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Higher wind speeds mean more electricity, and wind turbines are getting taller to
World’s Largest Wind Turbine Would Be Taller Than the Empire State Building
Massive, flexible blades would bend with storm winds like the palm trees that inspired them
Wolfgang Kaehler Getty Images
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Concept of SUMR project. Credit:Chao Qin
Annie Sneed is a science journalist who has written for the New York Times, Wired, Public Radio International and Fast Company.
Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at ). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.
Wind energy is soaring in the U.S.; the nation''s renewable energy capacity has more than tripled in the past nine years, and wind and solar power are largely responsible. Now businesses want to harness even more wind energy, at a cheaper price—and one of the best ways to lower cost is to build bigger turbines. That''s why an alliance of six institutions led by researchers at the University of Virginia are designing the world''s largest wind turbine at 500 meters tall—almost a third of a mile high, and about 57 meters taller than the Empire State Building.
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Wind turbines are soaring to record sizes. The average rotor diameter of turbines installed in 2023 grew to 438 feet, up 178% since 1998–1999.
Brush up on your knowledge of wind! This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the "Top Things You Didn''t Know About Energy" series.
10. Human civilizations have harnessed wind power for thousands of years. Early forms of windmills used wind to crush grain or pump water. Now, modern wind turbines use the wind to create electricity. Learn how a wind turbine works.
9. Today''s wind turbines are much more complicated machines than the traditional prairie windmill. A wind turbine has as many as 8,000 different components.
8. Wind turbines are big. Wind turbine blades average 210 feet long, and turbine towers average over 320 feet tall—taller than the Statue of Liberty. The average nameplate capacity of turbines is also increasing, meaning they have more powerful generators. The average capacity of utility-scale wind turbines installed in 2023 was 3.4 megawatts (MW), up 5% from the previous year.
7. Higher wind speeds mean more electricity, and wind turbines are getting taller to reach higher heights above ground level where it''s even windier. See the Energy Department''swind resource mapsto find average wind speeds in your state or hometown and learn more about opportunities for taller wind turbines in areport from the Energy Department''s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
6. Many of the components of wind turbines installed in the United States are manufactured here, with more than 450 wind-related manufacturing facilities across the country. The U.S. wind industry currently employs more than 125,000 full-time workers. These jobs include those in construction (>45,000) and manufacturing (>23,000). Read more at U.S. Energy and Employment Jobs.
5. Offshore wind represents a major opportunity to provide power to highly populated coastal cities. The first operational commercial-scale wind power plant in the United States, the 132-megawatt (MW) South Fork Wind Farm located off the coast of Rhode Island and delivering power to New York, was installed in March 2024. There are also small projects installed off the coasts of Rhode Island and Virginia, and dozens of larger projects in the works. See what the Energy Department is doing to develop offshore wind in the United States.
4. There is utility-scale wind power (from turbines over 100 kilowatts) installed in 43 states. Twenty-three states had more than 1 gigawatt (GW) or 1,000 MW of wind capacity at the end of 2023, with seven above 5 GW. There is distributed wind installed in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
2. Wind energy is affordable. Wind prices for power contracts signed in the last few years have ranged from 1.4–5.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, with an average of 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
1. Wind energy provides more than 20% of total electricity generation in 12 states, with more than 50% in Iowa and South Dakota, and more than 40% in Kansas and Oklahoma. Overall, wind energy supplied more than 10% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2023.
Liz Hartman is the Communications Lead for DOE''s Wind Energy Technologies Office, and formerly (2009–2016) the Communications Lead for EERE''s combined Wind and Water Power Technologies Office.
Liz is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in Natural Resources and an M.P.A. in Environmental Policy.
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Wind turbines are massive structures that have been in use for several decades, reaching high into the sky to take advantage of the consistent winds. Many people imagine small windmills behind someone''s house when they think of wind turbines. On the other hand, industrial wind turbines are massive technological marvels with blades that can easily span hundreds of feet. But how tall are wind turbines?
According to the American Wind Energy Association, the average hub height of utility-scale wind turbines installed in the United States increased from 190 feet to 288 feet between 200 and 2018. The size varies, but typical wind farm towers today stand around 229 feet tall, with blades that are about 164 feet long.
Larger turbines are more cost-effective because the wind blows stronger and more steadily at higher altitudes. Longer turbine blades also catch more wind, which leads to more power, and taller towers allow for longer blades.
The wind also faces fewer obstacles such as trees, hills, and buildings, which makes for a more consistent wind, resulting in more power generated by the turbines.
Air viscosity, density, and wind speed change drastically when altitude is increased. Winds that move at low altitudes create friction with the surface of the ground and significantly slow down the speed. Air density is also affected by the heat radiation from the ground.
Even though wind turbines stand tall as they are, they are still too close to the surface. To reach an altitude that is undisturbed, they would need to stand at least 656–984 feet in height.
Stability and cost are other factors. The layout of having taller turbines may be costly, but in the grand scheme of things, it ends up costing a lot less. The taller the turbines, the more energy that is generated, which means fewer turbines are needed to produce the required amount of power. Overall, they take up less space, are easier to maintain and install, and cost less to build.
Offshore turbines are notably taller with bigger blades because of the higher wind energy at sea. The wind faces fewer obstacles over the sea than it does on land, and the potential for generating power is higher because of the stronger winds.
Offshore turbines need to be stronger and more durable. They need to withstand the powerful waves and wind speeds while supporting bigger blades and a heavier gearbox.
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