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...)
This is a list of wind farms in Australia, with a generating capacity of more than 50 MW, which are operating, under construction, or for which planning approval has been received. (Full article...)
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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.
Most power stations in South Africa are owned and operated by the state owned enterprise, Eskom. These plants account for 80% of all the electricity produced in South Africa and 45% of all electricity produced on the African continent. In terms of share of GDP in 2012, South Africa was the 4th largest investor in renewable power in the world after Uruguay, Mauritius and Costa Rica. (Full article...)
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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...)
This page is a list of power stations in Japan that are publicly or privately owned. (Full article...)
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As of 2016, there were over 160 operational wind farms in Lithuania, but the majority of them consisted of small farms generating less than 2 MW. (Full article...)
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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...)
Data is primarily from the 4C Offshore's Global Offshore Wind Farm Map and Database. Tariff data is supplied by the Danish Energy Agency. The name of the Wind Farm is the name used by the Energy Company when referring to the Farm and is usually related to a shoal or the name of the nearest town on shore. The Wind Farm part is implied and hence omitted for ease of reading. (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...)
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Brill windmill, a 17th-century post mill in Buckinghamshire The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These are struts that steady the central post.
The body of the windmill can be turned around the central post to bring the sails into the wind. All post mills have an arm projecting from them on the side opposite the sails and reaching down to near ground level. With some, as at Saxtead Green, the arm carries a fantail to turn the mill automatically. With the others the arm serves to rotate the mill into the wind by hand. (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...)
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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...)
Data is primarily from the 4C Offshore's Global Offshore Wind Farm Map and Database. Tariff data is supplied by the Danish Energy Agency. The name of the Wind Farm is the name used by the Energy Company when referring to the Farm and is usually related to a shoal or the name of the nearest town on shore. The Wind Farm part is implied and hence omitted for ease of reading. (Full article...)
It includes three buildings (a house built c.1928, a barn, and a smokehouse/cellar) and an Aermotorwindmill. The house is built of structural hollow clay tile, also known as structural terra cotta. (Full article...)
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The rustic/original appearance of one of the windmills, on the eastern edge of Ponta Negra
Dobson's Mill was a working tower windmill for grinding wheat and corn. It stands in the High Street in the town of Burgh le Marsh, near Skegness in Lincolnshire, England. The mill was, prior to damage by Storm Ciara on 9 February 2020, open to the public as a tourist attraction and is a Grade I listed building. The mill site also houses the Burgh-le-Marsh Heritage Centre.
The windmill was built and fitted out by Sam Oxley, an Alford millwright, in the early 1800s for the Jessop family, who baked bread on the same site. It was completed by 1844. Dobson was the name of the last miller. (Full article...)
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North Steads Wind Farm from Druridge Bay This is a list of some onshore wind farms (more than 1 turbine) in the UK. This information is gathered from multiple Internet sources, primarily the UK Wind Energy Database from RenewableUK (formerly BWEA) and The Wind Power's database. There are many operational wind farms missing from the list, such as Scotland's 522 MW Clyde Wind Farm and the 68 MW Keadby Wind Farm in North Lincolnshire, England's largest onshore wind farm. The name of the wind farm is the name used by the energy company when referring to the farm and is usually related to the name of the physical location, e.g. hill, moor, fell, down etc. or the name of the agricultural farm for the smaller installations on property owned by farmers. The "wind farm" part is implied and hence removed for clarity in most cases. Listings here are restricted to wind farms with 12 turbines or more; for a more comprehensive list, please see the individual country articles. (Full article...)
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...)
