How many offshore wind turbines are needed to power the world’s major cities?

THE WORLD’S MAJOR CITIES?

Researchers estimate that wind farms have the potential to produce up to 40 times the electricity the world consumes, but still they provide just 4% of the world’s electricity. However improved infrastructure and higher voltage cables have drastically reduced the price for wind power, and it is predicted that by 2040, a third of global power will come from wind and solar.

Use the sort by functions and take a look below to see how many offshore wind turbines are needed to power your city:

% of city area km2 of wind turbines cities by A-Z

km2 of offshore wind turbines required to power city

Seoul

South Korea

10km

% of city area 620

offshore turbines needed 3,644

km2 of offshore turbines 3,752.9

Tokyo

Japan

10km

% of city area 485

offshore turbines needed 10,310

km2 of offshore turbines 10,620.5

New York City

United States

10km

% of city area 481

offshore turbines needed 3,687

km2 of offshore turbines 3,797.8

Osaka

Japan

10km

% of city area 336

offshore turbines needed 727

km2 of offshore turbines 748.2

San Francisco

United States

10km

% of city area 308

offshore turbines needed 363

km2 of offshore turbines 373.2

Barcelona

Spain

10km

% of city area 301

offshore turbines needed 307.3

km2 of offshore turbines 299

Singapore

Singapore

10km

% of city area 247

offshore turbines needed 1,725

km2 of offshore turbines 1,776.3

Toronto

Canada

10km

% of city area 241

offshore turbines needed 1,477

km2 of offshore turbines 1,521.0

Chicago

United States

10km

% of city area 207

offshore turbines needed 1,216

km2 of offshore turbines 1,251.6

St. Petersburg

Russia

10km

% of city area 157

offshore turbines needed 1,066

km2 of offshore turbines 1,097.5

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (China)

10km

% of city area 145

offshore turbines needed 1,558

km2 of offshore turbines 1,604.1

Los Angeles

United States

10km

% of city area 144

offshore turbines needed 1,818

km2 of offshore turbines 1,872.1

Milan

Italy

10km

% of city area 134

offshore turbines needed 238

km2 of offshore turbines 244.3

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

10km

% of city area 121

offshore turbines needed 286

km2 of offshore turbines 293.7

Istanbul

Turkey

10km

% of city area 112

offshore turbines needed 1,464

km2 of offshore turbines 1,507.3

Sydney

Australia

10km

% of city area 106

offshore turbines needed 1,742

km2 of offshore turbines 1,793.7

London

United Kingdom

10km

% of city area 103

offshore turbines needed 1,569

km2 of offshore turbines 1,615.4

Bangkok

Thailand

10km

% of city area 83

offshore turbines needed 1,303

km2 of offshore turbines 1,341.2

Sao Paulo

Brazil

10km

% of city area 73

offshore turbines needed 1,081

km2 of offshore turbines 1,112.6

Melbourne

Australia

10km

% of city area 63

offshore turbines needed 1,561

km2 of offshore turbines 1,607.2

Houston

United States

10km

% of city area 60

offshore turbines needed 947

km2 of offshore turbines 974.6

Mumbai

India

10km

% of city area 59

offshore turbines needed 346

km2 of offshore turbines 355.9

Shanghai

China

10km

% of city area 54

offshore turbines needed 3,304

km2 of offshore turbines 3,402.4

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

10km

% of city area 47

offshore turbines needed 579

km2 of offshore turbines 596.0

Rome

Italy

10km

% of city area 40

offshore turbines needed 501

km2 of offshore turbines 514.8

Methodology
Energy consumption of each city was calculated using the population of the city and per capita consumption of the country where that city is located, taken from the International Energy Agency. The number of turbines needed was computed as the city's annual energy consumption divided by the amount of power an example turbine can generate in a year. A Siemens high-capacity 8MW turbine SG 8.0-167 DD was used as an example turbine and an assumed offshore wind turbine efficiency of 41% was taken from European Wind Energy Association. Turbine spacing was calculated on the basis of having at least 7 rotor diameters of space between each turbine, as per the UK government recommendation.