A wind farm or wind park, 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.
Hoosac Wind Power Project is a wind farm on Crum Hill in Monroe, Massachusetts and on Bakke Mountain in Florida, Massachusetts. Owned and operated by Iberdrola Renewables, it is the largest wind farm in Massachusetts, with 19 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 28.5 MW. The Hoosac Wind power project became fully operational in 2012 and provides enough electricity to power 10,000 homes annually.
Wind power is a branch of the energy industry that has expanded quickly in the United States over the last several years. In 2023, 421.1 terawatt-hours were generated by wind power, or 10.07% of electricity in the United States. The average wind turbine generates enough electricity in 46 minutes to power the average American home for one month. In 2019, wind power surpassed hydroelectric power as the largest renewable energy source in the U.S. The federal government and many state governments have policies that guide and support the development of the industry, including tax credits and renewable portfolio standards.
Wind power in Texas, a portion of total energy in Texas, consists of over 150 wind farms, which together have a total nameplate capacity of over 30,000 MW. If Texas were a country, it would rank fifth in the world; the installed wind capacity in Texas exceeds installed wind capacity in all countries but China, the United States, Germany and India. Texas produces the most wind power of any U.S. state. According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), wind power accounted for at least 15.7% of the electricity generated in Texas during 2017, as wind was 17.4% of electricity generated in ERCOT, which manages 90% of Texas's power. ERCOT set a new wind output record of nearly 19.7 GW at 7:19 pm Central Standard Time on Monday, January 21, 2019.
The Thorntonbank Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm, 30 km (19 mi) off the Belgian coast, in water ranging from 12 to 27 metres deep. It is the first offshore wind farm in Belgium.
The U.S. state of Oregon has large wind energy resources. Many projects have been completed, most of them in rural Eastern Oregon and near the Columbia River Gorge. Wind power accounted for 12.1% of the electricity generated in Oregon in 2016.
Whitelee Wind Farm is a windfarm on the Eaglesham moor in Scotland. The main visitor centre is located in East Renfrewshire, but the majority of turbines are located in East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. It is the largest on-shore wind farm in the United Kingdom with 215 Siemens and Alstom wind turbines and a total capacity of 539 megawatts (MW), with the average of 2.5 MW per turbine. Whitelee was developed and is operated by ScottishPower Renewables, which is part of the Spanish company Iberdrola.
Biglow Canyon Wind Farm is an electricity generating wind farm facility in Sherman County, Oregon, United States. It is owned by Portland, Oregon-based Portland General Electric and began operations in 2007. With the completion of phase 3 of the project it has a generating capacity of 450 megawatts. It is located roughly five miles (8 km) northeast of Wasco, Oregon, and about ten miles (16 km) southeast of Rufus, Oregon. Biglow Canyon Wind Farm covers 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) in the Columbia River Gorge.
The Shiloh wind power plant is a wind farm located in the Montezuma Hills of Solano County, California, USA, close to Bird's Landing and Collinsville, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of San Francisco. It has a nameplate capacity of 505 megawatts (MW) of power and was built in four stages between 2005 and 2012. Several additional projects are also located in the Montezuma.
The Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in Romania and in Europe, with installed nameplate capacity of 600 MW from 240 General Electric 2.5xl wind turbines. The wind farm has been built for the Czhech ČEZ Group.
The 605.2 megawatt (MW) Peñascal Wind Farm project is located south of Baffin Bay in Kenedy County, Texas and was constructed in three phases by Iberdrola and Mortenson Construction. It became Iberdrola's largest renewable energy facility in the world after completion of the second phase in 2010.
Wind power in Illinois provided nearly 10% of the state's generated electrical power in 2020 powering 1,231,900 homes. At the end of 2020, Illinois had 6,300 megawatts (MW) of wind power installed, ranking fifth among states for installed wind turbine capacity. An additional 1,100 MW of wind power was under construction across the state at the end of 2020.
Wind power in Montana is a growing industry. Montana had over 695 MW of wind generation capability by 2016, responsible for 7.6% of in-state electricity generation.
The Hay Canyon Wind Farm is an electricity generating wind farm facility located in Moro, Oregon, United States. It is owned by Iberdrola Renewables and began operations in 2009. The facility has a generating capacity of 101 megawatts. The farm sells power to the Snohomish County Public Utility District.
The Leaning Juniper Wind Project is an electricity generating wind farm facility located in Gilliam County, Oregon, United States with a total generating capacity of 301.5 megawatts. It is owned by PacifiCorp and began operations in 2006. Leaning Juniper I became operational in September 2006 with 67 1.5 MW wind turbines with a capacity of 100.5 megawatts. "Leaning Juniper II includes 133 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines with a capacity of 201 MW. This phase came online in 2011." The Jones Canyon Substation was built as part of this project and to support other wind projects in the area.
The Dry Lake Wind Power Project in Navajo County is the first utility-scale wind farm in the U.S. state of Arizona. Starting in 2009, it was constructed in two phases having a total generating capacity of 128.1 megawatts (MW), and is selling the electricity to the Salt River Power District (SRP).
In 2016, Arizona had 268 megawatts (MW) of wind powered electricity generating capacity, producing 0.5% of in-state generated electricity.
Wind power in Michigan is a developing industry. The industrial base from the automotive industry has led to a number of companies producing wind turbine parts in the state. The development of wind farms in the state, however, has lagged behind. In January 2021, there were a total of 1,481 wind turbines in the state with a nameplate capacity of 2,549 MW. The nameplate total exceeded 2,000 MW when Pine River came online in March 2019. Wind provided 4.2% of the state's electricity in 2016.
The state of South Dakota is a leader in the U.S. in wind power generation with over 30% of the state's electricity generation coming from wind in 2017. In 2016, South Dakota had 583 turbines with a total capacity of 977 megawatts (MW) of wind generation capacity. In 2019, the capacity increased to 1525 MW.
