How much electrical power can a modern windmill generate?
If you’re talking about the bigger ones in the wind farms, I think the most common size is about 1500 kW. I believe that the larger ones are rated about 2200 to 2500 kW. If you’re talking about the ones an individual homeowner might have, I believe that they’re typically in the 5 kW to 25 kW size range. How many kWh they actually generate depends on how long and strong he wind blows. I think a rule of thumb is about 15% to 30% load factor is fairly common. Load factor is the ratio of the kWh actually generated by the maximum kWh that could have been generated. For example, if a generator did generate 300,000 kWh over a month but it could have generated 1,000,000 kWh (if the wind had been available, or maintenance wasn’t performed,…) then 300,000 divided by 1,000,000 is a 30% load factor.
