On shore wind farms, as the name suggests are a group of wind turbines built close to each other on land. The benefit of a wind farm is that lots of power can be generated because of the accumulated rotation of the wind turbines. However on shore wind farms may have some restrictions such as noise of the turbines, obstructions such as buildings and mountains and land use disputes. Hence today there is a growing importance of off shore farms which are built on ocean beds.
However the on shore farms have advantages such as relatively cheaper costs of laying the foundation than off shore farms. The integration with the grid network to produce electricity is also easy to set up and much cheaper. You can easily access the farm during the construction and the maintenance phase.
And there are small and mini wind turbines that satisfy the requirements of individual households. You can afford to build small on shore wind farms on land, however it is always better to build big farms in case of off shore wind farms so that maximum wind power can be harnessed from the winds blowing over the ocean.
Today onshore wind farms are responsible for providing 10% of the electricity used in countries such as Spain, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. A wind farm is normally built in an open space away from the buildings and other obstacles. The individual turbines are interconnected with each other by a power collection system and a communications network. There is a substation the medium voltage current generated by the wind farm is then increased to higher voltage electricity with a help of a transformer.
A large on shore wind farm may have a minimum of 12 wind turbines or hundreds of turbines. These turbines can cover an area of hundreds of square miles. However the land between the turbines is used optimally for agricultural, residential and other purposes. The onshore wind farms are able to produce electricity in case the wind speed is 10 mph or higher.
Normally the wind farm is set at a place where there is constant flow of non turbulent wind all over the year. The place should have less likelihood of sudden, turbulent winds. The other important factor of setting up the on shore wind farm is the local demand for electricity and the transmission capacity of the farm. The wind towers are quite high at about 200 feet as winds blow well in higher altitudes.
