A wind farm is a group of wind turbines which are interconnected and grouped together in the same location and are used to generate electric power. A wind farm may consist of hundreds of individual wind turbines and can cover an area of around few hundred square kilometers. The land that the turbines are situated on is not wasted space as between the turbines agricultural crops are planted. The most suited location for a wind farm is off-shore due to the strong winds which blow over the surface of the ocean. Wind farms are also well suited to high altitudes as the winds blows much faster which doubles the altitude of the wind turbine and increases the expected power by around 35%. There is very little environmental impact in comparison to fossil fuel power sources accept for birds and bats which occasionally fly into the blades as the numbers are negligible when compared to the number that die due to other human interventions and grazing stock such as cattle and sheep are not affected by the turbines.
Conservationists and environmentalists main concern is about species of birds and bats that are on the critical endangered list such as the Condor and various bat species although not enough research has been done to identify the impact wind farms are having on the current populations. However a wind farm is cost effective as the energy consumed to manufacturer as well as deliver of the materials used to build a wind farm is equivalent to the new energy produced by the wind farm within a few months of operation. It is imperative that wind farms have access to transmission lines in order to transport the energy. Then there are wind farms that are built onshore within mountainous or hilly regions and are usually around thirty kilometers or more from the nearest shoreline. It is imperative that these wind farms be erected in specific positions in order for them to give a strong output of energy. The ideal place for a wind farm is on the shoreline or ten kilometres off the shoreline due to the wind being produced by convection as there are wind speeds from the offshore and onshore. The very first deep water floating wind farm has been built off the coast of Norway and is still under testing.


