10 Surprising Facts About Wind Power

Wind turbines are soaring to record sizes. The average rotor diameter of turbines installed in 2023 grew to 438 feet, up 178% since 1998-1999.

Photo from Werner Slocum, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Brush up on your knowledge of wind! This article is part of the Energy.gov series highlighting the “Top Things You Didn’t Know About Energy” series.

10. Human civilizations have harnessed wind power for thousands of years. Early forms of windmills used wind to crush grain or pump water. Now, modern wind turbines use the wind to create electricity. Learn how a wind turbine works.

9. Today’s wind turbines are much more complicated machines than the traditional prairie windmill. A wind turbine has as many as 8,000 different components.

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