Why wind turbines are getting bigger
The world's largest wind turbine was completed in November 2021 by Siemes Gamesa in Østerild, Denmark. The gigantic prototype SG 14-222 DD has a rotor diameter of 222m and has an output of 14 MW. It is scheduled to be tested and then mass produced by 2024. But the race for the world record continues: currently, the Danish-based company Vestas is working on a giant wind turbine that would break the current world record, with a height of 280m, a rotor length of 115.5m and an output of 15 MW. The new record holder is expected to be installed in Denmark in 2022.
The fact that wind turbines are indeed being built larger and larger is due to physics: doubling the rotor length produces not twice the yield, but four times the yield. A larger wind turbine thus requires less space than many smaller wind turbines with the same output. Larger wind turbines are more efficient and result in the electricity produced becoming cheaper. At the same time, twice the wind speed means (in purely physical terms) eight times the yield, which makes offshore wind farms particularly profitable since wind speeds at sea are usually greater than on land.
Sources:
Article by Lars Schwichtenberg (11/17/2021):
accessed 12/16/2021 at 7:55 am.
Article by Thomas Rinneberg, “Why wind turbines are getting bigger” (12/12/2021):
https://energiewende.eu/warum-werden-windraeder-immer-groesser/
accessed 12/16/2021 at 7:40 am.