Wind Farm Scale Models

Scale Models - Offshore Wind Farms

As wind turbines become larger to take advantage of better economies of scale and increased wind speeds at higher altitudes, their impact in the locales where they are sited becomes more dramatic.

One place this is especially contentious is the offshore environment of the Northeast – a major market of the future if you ask the major turbine manufacturers like GE and Vestas. This lesson explores scale models and issues surrounding models and their accuracy when developing a large wind farm.

We have recently become aware that you CANNOT purchase Wathers H/O scale wind turbine models - they have been discontinued!

We recommend either making some cardboard models of scale turbines or using a MINI Turbine.

 Scale Models (PDF) - 0.5 MB

Helpful Links/Materials for this Lesson

Wind Maps

AWS Truepower - AWS Truepower is a company that creates wind maps. Some of the maps they create are clickable so you can get wind data right over your school or house!

Wind Powering America : Department of Energy - Windpowering America is a program by the Department of Energy to promote wind. A very informative site that includes some wind maps.

Wind Turbulence & Shear

WindPower.org : Shear | Turbulence - The guided tour at Windpower.org is a Danish website with piles of wind energy information. It can get quite technical but is definitely thorough. They also have a kid section called Wind with Miller that is excellent.

Rainbow Power Company - This is a neat site that has a very easy to read section on why wind speed and shear are big issues when siting wind turbines. They also have some very nice pictures.