The purpose of this page is to do an approximate comparison of the efficiency of land use of both technologies. For this purpose potential annual energy production is compared with land use that is dedicated to the technology:
The calculations below demonstrate that the a wind turbine with a compound of 0.5 acres in size generates about 3100kWh/m2, whereas a solar farm in Devon would generate about 47kWh/m2.
Energy per safe area is more comparable with solar farm yields, the only difference being that the Land outide the compound can be used for other agricultural purposes.
Some basic statistics:
| Statistic | Minimum | Maximum | Units | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation diameter | 15 | 20 | Metres | Extracted from FOUNDATIONS FOR WIND TURBINES Octagonal shallow mat foundations design example. |
| Compound Area | 2000 | 4000 | Metres2 | Compound is an area around the tower for ????? |
| Turbine Rated power | 2.3 | MW | Based on Enercon E82 EP2 | |
| Tower Height | 78 | 85 | Metres | |
| Rotor Diameter | 82 | 82 | Metres | |
| Safe Area Radius | 130.9 | 138.6 | Metres | Diameter of circle centred on turbine tower, which should not contain occupied buildings, roads, etc. This is the height from ground to top of the rotor swept area plus 10% |
| Safe Area | Metres 2 | See above | ||
| Assumed average wind speed | 7 | Metres/sec | ||
| Annual energy generation | 6200 | MWh | Interpolated from graph in turbine spec | |
| Energy/ compoundarea | kWh/m2 | |||
| Energy/Safe area | kWh/m2 | |||
Note that the compound occupies a much smaller area than the safe area, so the majority of the safe can be used for agricultural or other similar purposes.
Basic statistics
| Statistic | Value | Units | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy yield - Devon | 950 | kWh/kWp | Typical annual yield for 1kWp of PV panels | |
| kW for 25 acre solar farm | 5000 | kW | https://solarfast.co.uk/blog/solar-farms/ | |
| 25 acre solar farm | 25 | acre | ||
| kW per acre | 200 | kW/acre | ||
| kWhttps://sites.stringerhj.co.uk/ACT/public_html/localplan_2020_2040/planning_inspection_2024.htmlh/acre/year | kWh/acre/year | |||
| acres to m2 | 4046.98 | acre/m2 | ||
| Energy/area | kWh/m2 |
This seems a bit low so here is a cross check with my own system, whose figures I have more accurately.
| Statistic | Value | Units |
|---|---|---|
| My annual production | 4000 | kWh |
| Area of panels | 24 | m2 |
| kWh/m2 | kWh/m2 |