Image: www.freefoto.com
Nowadays
When looking at the top wind energy producing countries, it turns out that Germany (17.5 GigaWatts) and Spain (9.5 GigaWatts) are the undisputed leaders. Most energy is generated onshore by single turbines (or small groups of turbines). These days, the largest wind farms are almost exclusively located offshore. The current offshore wind parks are quite modest compared to future plans. Below is a summary of the five largest wind farms in Europe at this moment.
| Name | Location |
Number of turbines and MW |
Brief description |
| Nysted | Baltic Sea, 10 kilometers south of Nysted, 13 kilometer west of Gedser, Denmark. |
72 turbines, |
Nysted is the largest wind farm in the world. Nysted's turbinesare positioned in a parallellogram. The turbines were manufactured by BONUS Energy A/S. The highest point of the turbines is 690 meters. Each turbine has a capacity of 2.3 MegaWatts. |
| Horns Reef | North Sea, 15 kilometers west of Esbjerg, at the Danish west coast. |
80 turbines, |
Hors Rev was founded by turbine manufacturer Vestas. The park consists of 80 V80-2.0MW turbines. It was constructed between April and September 2002. |
| Black Law | South Lanarkshire, Scotland |
42 turbines, |
The only onshore wind farm in this list. There are plans to extend the size to 62 turbines. |
| Kentish Flats | Kent, England |
30 turbines, |
Offshore |
| Barrow in Furnice | 13 kilometers south of Barrow in Furnice, England. |
30 turbines, |
Offshore |
You can find these wind farms on a map by clicking here. Click here to find out more about which wind farms have been constructed so far.
The future
The plans for wind energy are ambitious. Above all, Germany has far reaching plans for offshore wind energy. During the next decenium, Germany's offshore wind capacity should increase by thousands of MegaWatts. Below you can find the plans of several European countries.
|
The Arklow Sandbank
|
10 km offshore of Arklow, Ireland |
200 turbines, 520 MW |
Planned on one of Ireland's most windy sand banks, this location should eventually feature 200 turbines. These will generate enough electricity to displace 10 percent of Ireland's electricity generation. At the moment, seven 3.6 MW turbines have been installed. Total cost is estimated at 640 million euros. |
|
|
90 km west of Sylt |
980 turbines, |
Germany has numerous plans to install offshore wind energy, but this plan is the flagship. The park will consist of a thousand wind turbines. The pilot project of 400 MW should be completed in 2007. More information about German offshore plans can be found here. |
|
Barsebank |
Sweden |
750 MW |
Sweden is also in the list of countries with big plans for offshore wind. We do not have detailed information at the moment.
|
|
Cape Trafalgar |
Gibraltar, Spain |
1000 MW |
Spain has plans for offshore wind farms at the location where the 'Battle of Trafalgar’ was once fought. 1,000 MW is planned to be installed by the end of 2008. |
|
|
Belgium, 30 km northwest of Zeebrugge |
60 turbines, 216-300 MW |
This offshore wind farm should generate enough electricity to power 250,000 Belgian households. Total cost equals approximately 500 million euros. |
|
WP Q7
|
Netherlands, 23 km west of IJmuiden |
60 turbines 120 MW |
While Germany works with 400 MW pilot projects, the Netherlands works on smaller-scale projects of 120 MW. This park should generate electricity for 140,000 households. E-Connection, Mammoet Van Oord, Vestas Nederland Windtechnologie, Smulders Groep and Fabricum Oil & Gas work together to realize the park's construction. Vestas supplies the same turbine model that it installed for the Horns Rev wind farms in Denmark. |
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