1.Jiuquan Wind Power Base, China

Jiuquan Wind Power Base is the world’s biggest wind farm, with a planned installed capacity of 20GW. Also known as Gansu Wind Farm, it will feature 7,000 wind turbines installed across the Jiuquan, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Xinjiang, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces of Gansu, China.

The project is being implemented as part of Renewable Energy Law announced in February 2005, setting out to achieve 200GW of installed wind capacity in the country. In November 2010, the 5.16GW, 3,500-turbine first phase of the wind farm was completed.

A 750kV high-voltage direct current transmission line is also being developed by the State Grid Corporation of China to transmit the electricity generated from the wind and solar projects in the region to the booming central and eastern parts of China.

2. Jaisalmer Wind Park, India

The 1,600MW Jaisalmer wind park is India’s biggest wind farm. Developed by Suzlon Energy, the project features a group of wind farms located in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, India.

Suzlon constructed the wind farms for a range of customers, including private and public sector companies, independent power producers and power utility providers. Some of the clients include Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals and CLP India.

The wind farms are installed with various models of wind turbines manufactured by Suzlon, including S97-120m, S97- 2.1MW and S111-90m.

3. Alta Wind Energy Centre, US

Alta Wind Energy Centre (AWEC) in Tehachapi, Kern County, California, has an operational capacity of 1,548MW. The first five stages of AWEC were commissioned in 2011.

Two additional stages were installed in the next year. The first stage consists of 100 GE 1.5MW SLE turbines. The other six operational stages are installed with Vestas V 90-3.0MW turbines. The seventh, eighth and ninth stages operate with the same Vestas turbines. The last two stages have been installed with GE 1.7MW and GE 2.85MW turbines.

The onshore wind farm was originally developed by Terra-Gen Power, but the company later redistributed various stages of the project to different companies. NRG Renew owns and operates 948MW of the wind farm, BHE Renewables owns and operates 300MW and EverPower owns and operates 150MW. The remaining 150MW is owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners.

4. Muppandal Wind Farm, India

The 1,500MW Muppandal wind farm is the biggest onshore wind farm in India. It consists of a group of wind farms in the Kanyakumari district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The area in and around Muppandal features vast amount of barren land, which is not fit for cultivation but boasts of high pressure winds making it an ideal location for the development of wind farms. Muppandal receives strong winds for nine months a year from the west, due to the presence of the Western Ghats mountain range.

The wind farms within the project have varying installed capacities and feature turbines from various manufacturers, including Vestas, NEPC India, AMTL, TTG and Suzlon.

5. Shepherds Flat Wind Farm, US

The 845MW Shepherds Flat Wind Farm  near Arlington in Eastern Oregon, US, is the fifth biggest wind farm in the world.Developed by Caithness Energy, the wind farm covers more than 30 square miles in the Morrow and Gilliam Counties.

The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm project broke ground in 2009 with an estimated cost of $2bn. The project received a loan guarantee of $1.3bn from the US Department of Energy in October 2010. The wind farm commenced operations in September 2012.

Shepherds Flat comprises 338 GE2.5XL turbines, which have a rated capacity of 2.5MW each. The power output of the wind farm is supplied to Southern California Edison. The renewable power generated by the wind farm is enough to serve 235,000 households.

According to power-technology.com