Portal:Wind power
The Wind Power Portal
The Gansu Wind Farm in Gansu, China
Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity generation. Today, wind power is generated almost completely with wind turbines, generally grouped into wind farms and connected to the electrical grid.
In 2022, wind supplied over 2000 TWh of electricity, which was over 7% of world electricity and about 2% of world energy. With about 100 GW added during 2021, mostly in China and the United States, global installed wind power capacity exceeded 800 GW. To help meet the Paris Agreement goals to limit climate change, analysts say it should expand much faster - by over 1% of electricity generation per year. (Full article...)
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A vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) is a type of wind turbine where the main rotor shaft is set transverse to the wind while the main components are located at the base of the turbine. This arrangement allows the generator and gearbox to be located close to the ground, facilitating service and repair. VAWTs do not need to be pointed into the wind, which removes the need for wind-sensing and orientation mechanisms. Major drawbacks for the early designs (Savonius, Darrieus and giromill) included the significant torque ripple during each revolution, and the large bending moments on the blades. Later designs addressed the torque ripple by sweeping the blades helically (Gorlov type). Savonius vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWT) are not widespread, but their simplicity and better performance in disturbed flow-fields, compared to small horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) make them a good alternative for distributed generation devices in an urban environment.
A vertical axis wind turbine has its axis perpendicular to the wind streamlines and vertical to the ground. A more general term that includes this option is a "transverse axis wind turbine" or "cross-flow wind turbine". For example, the original Darrieus patent, US patent 1835018, includes both options. (Full article...)General windmill articles
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Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different designs, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails. (Full article...) -
A replica 18th century Dutch windmill fabricated recently in the Netherlands and then assembled on the shore of Lake Imba near Sakura, Japan, named in honour of 'The Love' (De Liefde), the first Dutch sailing vessel to reach Japan in 1600.
Wind rights are rights relating to windmills, wind turbines and wind power. Historically in Continental Europe wind rights were manorial rights and obligations relating to the operation and profitability of windmills. In modern times, as wind becomes a more important source of power, rights relating to wind turbines and windmills are sometimes referred to as "wind rights". (Full article...) -
The Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm
As of 2013, there was an installed capacity of 2,599 megawatts (MW) of wind power in Romania, up from the 7 MW installed capacity in 2007. Until December 2010, Romania added around 440 MW to its installed wind capacity from two wind farms: Fântânele-Cogealac and the EDP Peștera. The Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm has been completed in 2012 and at the time was the largest in Europe.
Romania has a wind-power potential of around 14,000 MW, and an energy-generating capacity of 23 terawatt-hours. The country's wind power capacity that can be assimilated by the national transport grid is between 3,000 MW and 9,000 MW, while only in the last two years the total power of the requests for connecting to it was about 22.800 MW. The Dobrogea region, which consists of Constanța and Tulcea counties, has the second-highest wind potential in Europe. (Full article...) -
2018 wind farm map
This is a list of large wind farms in the United States. Many of the wind farms in the United States are located in the Great Plains. (Full article...) -
Henvey Inlet, the largest wind farm in Ontario and the third largest in Canada.
This is a list of operational wind farms in Canada with a capacity of at least 100 MW. The name of the wind farm is the name used by the energy company when referring to the farm.
The Centennial Wind Power Facility in Saskatchewan was the first wind farm in Canada to have a capacity of at least 100 MW upon completion in 2006. Since then numerous other wind farms have surpassed the 100 MW threshold, most often through the expansion of existing wind farms. All but two of Canada's provinces or territories are home to at least one wind farm, those without being Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. (Full article...) -
Amogdoul Wind Farm, Essaouira
As of 2020, Morocco had an installed wind power capacity of 1400 MW.
As of 2013, there was an installed capacity of 947 MW and 500 MW are under construction. (Full article...) -
Haigh Windmill
A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.
This rotating cap on a firm masonry base gave tower mills great advantages over earlier post mills, as they could stand much higher, bear larger sails, and thus afford greater reach into the wind. Windmills in general had been known to civilization for centuries, but the tower mill represented an improvement on traditional western-style windmills. The tower mill was an important source of power for Europe for nearly 600 years from 1300 to 1900, contributing to 25 percent of the industrial power of all wind machines before the advent of the steam engine and coal power. (Full article...) -
Ta' Kola Windmill, Maltese: Il-Mitħna ta' Kola, is a windmill in the village of Xagħra, on the island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago. It was built in 1725 by the Fondazione Vilhena of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena, and was rebuilt in the 1780s. It became a museum in 1992.
