Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically, wind power has been used in sails, windmills and windpumps but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. Wind farms consist of many individual wind turbines, which are connected to the electric power transmission network. New onshore (on-land) wind farms are cheaper than new coal or gas plants, but expansion of wind power is being hindered by fossil fuel subsidies. Onshore wind farms have a greater visual impact on the landscape than some other power stations. Small onshore wind farms can feed some energy into the grid or provide power to isolated off-grid locations. Offshore wind farms deliver more energy per installed capacity with less fluctuations and have less visual impact. Although there is less offshore wind power at present and construction and maintenance costs are higher, it is expanding. Offshore wind power currently has a share of about 10% of new installations.
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore.
The United Kingdom is the best location for wind power in Europe and one of the best in the world. By 2023, the UK had over 11 thousand wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 28 gigawatts (GW): 14 GW onshore and 14 GW offshore, the sixth largest capacity of any country. Wind power generated about 25% of UK electricity, having surpassed coal in 2016 and nuclear in 2018. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the UK.
Wind power is one of the main renewable energy sources in the world. In Australia alone wind power contributed 10% of Australia's total electricity supply in 2020, and made up to 37.5% of its renewable energy supply. Wind resource testing conditions in Australia are optimum, as abundant wind resources are located close to residential areas in the southern parts of the country and on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range in the east.
Wind power became a significant energy source within South Australia over the first two decades of the 21st century. In 2015, there was an installed capacity of 1,475 MW, which accounted for 34% of electricity production in the state. This accounted for 35% of Australia's installed wind power capacity. In 2021, there was an installed capacity of 2052.95 MW, which accounted for 42.1% of the electricity production in the state in 2020.
Musselroe Wind Farm is a wind farm at Cape Portland, Tasmania, Australia. It was the third wind farm built in the state, following the Bluff Point and Studland Bay Wind Farms.
Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed. Offshore wind farms are also less controversial than those on land, as they have less impact on people and the landscape.
Coopers Gap Wind Farm is a 453 megawatt wind farm in the Western Downs and South Burnett regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately 175 km north-west of the state capital Brisbane, and 50 kilometres south-west of Kingaroy and 65 km north of Dalby. When construction was announced to be completed on 30 April 2020, it became the largest wind farm in Australia. This record was held until 10 December 2020 when the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm in Victoria was completed.
The Macarthur Wind Farm is a wind farm located in Macarthur, Victoria, Australia, near Hamilton, 260 km west of Melbourne. It is on a 5,500 ha site which has an installed capacity of 420 megawatts (MW). Based on a capacity factor of around 35%, it is estimated that the long-term average generation will be approximately 1,250 GWh per year. Its actual capacity factor is much lower, with a historical average of 26.29% since 2013.
Granville Harbour is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of West Coast in the North-west and west LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north-west of the town of Zeehan. The 2016 census has a population of 27 for the state suburb of Granville Harbour.
The Australian electricity sector has been historically dominated by coal-fired power stations, but renewables are forming a rapidly growing fraction of supply.
The Lincoln Gap Wind Farm is a wind farm in the vicinity of Lincoln Gap on northeastern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Australia. It consists of 59 wind turbines and generates a total of 212 MW of electricity. Construction began in late 2017 and was initially expected to be commissioned in late 2018. Construction was delayed in July 2018 when unexploded ordnance was discovered on the site, left from historic military testing. The site is not far from the Cultana Training Area.
Ararat Wind Farm is a wind farm in western Victoria, Australia. It is located approximately 180km northwest of Melbourne. It was officially opened on 27 June 2017 and was the third-largest wind farm in Australia at that time, with capacity to generate 240MW from 75 turbines.
Cattle Hill Wind Farm is a wind farm project developed and constructed by Goldwind Australia, in Tasmania.
Sapphire Wind Farm is a 270 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the Australian state of New South Wales. When it was built in 2018, it was the largest wind farm in New South Wales. It is located in the New England region of northern New South Wales, 28 kilometres east of Inverell and 18 kilometres west of Glen Innes. The farm covers approximately 8921 hectares of cleared grazing land, and has an elevation of about 750 to 1100m. It is north of the Gwydir Highway. The White Rock and Glen Innes Wind Farms are south of the highway closer to Glen Innes. It is intended to be colocated with a 200 MW solar farm. The wind farm contains 75 Vestas V126 turbines, each of which can generate 3.6 MW of electricity. They each have a 137 metre hub height and 126 metre rotor diameter. The project is approved to build up to 109 wind turbines.
Bodangora Wind Farm is a 113.2 MW wind farm owned by Infigen Energy in the district of Bodangora near Wellington, New South Wales, Australia. It consists of 33 wind turbines. The towers are 85 metres tall, and the rotor diameter is 130 metres. The wind turbine blades were manufactured in Bergama, Turkey. The development of the project began in 2009. It received planning approval in August 2013. The wind farm was completed on 27 February 2019. Annually it is supposed to generate on average 361 GWh of energy at capacity factor of 36.4%.
The Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park is a combined wind and solar farm under construction south of Port Augusta in South Australia, Australia. The solar farm is planned to be at the northern end of the site, west of the Augusta Highway and south of Sundrop Farms. The wind turbines will be on both sides of the Augusta Highway, extending south as far as the road to Horrocks Pass. Construction formally started in October 2020 and is estimated to take about 18 months to complete. The total site is about 5,400 hectares.
Cherry Tree Wind Farm is a small wind farm located approximately 15 km south-east of Seymour, Victoria. The 16 turbine, 57.6 MW farm was developed and constructed by Infigen Energy for John Laing Group. Construction started in January 2019 and was operational in June 2020. The wind farm is expected to generate 182 GWh on average annually, for a capacity factor of 36%.
