Most people are familiar with the old axiom from the housing estate market and the importance of location. This is a principle that works for the wind power system which simply won’t function properly unless it is situated in the right spot. This is obvious to some extent as of course a wind turbine needs to be set up in a position where the wind can reach it. This however, doesn’t mean the wind turbine can be set up anywhere where the wind is currently blowing. A wind turbine can represent a significant financial investment and that is why you need to ensure that you are getting every bit of power out of the turbine and be capable of delivering by first finding the perfect location to install it.

Wind turbines that are sitting where they are now is a result of precise calculation. Other types of science can end up quite complicated but you don’t always need a ph.D. to work it all out. Thought and effort needs to go into the journey and if you are expecting to find the perfect site which will allow you to mount your wind turbine so it can harvest the immense energy properly.

Inheriting the wind

With wind being a source of energy and the fact that it is everywhere will come with a degree of cost efficiency. However, capturing the energy that the wind provides will be only possible if your wind towers and turbines are put in the right location that is clear from things that may interfere with the natural flow of the air. To reach the wind where it blows freely the rotor of the wind turbine needs to be elevated 30 feet above the tallest obstacle and within 500 feet of its mounting tower. Tree growth is a factor that will need to be taken into consideration so if you happen to have trees on the property then you will first need to estimate how big they are going to grow over a 30-year period which is the predicted life expectancy of the wind turbines.

You will need to locate the wind turbine close to the power collection that will be used as you can. When you minimize the wire that will need to run from the tower over to the wind system it will help to reduce the amount of power that gets wasted through the loss of the lines which happens to be an inevitable feature of the wind set up, no matter how well designed and efficient it happens to be.

You will need to check with your local laws and zones as this could be a complication for the plans to go ahead. There can be regulations that you need to see to like not installing wind turbines within a certain distance to your neighbor’s homes do your research and check all the rules first before going ahead with the installation of your system.

The best place for the wind farm is either at the top of rounded hills, coastal areas, gaps in mountains and open plains. The idea is to have the locating of a wind power system where the wind is always strong and reliable.

As the towers are all by getting the propellers as high up as possible means the wind will be stringer the higher you go and then the and below can be used for farming so it isn’t wasted.

How to find the perfect location for a wind farm

Use of Land

The land use impact of wind power facilities varies substantially based on the site: wind turbines placed in horizontal regions typically use more land than those situated in hilly places. However, wind turbines don’t occupy all this land; they must be spaced approximately 5 to 10 rotor diameters apart (a rotor diameter is the width of the wind turbine blades). Therefore, the turbines themselves and the surrounding infrastructure (like roads and transmission lines) occupy a small portion of the entire area of a wind facility. It is also best to clear the land, both underground and above the ground. Trees, for example, may grow its roots into the surrounding infrastructure and cause problems such as tree roots in drains.

A poll from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of big wind facilities in the United States found that they use between 30 and 141 acres per megawatt of power output capacity (a normal new utility-scale wind turbines is about 2 megawatts). But less than one acre per megawatt is disturbed permanently and significantly less than 3.5 acres per megawatt are disturbed temporarily during construction. The rest of the land can be used for a variety of other productive purposes, such as livestock grazing, agriculture, highways, and trekking trails. Alternatively, wind facilities could be sited on brownfields (abandoned or underused industrial property) or other commercial and industrial places, which considerably reduces concerns about land usage. Although not generally discussed, the soil quality of these sites may impact the efficiency of the site; not so much on its energy generation but more so on the maintenance work associated with it. One such instance is during an underground sewer blockage or if there is a need to dig into the land to uncover underground cable systems.

Offshore wind facilities require larger quantities of distance since the blades and turbines are larger than their land-based counterparts. Depending on their place, such overseas installations may compete with a variety of other sea activities, such as fishing, recreational activities, sand and gravel extraction, gas and oil extraction, navigation, and aquaculture. Employing best practices in planning and siting can help minimize potential land use impacts of offshore and land-based wind projects.