextEra Energy Resources and owned by Sullivan Trillian Fund Private Equity. NextEra Energy happens to be the largest wind energy company in the United States.
Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center – Texas, United States
The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is another large wind farm located in Texas. This center is located in both Taylor and Nolan County, stretching almost fifty thousand acres between both counties. The entire wind farm has a capacity of approximately 735 megawatts of energy.
Across the entire property, there are almost three hundred wind turbines with a 1.5-megawatt capacity. There are also 139 wind turbines with 2.3-megawatt capacities throughout the farm. Horse Hollow was constructed in 2005 by a wind company called InvestEnergyGroup.
Interestingly, this wind farm was the very first wind farm to have a nuisance lawsuit filed against it. The people in the area of the new wind farm complained about how the turbines looked near their community.
Most of these locals owned and lived on properties with hundreds of acres of land that intertwined with the new farm. However, the wind farm was protected in court when the judge did not rule in favor of the plaintiffs, even though they followed up with their original complaints with claims of loud noises the first time they lost the case.
Fowler Ridge Wind Farm – Indiana, United States
The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is located in the state of Indiana close to its capital of Indianapolis. More specifically, it is located in the Benton County area. This wind farm was constructed between the years of 2005 and 2006 by Orion Energy and Vision Energy, two wind energy companies located across the United States in California and Ohio.
The entire farm was sold to another company called Dominion Resources in the year 2007, just a short time after it was opened for business. This wind farm was the second one that was ever built in Indiana on a utility-scale.
There are approximately 220 wind turbines built throughout the farm with capacities of almost two megawatts, as well as 40 additional turbines with a larger energy capacity of 2.5 megawatts. The same company that built the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm went on to develop several other wind projects including the Benton County Wind Farm and Camp Grove Wind Farm within the same area.
Shepherds Flat Wind Farm – Oregon, United States
The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm is located in Eastern Oregon between Morrow County and Gilliam County. The area in which the farm is located is the closest to Arlington, Oregon. The farm was finally opened toward the end of 2012, after being approved 4 years earlier by the state of Oregon.
The farm consists of a total of 845 megawatts of energy capacity throughout all of its turbine machines on the land. The company that built Shepherds Flat Wind Farm is called Caithness Energy, still owning and operating the property to this day.
In total, the company spent an entire budget of approximately two billion dollars to build the property and purchase equipment. The energy that comes from the wind farm distributes its energy to the residents of Southern California near the state through a large energy company known as Southern California Edison.
Jaisalmer Wind Park – Rajasthan, India
The Jaisalmer Wind Park is located across the world in Rajasthan, India. It currently comes in second place to the largest onshore wind farm in the entire country of India. Specifically, the farm is located on an area of land located in the Jaisalmer District.
A company called Suzlon Energy developed and constructed the entire Jaisalmer Wind Park project. In total, the farm is home to several wind turbines with a total energy capacity of over one thousand megawatts.
Not only is the Jaisalmer Wind Park one of the largest onshore wind farms in India, but it has also been included in the list of the largest wind farms in the entire world since it was first built and opened in the year 2001.
Muppandal Wind Farm – Tamil Nadu, India
The Muppandal Wind Farm is situated in the Kanyakumari District in the city of Tamil Nadu, India. This wind farm comes in first place as the largest onshore wind turbine farm in all of India. The company that developed and owns the wind farm is called the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency.
With a total energy capacity of close to two thousand megawatts among all of the turbines installed on the land, the Muppandal Wind Farm is also in the discussion of the largest wind farms in the entire world.
Gansu Wind Farm – Gansu, China
The Gansu Wind Farm, also known as the Jiuquan Wind Power Base, is composed of a collection of individual wind farms that are completed or under construction currently. They are all located in the western area of Gansu, China closest to the nearby city of Jiuquan, China.
This area of the country is developing multiple wind farms and resources for clean and renewable energy. The entire farm has an energy capacity of eight gigawatts but is planning to expand this number to an ambitious twenty gigawatts by the year 2020.
The total cost of the project is an estimated seventeen billion United States dollars, including the efforts of several different wind companies located in the area. There are approximately twenty developers and wind energy companies that are working together on this project.
In fact, this wind farm is one out of six total massive wind farm projects that are being overseen by the government in China.
Walney Wind Farms – Irish Sea, England
Walney Wind Farms is an entire collection of multiple large offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea, England. The farms are located close to Walney Island and Cumbria’s coast. The Walney Wind Farm project includes a few different phases: one, two, and the Walney Extension, which has an energy capacity of an estimated 650 megawatts.
Walney Wind Farms is currently considered the largest offshore wind project in the entire world. The project was developed by a company called Walney Offshore Windfarms Limited in the United Kingdom, which was a joint effort between two other companies called Dong Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy.