Like many other Maltese windmills, it has a round central tower surrounded by a number of rooms. The sails and milling machinery have been restored, as have the miller's living-quarters. The museum also contains a large collection of traditional tools, mostly for wood- and iron-working. (Full article...) -
Myreagre Mølle, Bornholm
Myreagre Mølle (Myreagre Windmill) is a whitewashed tower mill located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east of Aakirkeby on the Danish island of Bornholm. Built in 1865, it remained in service until 1970. (Full article...) -
Old Buckenham Windmill is a tower flour mill which stands in the village of Old Buckenham, Norfolk, England. It is a Grade II* listed building, notable for being the largest diameter windmill in the country.
The tower was built in 1818 of brick in five storeys and is 8 meters (26.5 feet) in diameter at the base. The cap was boat shaped and extended to the rear. At 7.3 meters (24 feet) in diameter, it was the largest known cap in the country, requiring five truck wheels and 17 centring wheels to carry the weight. Originally fitted with eight plain sails, it was converted to use four patent sails. There were five pairs of French stones on the second floor but milling at the mill ceased in 1926 and the stones were broken up. (Full article...) -
The Windmills of Corvo (Portuguese: Moinhos de vento do Corvo/Moinhos de vento da Ponta Negra) is a group of windmills located in the municipality of Vila do Corvo, island of Corvo, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. (Full article...) -
The Montefiore Windmill is a landmark windmill in Jerusalem. Designed as a flour mill, it was built in 1857 on a slope opposite the western city walls of Jerusalem, where three years later the new Jewish neighbourhood of Mishkenot Sha'ananim was erected, both by the efforts of British Jewish banker and philanthropist Moses Montefiore. Jerusalem at the time was part of Ottoman-ruled Palestine. Today the windmill serves as a small museum dedicated to the achievements of Montefiore. It was restored in 2012 with a new cap and sails in the style of the originals. The mill can turn in the wind. (Full article...) -
The windmill in 2013
Waltham Windmill is a six-sailed windmill located in the village of Waltham, five miles from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire, England. It is renowned in the area for having all six sails still in full working capacity, being one of the very few windmills like this in the United Kingdom. (Full article...) -
Aarsdale Windmill, Bornholm
Aarsdale Windmill (Danish: Aarsdale Mølle) is a smock windmill located on a hilltop on the southern fringe of Aarsdale, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Svaneke on the Danish island of Bornholm. Constructed in 1877, it is still in operational condition although it is no longer in regular use. (Full article...) -
Mostert's Mill (Afrikaans: Mostert se Meul) is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and is the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. It was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire on 18 April 2021 but was fully restored by April 2024 and is once more operational and used to grind wheat into whole meal, using the power of the wind. The oldest windmill in South Africa is the De Nieuwe Molen mill in Cape Town, built in 1782. (Full article...) -
The Alexander & Anna Schwartz Farm, located at 57 E. Rd. 70 in Dighton, Kansas, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
It includes three buildings (a house built c.1928, a barn, and a smokehouse/cellar) and an Aermotor windmill. The house is built of structural hollow clay tile, also known as structural terra cotta. (Full article...) -
Tjasker Ossenzijl
The tjasker (West Frisian: jasker, German: Fluttermühle) is a small type of windmill used solely for drainage purposes. It is distinctive for its simple construction, featuring only a single inclined shaft that carries the sails on one end and an Archimedes' screw on the other, in this way avoiding the need for any gearing. The tjasker is commonly known as a typical Frisian windmill though it is also found in other Dutch provinces and in north Germany. (Full article...) -
By 2012, Iran had roughly 400 power plant units. By the end of 2013, Iran had a total installed electricity generation capacity of 70,000 MW, which had been increased from 90 MW in 1948, and 7024 MW in 1978. It is planned to add more than 5,000 MW of generation capacity annually to the power grid, which will almost double the total power generation capacity to 122,000 MW by 2022. The government of Iran plans to privatize 20 power plants by September 2010. Iran's peak demand for electricity was 45,693 MW during the summer of 2013.
