How much land do wind turbines take up?
There are two ways to look at how much land a wind farm will take up: 1. 1. Area of direct impact through clearing/construction on land 2. 2. The total area of the wind farm (includes undisturbed land between turbines) The amount of land taken up by a wind farm development varies greatly from one project to another, so it is difficult to estimate how much land is required for an individual project. The municipality and the landowner play a huge role in determining how much land is required, and can have a large amount of influence on the final size of the wind farm. Directly impacted area Building wind turbines means building access roads, staging areas, footings, cable trenches, and sub stations. A 2009 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US estimates that the average total amount of land that the construction of a wind turbine disturbs is about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) per MW of wind farm power. About 70% of the land used is temporary and can be reclaimed onc