The group of wind farms that make up Walney Wind Farms is located very close to two other large wind farms in the middle of the ocean, where they reach depths of approximately 70 feet under the water. Phase one and two of the Walney Wind Project consist of just over 50 wind turbines with a total capacity of almost four hundred megawatts.
Ever since the wind farm went under new construction and expanded even further, it has retained the title of the largest offshore wind farm in comparison to all of its competitors across the globe.
London Array Offshore Wind Farm – London, United Kingdom
The London Array Offshore Wind Farm is an offshore wind turbine that is located in the United Kingdom. More specifically, the turbines are planted almost one hundred feet away from Thames Estuary, United Kingdom.
This wind farm comes in second place for the title of the largest offshore wind farm in the world, directly behind the Walney Extension wind project. The first phase of the London Array Offshore Wind Farm was started in early 2011 and finally opened for business in the middle of the year 2013.
There was a second phase of the project that was intended to be added following the first, but the company could not gain approval for their planning because of concerns about sea bird deaths in the area.
The entire farm consists of 175 wind turbines with a total energy capacity of approximately 630 megawatts throughout the entire proximity. There are multiple different energy companies that have controlling stakes in the company, including Dong Energy and Masdar.
Alta Wind Energy Centre – California, United States
The Alta Wind Energy Center is located in Tehachapi, Kern County, California. The project is situated within close proximity to the Tehachapi Mountains. Currently, it is the largest wind farm that exists in the entire world, and it has retained this title since it was given in the year 2013.
The Energy Center has a total capacity of just over one thousand megawatts, which is equal to one billion watts of electricity. Even though this wind farm is the largest in the world, the company that owns it is planning to expand its capacity to add an additional five hundred megawatts.
This wind farm is located onshore and is owned by a company called Terra-Gen Power. The energy that is generated by the turbines in the Alta Wind Energy Centre is distributed to residents of Southern California, within a power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison.
Fantanele-Cogealac Wind Farm, Romania
The Fantanele-Cogealac Wind farm is located in Europe in the country of Romania. With a total energy capacity of approximately 600 megawatts, it is considered the largest onshore wind farm in both the country of Romania as well as the entire continent of Europe.
With completed construction in December of 2010, the initial plans for the project were created in 2007 and submitted for approval of planning. Before its grand opening, the Fantanele-Cogealac Wind Farm went under construction in two separate phases, consisting of a combination of over three thousand acres of land between both of them.
Across the entire farm, there are 240 wind turbines that are functioning to generate electricity from wind power. The project was developed by an American company called Continental Wind Partners.
This company was also involved in several other wind energy investments scattered throughout the countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Australia, Poland, and New Zealand. In the year 2008, the developers of Fantanele-Cogealac decided to sell the entire project to another energy business called CEZ Group.
Roscoe Wind Farm – Texas, United States
The Roscoe Wind Farm is located in Texas within the city of Roscoe, which it is named after. The developer and owner of the project is a company called E.ON Climate & Renewables. The project was originally constructed in 2008, with a second, third, and fourth phase of construction that finally came to an end in the middle of the year 2009.
The total budget for this project was over one billion dollars, with a total energy capacity of almost eight hundred megawatts. Immediately after the completion of the Roscoe Wind Farm, it was granted the title of the largest wind farm in the world, until the Alta Wind Energy Center was built in 2012.
The Roscoe Wind Farm consists of approximately 630 individual wind turbines scattered across the land that all contribute to the total energy capacity that the farm exports each year. In fact, the Roscoe Wind Farm provides enough power for almost three hundred thousand Texas homes within the proximity of the turbines.
The entire wind farm covers about one hundred thousand acres of land and still remains one of the largest onshore wind farms in the world.
Gemini Wind Farm – Netherlands
The Gemini Wind Farm is located directly off the coast of the Netherlands. The beginning stages of the project were built and developed in the year 2015, with its grand opening just a few years later in 2017. With a total energy capacity of 600 megawatts, the wind farm holds the title of the third largest offshore wind farm in the entire world.
Gemini is closely behind both the London Array and Walney Extension, which have been two of the largest offshore wind turbines in existence for several years. There are a total of two parts in the Gemini Wind Farm, located near Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.
The first part has 75 wind turbines in the area as well as the second part, which also has 75 turbines. With a total of 150 turbines altogether, they each have a capacity of just under five megawatts. The Gemini Wind Farm was created by a company called Northland Power, with the help of contractor Va Oord.
The wind farm officially began generating usable electricity at the very beginning of 2016, despite the finished construction in the previous year. The total budget for the construction of Gemini was somewhere between three and four billion euros or close to five billion United States Dollars.
Buffalo Gap Wind Farm – Texas, United States
The Buffalo Gap Wind Farm is a 500-megawatt wind project that is located near the city of Abilene in Texas. The exact location of the wind farm is within Nolan County and Taylor County. Originally owned by a company called SeaWest WindPower, the entire project was planned out in a total of three phases of construction.