It was predicted Iran accounts for 17.08% of MENA power generation by 2014. The natural gas was the major fuel used to generate electricity in Iran in 2009, accounting for an estimated 56.8% of primary energy demand (PED), followed by oil at 40.8% and hydro power at 1.4%. As of 2010, the average efficiency of power plants in Iran was 38 percent. The figure should reach to 45 percent within five years and 50 percent under Vision 2025. (Full article...) -
Heckington Windmill is the only eight-sailed tower windmill still standing in the United Kingdom with its sails intact.
Heckington is located between Sleaford and Boston in Lincolnshire, England. The mill stands very close to Heckington railway station, hence its name of the 'Station Mill' in the 19th century. The windmill is designated a Grade I listed building. (Full article...) -
Boyd's Windmill, also known as Boyd's Wind Grist Mill, is a historic smock mill at Paradise Valley Park on Prospect Avenue in Middletown, Rhode Island. John Peterson built the windmill at the corner of Mill Lane and West Main Rd. in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1810, and William Boyd purchased it in 1815. It originally had four common sails, but four more were added by the family. The mill is a timber-frame structure, octagonal in shape, and about 30 feet (9.1 m) tall, with a rotating cap powered by eight vanes with canvas sheets. The grindstones in the middle of the mill are Fall River granite; the upper one, which is connected to the power mechanisms, rotates six times for each turn of the mill's main shaft. In 1916 Benjamin Boyd removed the original vanes and powered the mill using a gasoline engine. It is one of only two historic windmills (out of what was estimated to be more than thirty) to survive on Aquidneck Island.
Boyd's Mill features prominently on the town seal of Middletown. (Full article...) -
The following page lists some power stations in mainland China divided by energy source and location. (Full article...)
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Alford Windmill is a five-sailed windmill in Alford, Lincolnshire and the only surviving windmill out of four. Though the windmill has been restored to working order, it no longer supplies flour for sale. (Full article...) -
China has the world's largest capacity of offshore wind power, with 25 GW operational as of mid 2022.
Offshore wind in China is growing rapidly, with 16.9 GW added during 2021. (Full article...) -
Four offshore wind farms are in the Thames Estuary area: Kentish Flats, Gunfleet Sands, Thanet and London Array. The latter was largest in the world.
This article lists the largest offshore wind farms that are currently operational rated by nameplate capacity. It also lists the largest offshore wind farms currently under construction, the largest proposed offshore wind farms, and offshore wind farms with notability other than size.
As of 2022, Hornsea 2 in the United Kingdom is the largest offshore wind farm in the world at 1,386 MW. (Full article...) -
Vinegar Hill Windmill or Templeshannon Windmill is a tower mill on Vinegar Hill, Enniscorthy, County Wexford. (Full article...)
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Topics
Wind power topics
Windmill topics
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, by tradition specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but in some parts of the English-speaking world the term has also been extended to encompass windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications. The term wind engine is also sometimes used to describe such devices. (Full article...)
Examples of multi-sailed windmills
Examples of tower mills
- Aarsdale Windmill
- Blennerville Windmill
- Bourne Windmill, Oakdale, New York
- Elphin Windmill
- Greenhill Windmill
- Gudhjem Windmill
- Montefiore Windmill
- Morgan Lewis Windmill
- Mostert's Mill
- Moulin de Craca
- Myreagre Mølle
- Old Mill, Perth
- Pedersker Kirkemølle
- Scherpenberg mill
- Ta' Kola Windmill
- The Old Windmill, Brisbane
- Vinegar Hill Windmill
- Xarolla Windmill
General images
The following are images from various wind power-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Interior view, Pantigo windmill, East Hampton, New York Historic American Buildings Survey (from Windmill) -
Kiosk at the base of the Lamma Winds Nordex N50/800kW wind turbine on Lamma Island with displays showing current power output and cumulative energy produced. (from Wind turbines on public display) -
Technical drawing of a 1793 Dutch smock mill for land drainage (from Windmill) -
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Workers inspect wind turbine blades (from Wind turbine) -
A vertical axis Twisted Savonius type turbine. (from Wind turbine) -
De Valk windmill in mourning position following the death of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in 1962 (from Windmill) -
Components of a horizontal axis wind turbine (gearbox, rotor shaft and brake assembly) being lifted into position (from Wind turbine) -
The Nordex N50 wind turbine and visitor centre of Lamma Winds in Hong Kong, China (from Wind turbine) -
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Gouda Wind Facility, South Africa. (from Wind farm) -
Egbert Livensz van der Poel, Windmill Fire (17th century), National Museum in Kraków (from Windmill) -
A small Quietrevolution QR5 Gorlov type vertical axis wind turbine in Bristol, England. Measuring 3 m in diameter and 5 m high, it has a nameplate rating of 6.5 kW to the grid. (from Wind turbine) -
