Wind turbines keep getting bigger every year. There's one main reason for that: the longer the blades, the more powerful the turbine. But couldn't you just install two smaller turbines instead of one large one? To answer this, let's take a look at real-world data.
Goldwind is a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. Here are photos of their operating turbines from the company website:
Goldwind is a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer. Here are photos of their operating turbines from the company website:
Goldwind GW 82 / 1500 - output: 1500 kW (1.5 MW). Rotor length: 82.3 meters, meaning a blade diameter of roughly 41.15 meters.
Goldwind GW 171 / 6000 - output: 6000 kW (6.0 MW). Rotor length: 171 meters, giving a blade diameter of about 85.5 meters.
Even here you can already see that the relationship between blade length and output is nonlinear. The second turbine's blade is 2.07x longer, but the power is 4x higher!
Vestas is a wind turbine manufacturer from Denmark (their turbines are shown in the next photo):
Goldwind GW 171 / 6000 - output: 6000 kW (6.0 MW). Rotor length: 171 meters, giving a blade diameter of about 85.5 meters.
Even here you can already see that the relationship between blade length and output is nonlinear. The second turbine's blade is 2.07x longer, but the power is 4x higher!
Vestas is a wind turbine manufacturer from Denmark (their turbines are shown in the next photo):















