What is "wind farm"

n. A collection of wind turbines, especially a large-scale array, used to generate electricity

n. a power plant that uses wind turbines to generate electricity [syn: wind park, wind energy facility]

A wind farm or wind park is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other purposes. A wind farm can also be located offshore.

Many of the largest operational onshore wind farms are located in Germany, China and the United States. For example, the largest wind farm in the world, Gansu Wind Farm in China has a capacity of over 6,000 MW of power in 2012 with a goal of 20,000 MW by 2020. The Alta Wind Energy Center in California, United States is the largest onshore wind farm outside of China, with a capacity of 1,020 MW. As of April 2013, the 630 MW London Array in the UK is the largest offshore wind farm in the world, followed by the 504 MW Greater Gabbard wind farm in the UK.

There are many large wind farms under construction and these include Sinus Holding Wind Farm (700 MW), Lincs Wind Farm (270 MW), Lower Snake River Wind Project (343 MW), Macarthur Wind Farm (420 MW).