Offshore Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs) at Scroby Sands Wind Farm, England (from Wind turbine) -
Nacelle of a wind turbine (from Wind turbine) -
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Hooper's Mill, Margate, Kent, an eighteenth-century European horizontal windmill (from Windmill) -
The windmills at Kinderdijk in the village of Kinderdijk, Netherlands is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Windmill) -
Roscoe Wind Farm An onshore wind farm in West Texas (from Wind farm) -
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An aerial view of Whitelee Wind Farm, the largest onshore wind farm in the UK and second-largest in Europe (from Wind farm) -
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The three primary types: VAWT Savonius, HAWT towered; VAWT Darrieus as they appear in operation (from Wind turbine) -
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Map of available wind power over the United States. Colour codes indicate wind power density class (from Wind farm) -
Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen, Denmark. (from Wind farm) -
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The Hancock County wind energy center in Iowa (from Wind turbines on public display) -
The rotor of a gearless wind turbine being set. This particular turbine was prefabricated in Germany, before being shipped to the U.S. for assembly. (from Wind turbine) -
Thorntonbank Wind Farm, using 5 MW turbines REpower 5M in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium (from Wind turbine) -
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Oilmill De Zoeker, paintmill De Kat and paltrok sawmill De Gekroonde Poelenburg at the Zaanse Schans (from Windmill) -
Northern Iowa wind farm (from Wind farm) -
Illustration of the wind turbine for power generation erected by Josef Friedlaender at the International Electrical Exhibition in Vienna in 1883 (from Wind turbine) -
Development in size and power of wind turbines, 1990–2016 (from Wind turbine) -
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The first automatically operated wind turbine, built in Cleveland in 1887 by Charles F. Brush. It was 60 feet (18 m) tall, weighed 4 tons (3.6 metric tonnes) and powered a 12 kW generator. (from Wind turbine) -
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James Blyth's electricity-generating wind turbine, photographed in 1891 (from Wind turbine) -
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South Brooklyn Marine Terminal Wind Turbine (from Wind turbines on public display) -
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The Gansu Wind Farm in China is the largest wind farm in the world, with a target capacity of 20,000 MW by 2020. (from Wind farm) -
Inside view of a wind turbine tower, showing the tendon cables (from Wind turbine) -
The Persian horizontal windmill, the first practical windmill. (from Windmill) -
Jhimpir Wind Farm, Pakistan (from Wind farm) -
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1813 technical drawing (from Windmill) -
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San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, California (from Wind farm) -
An isometric drawing of the machinery of the Beebe Windmill (from Windmill) -
Wind farm interference (in yellow circle) on radar map (from Wind farm) -
Part of the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, Oregon, United States with a turbine under construction (from Wind farm) -
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Components of a horizontal-axis wind turbine (from Wind turbine) -
Cross section of a post mill (from Windmill) -
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The Pubnico Wind Farm taken from Beach Point, Lower East Pubnico, Nova Scotia (from Wind farm) -
Nashtifan wind turbines in Sistan, Iran (from Wind turbine)
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Subcategories
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List articles
- List of onshore wind farms
- Lists of wind farms by country
- List of wind farms in Australia
- List of wind farms in Canada
- List of wind farms in China
- List of wind farms in Denmark
- List of wind farms in India
- List of wind farms in Iran
- List of wind farms in the Republic of Ireland
- List of wind farms in Japan
- List of wind farms in Jordan
- List of wind farms in Kosovo
- List of wind farms in Latvia
- List of wind farms in Lithuania
- List of wind farms in Morocco
- List of wind farms in the Philippines
- List of wind farms in Romania
- List of wind farms in South Africa
- List of wind farms in Sri Lanka
- List of wind farms in Sweden
- List of wind farms in Turkey
- List of wind farms in the United Kingdom
- List of wind farms in the United States
- List of wind farms in Uruguay
- List of offshore wind farms
- List of offshore wind farms in China
- List of offshore wind farms in Denmark
- List of offshore wind farms in Germany
- List of offshore wind farms in Japan
- List of offshore wind farms in the Netherlands
- List of offshore wind farms in Sweden
- List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom
- List of offshore wind farms in the United States
Did you know...
- ... that wind power in Turkey is so profitable that companies pay the government for licences?
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