U.S. Department of Energy Releases U.S. Wind Turbine Database and Viewer

April 19, 2018

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the U.S. Wind Turbine Database and Viewer—a comprehensive dataset of U.S. wind turbine locations and characteristics that is easily accessible, more accurate, and updated more often than existing wind turbine datasets. The database contains more than 57,000 turbines, constructed from the 1980s through 2018, and includes characteristics such as the turbines' make and model, height, rotor diameter, year of installation, and rated capacity.

This dataset and its associated viewer allow federal agencies to share data to properly develop and plan around wind projects. For example, the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been using the database to perform crucial operational impact assessments of wind turbines on radar. This effort dovetails with DOE's interagency work to address the potential impacts of operating wind turbines on defense and civilian radar systems through the Wind Turbine Radar Interference Mitigation Working Group.

This project was funded by DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office and developed in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the American Wind Energy Association.