The most interesting wind power plants in the world

Among the leaders in the category of wind farms, there are both the most powerful generators and the most extensive complexes with the installation of hundreds and hundreds of individual turbines. Let’s try to compile a list of the most notable projects that are already working and supplying electricity regularly. For clarity, we will indicate the main parameters of the stations, their location and the fact that clearly puts the complex in the category of “most interesting”.

Wild Horse Wind Farm (wind farm “Wild horse”). The object is located on an area of ​​348 km² near the city of Ellensburg in Washington state, USA. The design capacity currently reaches 273 MW, which became possible due to the simultaneous operation of 127 turbines with a capacity of 1.8 MW and 22 turbines with a capacity of 2.0 MW. This station is remarkable in that it was built and launched entirely at the expense of local taxes, for the needs of local residents and with their full support..

London Array is an offshore wind farm located at the Thames estuary. It is the largest offshore station in the UK and worldwide. Its capacity of 630 MW is enough to power 47 thousand homes. It is very profitable to use constant and strong coastal winds on the shores of Foggy Albion, so that offshore power plants will continue to develop and gain capacity, in order to ultimately make the United Kingdom perhaps the most “green” in terms of the safety of electricity production..

Tehachapi Pass Wind Farms is a wind farm located at the junction of the Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley in Southern California, USA. Winds constantly blow in this area, moreover, almost always in the same direction – this was the impetus for the rapid development of wind farms. In this area, there is no single power plant complex as such, but more than a dozen companies have already installed over 5,000 turbines, with the help of which not only energy is generated, but also new innovative approaches are being developed – ideal conditions and stability of winds help in this. The total capacity of the farms is 562 MW.

The Middelgrunden Wind Turbine Cooperative (Wind Turbine Cooperative in Middelgrunden, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a very modest power plant, only 40 MW. This complex is remarkable in another aspect. Its construction and operation is fully paid by the local residents, who are the shareholders of the cooperative. At the same time, this power plant is a good example of how wind can be used efficiently with offshore and coastal wind farms, even on busy shipping lanes. In addition to the obvious benefits in generating electricity, the station attracts more and more tourists from year to year..

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center (Taylor, TX, USA). The world’s largest wind farm as of 2008. However, it is not remarkable now for its size and power. It was at this station that a lawsuit was filed, which grew into a very unpleasant and large case. As a result, it was closed by a court decision, and the focus of all squabbles was, oddly enough, the aesthetics of the complex and its negative impact on farms located in the same district..

Altamont Pass (Central California, USA) is actually the oldest wind farm built in the states. The territory of the complex is remarkable for the high density of distribution of generators. Along with the large number of power generation installations, there are also big problems associated with the impact of wind power plants on the surrounding nature. According to the statements of environmental organizations, it was this complex that killed the most birds of prey in the entire history of the development of wind farms. The reason lies in the location. It is here that the most popular routes for birds, especially golden eagles, lie..

San Gorgonio Pass (Palm Springs, California, USA). The power plant is located in a very convenient location. Almost all summer, very strong winds blow – the average speed fluctuates between 24 and 32 km / h, more than providing energy for the power plant in the peak months. The best place is hard to imagine.

Gansu Wind Farm (Gansu Wind Farm, China) is an unfinished power plant, which already produces 5,000 MW of power. This is already colossal productivity on a global scale. In addition, it is planned to increase the capacity to an incredible 20,000 MW already in 2020. It is this complex that will in the long term become the largest in the world in terms of generating electricity from wind energy.

Jaisalmer (Jaisalmer, India) is the largest wind power generation complex in India. The development of this industry in the country began relatively recently, only in 2001 the first installations of the complex were launched, and in 2005 the capacity of 1000 MW was already reached. This case is interesting for its example of how you can quickly deploy wind farms of such significant power..

Wind turbines

Each wind power plant is equipped with multiple generators – they are the “workhorses” of this promising industry. However, not everyone is aware of the innovative and surprising approaches that are now emerging in this area. We are used to seeing huge blades and droplet-like generators located on very high platform pillars – they are simply impossible to imagine in urban development..

The problem of distances and safety associated with wind energy is being solved in various cardinal ways. One of them is the use of modern QR5 wind turbines. These are amazing designs in which the blades appear in the form of vertical plates or spiral-shaped ones, fixed on the vertical axis of rotation. The principle of operation can be clearly seen in the video.

QR5 turbines are significantly more compact than traditional versions. Their height can vary from a few meters to a dozen, and the radius is only a few meters. Their performance, or rather the efficiency, already surpasses all analogues with the usual screws. This is a very promising direction and a lot of large companies and private engineering teams are engaged in development, so we are waiting for another impetus to the development of the industry soon. Massive vertical-axis turbines named Windspire.