Onshore Industrial Wind Turbine Locations for the United States through July 2013

The database has more than 47,000 wind turbine records that have been collected, digitized, locationally verified, and internally quality controlled. Turbines from the Federal Aviation Administration Digital Obstacle File, through product release date July 22, 2013, were used as the primary source of turbine data points. Verification of the turbine positions was done by visual interpretation using high-resolution aerial imagery in ESRI ArcGIS Desktop. Turbines without Federal Aviation Administration Obstacle Repository System numbers were visually identified and point locations were added to the collection. We estimated a locational error of plus or minus 10 meters for turbine locations. Wind farm facility names were identified from publically available facility data sets. Facility names were then used in a web search of additional industry publications and press releases to attribute additional turbine information (such as manufacturer, model, and technical specifications of wind turbines). Wind farm facility location data from various wind and energy industry sources were used to search for and digitize turbines not in existing databases. Technical specifications for turbines were assigned based on the wind turbine make and model as described in literature, specifications listed in the Federal Aviation Administration Digital Obstacle File, and information on the turbine manufacturer’s website. Some facility and turbine information on make and model did not exist or was difficult to obtain. Thus, uncertainty may exist for certain turbine specifications. That uncertainty was rated and a confidence was recorded for both location and attribution data quality.