South Africa’s biggest wind farms vs the world

South Africa’s five largest wind farms have a combined capacity of 550 MW, just over a third of the size of the world’s largest wind plant.

The country is slowly advancing its renewables sector, with a total solar capacity of over 4,400MW and wind at roughly 3,300MW. There are 34 wind farms located nationwide.

South Africa produces the majority of its energy using coal-fired power stations, contributing 78.5% to the country’s energy mix.

Renewables account for roughly 8.8% of the country’s energy consumption, higher than the global average for 2023, which was 7.8%.

The Roggeveld, Karusa, and Soetwater wind farms, all located in the Northern Cape, are the largest wind farms in South Africa with capacities of 147MW.

Together, they produce 1,696 GWh of energy annually, enough to power 190,000 homes over that period.

This is, however, relatively small compared to the world’s largest wind farms.

The Gansu Wind Farm, located in the Gobi Desert, China, is the largest wind farm by installed capacity.

It has over 7,000 turbines, which currently puts its installed capacity at 7,965 MW. However, around 60% of the wind farm’s capacity remains unused due to a lack of demand.

When approved by the Chinese government in 2008, the project was supposed to have a total capacity of 10 GW when completed, but this was upgraded to 20 GW along the way.

The world’s largest fully operational wind farm is the Jaisalmer Wind Park in Rajasthan, India.

Jaisalmer comprises multiple wind farms built by Suzlon Energy for multiple clients. The combined capacity is 1,600 MW.

It consists of 489 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2 MW, spread around the park and connected to a central substation.

These turbines can reach 100 meters in height and have a rotor diameter of 115 meters.

The Mojave Wind Farm in California, USA, with a capacity of 1,547 MW, is the third largest wind farm on Earth and the country’s largest onshore wind energy project.

Construction on Mojave began in July 2010 and was completed in 2013, utilising 600 wind turbines spread across 13 square kilometres.

The Muppandal Wind Farm, in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India, is the world’s fourth largest wind farm, with a capacity of 1,500 MW.

Located in a desolate area, it is ideal for a wind farm as it receives high-pressure winds from the Western Ghats mountain range for nine months of the year.

It was first commissioned in 1986, so many of the 3,000 turbines are running long past their ideal life cycle.

The Hornsea 2 is the fifth largest wind farm in the world, located 89 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast. It is also the biggest offshore wind farm on Earth.

It covers 462 square kilometres and comprises 165 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW, generating 1,320 MW of energy.

Each turbine is 204 meters tall and has blades that are 89 meters long, one of which can power a house for a day with one rotation.

However, these are not the largest turbines currently in operation. The Haliade-X turbines from General Electric are 13 MW each and can power a home for two days with one rotation.

Haliade-X turbines are being used in the construction of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which will become the world’s largest fully operational wind plant once completed, with a capacity of 3.6 GW.

The Hornsea 2 project took four years to complete, with onshore construction starting in 2018 and offshore construction beginning in 2020. It eventually reached operation in the second quarter of 2022.

Wind farm	Location	Capacity (MW)
World
Gansu Wind Farm	China	7,965
Jaisalmer Wind Park	India	1,600
Mojave Wind Farm	USA	1,547
Muppandal Wind Farm	India	1,500
Hornsea 2	UK/North Sea	1,320
South Africa
Roggeveld Wind Farm	Northern Cape	147
Karusa Wind Farm	Northern Cape	147
Soetwater Wind Farm	Northern Cape	147
Oyster Bay Wind Farm	Eastern Cape	140
Longyuan Mulilo Green Energy De Aar 2 North Wind Energy Facility	Northern Cape	140

Muppandal Wind Farm

Hornsea 2 offshore wind farm

Mojave Wind Farm