My "pre-ordered" from over a year ago, Windmill arrived. Priced @ $64.00. so how many of these would it take in your opinion to constitute a realistic looking wind farm? Certainly more that one I would imagine. Your opinions are appreciated. Call this a survey if you like. THANKS!
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My company designs and builds many "windfarms" as a contractor and typically the smallest is three wind turbines.
Lee is certainly more an expert on this than I, but typically I see pictures of them along a ridge line or in a larger grouping.
Seems like about a dozen is closer to the norm.
But that would certainly eat my budget, hope yours is healthier 
Russel, budget is a funny thing. I started out with a MTH Proto-2 freight set. $300 complete. Now, though it is modest by most accounts here, my additions to the set amount to just over $8,000. That is more than I would have ever thought of spending before I got started with this addicting hobby and it is probably just a fraction of what I will spend If I am permitted to live another 15 - 20 years.
We have wind farms all around us here in Michigan. I have traveled through Missouri and Oklahoma and seen them. I lived in Texas for ten years and they had them. I have seen them in groups of four and up. In my immediate area they are grouped as per what land they could get. So I guess my question is how big of an area are you thinking on your layout for the farm?
You can and do see individual turbines installed but I agree with Lee that a "farm" usually is three or more. You will see larger "farms" as you move out of the north east mainly because the land parcels are larger and its easier to deal with smaller numbers of property owners than having to negotiate with a bunch. The "farm" involves more ground infrastructure to get the power generated back into the grid so there are more right of way and access issues for the "system".
As mentioned, there are many areas that you do see only one.
But having one or more operating and then one being installed by a crane would make a great scene...
This is a great scene. Good inspiration....
Posted by Keith -
In the mountains east of Oakland CA there are hundreds of windmills... some small ... some large.
In Atlantic City, NJ there is a five windmill farm.
And in Bayonne, NJ there is a single windmill.
So I agree with the rest that one to a thousand would be acceptable and prototypical.
Here in California, windfarms supply somewhere around 5% (equivalent of around 400,000 households) of the state's total electricity needs. We have quite a few of them; I think we're just behind Texas in having the largest number of wind farms in the nation although we're highest in terms of capacity.
3 of the largest windfarms in California have thousands of those wind turbines. One of them, called San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm (no, I'm not making that up!) has over 3,000 wind turbines. The UP's Sunset Route (formerly one of SP's routes) goes through that farm.
Recent R&D from Belgium says the most efficient spacing is 15 rotor diameters apart, but closer spacings are being used currently. If you google Scotland wind power, you can see a lot of photos of installed wind power generation farms.
Windpark developers try to get as much economy of scale as they can by building big parks with lots of turbines - its spreads the cost of the substation they have to build to transfer to power into the grid over more turbines. But I've seen many privately owned single-turbine sites and some three-and four-unit commercial operations that are viable, too. Three is a reasonable representation for a model train layout, I'd think.
Spacing is tricky and frankly few layouts have room. I have some of the turbines. Lionel turbines are about two feet in diameter and with even a foot of spacing between them a three-unit park on a ridge takes eight feet. I don't think you can realistically model the real spacing: the diagram below - from a book I published about ten years ago titled Distributed Power Generation - is a guideline on the minimum realistic spacing depending on wind turbine blade design and if and how the terrain interferes or channels wind currents - sometimes ridges or valleys place with uplifts and currents and you have to increase or stagger spacing. I'd forget about realistic spacing and go with what looks good - to me about 1/2 blade diameter between turbines looks nice and results, as said earlier, in a three turbines alongside one another being eight feet from end to end.
I live in western Pa and we have a lot of them in my county. Really,they will put them up on hill top ridges wherever the government subsidy pays them without regard for actual power needs or economic principals. In more affluent counties,they are not allowed since it spoils views in areas where homes are expensive and their politicians have influence. They will clear off all the trees on the mountain ridges and make sure they are in the path of migrating birds and bats foraging for food at night. Since I have lived here and windmills were installed, the bat population has severely declined and many birds have been killed. Corpses of birds lay underneath daily,including occasionally some endangered bald eagles. In some rare instances the windmills are shut off at night to protect the bats. Since I have lived here the insect population has dramatically increased and some days we stay indoors. My neighbor works in his yard with an insect net over his head. The DEP has been around counting the little bugs and has contemplating spraying insecticides to kill the little bugs the bats used to eat. Not sure if they found one that is environmentally safe though so I think that plan is on hold.
But dont worry if you like windmills ,as long as Washington can print money and distribute it to special interests,they will continue to put these quarter mile high structures up,regardless of consequences or economic need, and soon all the ridges will be covered with them in view from all directions. We can leave this legacy for our grand children to enjoy.
Dale H
If you want to make a dent onto the Grid you will need a lot of them. The Nuclear station I primarily worked outputted 2,492 MWs (that 3,341,827 HP). The last time I researched land based Wind Turbines were good for about 2.5 MW ea with off store at 3.5 MWs. Maybe Lee can provide updated info here. Anyway it would take 1000 Wind Turbines to replace this one station. We had three of these plus two large fossil fueled stations of equal size. So that would be 5000 Wind Turbines which would have a cost of per KW generation of 4 to 5 times, at least before our tax dollar subsidies.
As I understand it, the German-made Enercon E-126 is currently the highest rated land-based wind turbine @ 7.5 MW capacity. I don't think the US has any of them though. I think 2.5 MW is still the current average turbine rating in the US now.
I have heard that projects are underway to develop offshore wind farms in the US as England, China, Sweden, and a few other countries have already done in known windy areas off the East and West coast in addition to the Great Lakes region From what I read, that's still years away, but maybe some aspiring O gauge modeller could beat them to it by simulating offshore wind farms on their layout. As was alluded to earlier, it would take lots of real estate to simulate a high-density wind farm, although one could put a few of the Lionel structures on their layout against a backdrop of a windfarm to get a convincing effect.
Here's the Lillgrund offshore wind farm in Sweden. These use Siemens SWT-2.3-93 turbines rated @ 2.3 MW each.
I only have TWO on my Layout. Guess I don't meet the Standard of 3 Minimum. LOL
FREDSTRAINS
I can see how 3 or more would give the impression of a wind farm. I would go with as many as you can fit without crowding them.
One member of the Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers has a two-section wind farm module (note that the posts were replaced to make them taller and more realistic):
They are very impressive when the are all running at the same time.
Andy
Andy those do look more prototypical.
A 1/48 scale wind turbine won't even fit in your basement, height wise.
One member of the Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers has a two-section wind farm module (note that the posts were replaced to make them taller and more realistic):
Hmmm, steam-era trains running past a modern-era wind farm, a bit anachronistic, isn't it? 
Well, it is the PM 1225, which is still around, so it can pretty much run past anything and with anything. Let's just call this a freight photo charter. 
Andy
I would do three of four in a grouping.
hey wood, you still have the pair of them turbines? i sent you an email!
I have seen ONE turbine standing alone, and a friend knows of a new car dealer with
one, only, on his lot. SE Colorado, and SW Kansas seem to have thousands of them
lining ridges. I will have to go with a water powered generator, since I am not modeling the Netherlands in my era.
I designed and Terry built this 8' wind farm module for the Lehigh Valley HiRailers. It debuted at the ATMA 2011 Spring Thaw train meet in Allentown. I joke that between it and my nuclear reactor module, we can power the whole layout.
Chris
LVHR
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