The first phase holds almost 70 wind turbines with a capacity of 1.8 megawatts. The second phase is home to over 150 wind turbines with just 1.5 megawatts of energy capacity each, while the third phase consisted of over 70 turbines of 2.3 megawatts each.
All three phases were overseen by a company called AES Wind Generation who would soon buy out space, and officially opened for business in the summer of 2007.
Most of the electricity that is generated within the Buffalo Gap Wind Farm is sold to another energy company called Direct Energy as a result of a power purchase agreement that was signed between both parties.
Panther Creek Wind Farm – Texas, United States
The Panther Creek Wind Farm is another American wind project located in the state of Texas. With over three hundred wind turbines, the wind farm has a total energy capacity of over 450 megawatts of electricity. The project was constructed in three phases, with the first two opening in the year 2009.
The final phase of construction was finally completed shortly after, in September of the same year. The expansive land that the Panther Creek Wind Farm operates on is located between the Howard, Glasscock, and Sterling Counties, specifically within the city of Big Spring, Texas. Panther Creek has the ability to provide electricity from the wind to almost 140,000 local homes in the state of Texas.
With the consistent growth of wind energy in the world today, there are several new wind turbine machines and entire wind farms popping up all across the globe. There is no limit to where wind energy can be created since the wind is a natural and renewable source of electricity that is available to anyone, no matter where they are.
The majority of wind farms in the United States exist in the state of Texas, with some additional farms scattered throughout the West Coast and on the opposite side of the country toward the East.
Additionally, there are plenty of wind farms located in the United Kingdom and in various other countries including India. Even further, these international wind farms account for some of the largest wind energy projects in the entire world!
More people have become aware of the negative impact that fossil fuel electricity has on the environment, which is causing them to become increasingly supportive of replacing these traditional energy sources with something more natural like the wind.
There are certain areas in the world that are more advanced in the adoption of wind power as a primary source of electricity. Sweden, for example, has set the ambitious goal of becoming the first country in the world to run on clean and renewable energy one hundred percent, completely eliminating harmful gases and non-renewable electricity sources.
There are plenty of other nations throughout the world that is not far behind them in making the full transition to get rid of greenhouse gases and save the planet by switching over to wind power for daily use.
Along with the increasing support of wind energy in recent years, there are so many advancements that are currently being developed in the industry. If wind energy continues to grow at this rate, there is no telling what it will be able to achieve in the world in the years to come.
Related Questions
How much money can I make from wind energy yearly?
There are a variety of different ways that people can get involved in the wind energy industry. The first option would be purchasing your own wind turbine or wind farm, depending on how large of an investment you would like to put into the business.
Depending on how many wind turbines are in your possession as well as the maximum energy output of each, you could make a minimum of three thousand dollars for a smaller residential-scale wind turbine. A larger, utility-scale wind turbine with a total capacity of several megawatts of energy can make the owner up to ten thousand dollars every year.
Alternatively, someone who already has a large lot of land or an existing farm can choose to rent out space to a wind turbine owner for a period of several years within the same lease agreement.
The farmer or landowner can make approximately eight thousand dollars per year for each turbine that is built on their land, although this number can go up or down depending on the terms of each individual agreement.
How much energy can a single wind turbine generate every year?
The amount of money that can be generated by a single wind turbine each year will depend on the size and energy capacity of the machine, as well as how many homes and facilities it is able to provide electricity too.
The smallest possible wind turbine that can provide electricity to only one single-family home will most likely make under five thousand dollars annually for the energy that is provided to the consumers. Although this may not seem like too much money, the average return on investment period for a residential-scale wind turbine is relatively quick, with reports of a net benefit within just the first year after installation.
Additionally, some wind turbines can begin paying for themselves within a certain period of time, providing their owners with a consistent flow of positive cash for the remainder of their lifetimes. This, however, will require proper research before purchase, since some larger wind turbines will outlive their entire life cycle before being able to pay for themselves.
What are the total costs to acquire a wind turbine?
For the average wind turbine, the total purchase price will come out to anything from $45,000 to $65,000. The actual machine and equipment will be on the lower end of the price scale, close to the $40,000 mark. The delivery and installation, on the other hand, will be a completely separate cost that is added to the total purchase price.
These additional fees will most likely make a wind project increase to upwards of $70,000. Even though a wind turbine project requires a lot of capital up front, there are tax incentives that are offered by the government for any kind of wind turbine purchase and installation. In fact, wind turbine owners are able to get up to thirty percent of the total purchase price back as a tax credit at the end of the year.
This can significantly drop the price of a wind project down to almost half of the purchase price. Even better, this tax rule applies to any quantity of wind turbines at any location of your choice, as well as one additional location with no limits as to how many you can be reimbursed for.
Learn More
If you’re serious about learning more about wind energy, I recommend the Wind Energy Handbook on Amazon. This book is great for both students and professionals, and it holds invaluable information on the subject of wind power.