• Question: how many homes can a medium size wind turbine power

    Asked by dan33 to Cathy on 16 Jun 2014.
    • Photo: Cathy Fraser

      Cathy Fraser answered on 16 Jun 2014:


      That depends on the size of the wind turbine! Medium wind turbines are around 50kW – but can be much bigger!

      The ‘typical’ household (according to Ofgem) uses 3,300kWh of electricity – and on average (very on average!) a 5kW wind turbine would power a typical home – so by my maths that’s 10 homes for a medium wind turbine. But that does assume the wind is always blowing, and the turbine is always producing 50kW which isn’t likely for the whole year!

      Wind turbines are a good renewable source of energy – and we need to be looking for different types other than fossil fuels. However, when the wind doesn’t blow – there’s no power, so we need to think about a good mix of fuels and renewables to make sure we can manage electricity demands in the future!

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