Image 10Cross section of a post mill (from Windmill)
Image 11Offshore windfarms, including floating windfarms, provide a small but growing fraction of total windfarm power generation. Such power generation capacity must grow substantially to help meet the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 pathway to combat climate change. (from Wind farm)
Image 12Technical drawing of a 1793 Dutch smock mill for land drainage (from Windmill)
Image 13The 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)
Image 14The 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)
Image 15Wind farm interference (in yellow circle) on radar map (from Wind farm)
Image 19A 19th-century reconstruction of Heron's wind-powered organ (from Windmill)
Image 20Illustration of the wind turbine for power generation erected by Josef Friedlaender at the International Electrical Exhibition in Vienna in 1883 (from Wind turbine)
Image 29The 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)
Image 53Kiosk at the base of the Lamma WindsNordex N50/800kW wind turbine on Lamma Island with displays showing current power output and cumulative energy produced. (from Wind turbines on public display)
Image 54The Persian horizontal windmill, the first practical windmill. (from Windmill)
This is a list of wind farms in Australia, with a generating capacity of more than 50 MW, which are operating, under construction, or for which planning approval has been received. (Full article...)
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The three primary types: VAWT Savonius, HAWT towered; VAWT Darrieus as they appear in operation (from Wind turbine)
1813 technical drawing (from Windmill)
Egbert Livensz van der Poel, Windmill Fire (17th century), National Museum in Kraków (from Windmill)
Map of available wind power over the United States. Colour codes indicate wind power density class (from Wind farm)
A vertical axis Twisted Savonius type turbine. (from Wind turbine)
Cross section of a post mill (from Windmill)
Technical drawing of a 1793 Dutch smock mill for land drainage (from Windmill)
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)
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)
Wind farm interference (in yellow circle) on radar map (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)
Inside view of a wind turbine tower, showing the tendon cables (from Wind turbine)
The Nordex N50 wind turbine and visitor centre of Lamma Winds in Hong Kong, China (from Wind turbine)
South Brooklyn Marine Terminal Wind Turbine (from Wind turbines on public display)
Nacelle of a wind turbine (from Wind turbine)
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)
The Hancock County wind energy center in Iowa (from Wind turbines on public display)
San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, California (from Wind farm)
Jhimpir Wind Farm, Pakistan (from Wind farm)
Northern Iowa wind farm (from Wind farm)
Oilmill De Zoeker, paintmill De Kat and paltrok sawmill De Gekroonde Poelenburg at the Zaanse Schans (from Windmill)
Development in size and power of wind turbines, 1990–2016 (from Wind turbine)
An aerial view of Whitelee Wind Farm, the largest onshore wind farm in the UK and second-largest in Europe (from Wind farm)
An isometric drawing of the machinery of the Beebe Windmill (from Windmill)
Hooper's Mill, Margate, Kent, an eighteenth-century European horizontal windmill (from Windmill)
James Blyth's electricity-generating wind turbine, photographed in 1891 (from Wind turbine)
Part of the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, Oregon, United States with a turbine under construction (from Wind farm)
Roscoe Wind Farm An onshore wind farm in West Texas (from Wind farm)
Components of a horizontal axis wind turbine (gearbox, rotor shaft and brake assembly) being lifted into position (from Wind turbine)
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)
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)
The Persian horizontal windmill, the first practical windmill. (from Windmill)
Offshore Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs) at Scroby Sands Wind Farm, England (from Wind turbine)
De Valk windmill in mourning position following the death of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in 1962 (from Windmill)
Thorntonbank Wind Farm, using 5 MW turbines REpower 5M in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium (from Wind turbine)
Components of a horizontal-axis wind turbine (from Wind turbine)
Interior view, Pantigo windmill, East Hampton, New York Historic American Buildings Survey (from Windmill)
Gouda Wind Facility, South Africa. (from Wind farm)
The Pubnico Wind Farm taken from Beach Point, Lower East Pubnico, Nova Scotia (from Wind farm)
The windmills at Kinderdijk in the village of Kinderdijk, Netherlands is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Windmill)
Offshore wind turbines near Copenhagen, Denmark. (from Wind farm)
Workers inspect wind turbine blades. (from Wind turbine)
Nashtifan wind turbines in Sistan, Iran (from Wind turbine)
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