How many turbines do you need for a 100 MW wind farm?

Today, wind farms of various scales are cropping up all over the world. The growth of this industry is fueled by the designers and engineers who are developing newer turbines with more efficient designs, larger capacity and higher productivity. The number of turbines used on a wind farm depends on the proposed scale of production. Once it is decided how many megawatts of energy can and is to be produced at the wind farm, it is possible to know how many wind turbines are needed.

By and large utility scale wind turbine manufacturers sell turbines ranging from 700kW to 2.5MW units. However, as of 2008, one of the most popular and established turbines is the 1.5 MW General Electric unit. A wind project using these 1.5 MW turbines would need around 66 turbines at the given project location for a 100MW wind farm to be successful.

How many turbines does it take to make one megawatt (MW)?

Since, the general scale of utility sized turbines runs from 700kW to 2.5 MW, a one megawatt wind farm would not require too many wind turbines. Just ten 700kW turbines would be able to power a 7MW wind farm, or ten of the 2.5MW units would be enough to generate a 25MW nameplate or gross capacity project.

Since this industry and its technology are ever evolving, larger machines with higher ranges are being developed, some even of a 5MW nameplate capacity.

Vert Investment Group ("Vert") is a leading renewable energy investment advisory firm focused on small to medium-sized utility-scale wind farm projects in strong power markets. Vert utilizes its proven methodology, the Staged Progression Model, to guide development projects to construction ready and identify investment opportunities that generate out-sized returns.