How much electricity does one wind turbine produce?
It depends on the size of the turbine! It is possible to calculate the number of homes that can be powered by a turbine or wind farm by multiplying the rated MW capacity of the turbine or farm by 696. (The details of the calculation are below)
The offshore wind farms now being built are using turbines of 2MW on average. One of these could provide enough electricity to meet the annual need of around 1400 homes. The latest offshore proposals are for even larger turbines - of up to 3.6MW.
An offshore wind farm of 660 turbines of 3.6MW in size could replace the UK's biggest nuclear power station at Sizewell. Existing proposals for wind farms such as the Airtricity farm in the Irish Sea, or Amec's plans for onshore wind in Lewis can, on their own, replace one or more smaller Magnox reactors.
Calculation:
In order to convert the rated capacity of a turbine (given in MW) into power, as in usable KWh/year the following calculation needs to be made:
Rating of turbine (eg 2MW) x 24 (hrs in the day) x 365 (days in year) x 0.35 (the capacity factor*) x 1000 (to get into KWh, rather than MWh). This gives the kw/h produced per year per turbine. To find out how many households each turbine can service, divide this total by 4400 (the average kwh used per household per year).
(* 0.35, or 35% is the average capacity of the turbine, as it does not produce at 100% capacity all the time due to weather conditions etc. Some calculations given by developers will use slightly higher or lower capacity factors, depending on whether the turbines are onshore or offshore, and wind speeds in that area).
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