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What are the disadvantages of wind energy?

Updated

General information, not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.

Short answer: The Department of Energy's own list of challenges is short: wind "must compete with other low-cost energy sources," "ideal wind sites are often in remote locations," turbines "produce noise and alter visual aesthetics," and "wind plants can impact local wildlife" (DOE, Advantages and Challenges of Wind Energy). This is a contested topic; below is what the primary record says on each point, without a verdict.

What DOE itself lists

  • Cost competition. Projects "may not be cost-competitive in locations without enough wind." The same page says land-based utility-scale turbines "can deliver low-cost energy" (DOE).
  • Transmission. Power must be moved from remote sites to cities; DOE says upgrading the transmission network could lower costs (DOE).
  • Noise and views. DOE acknowledges blade-noise and landscape concerns and compares them to concerns about conventional plants (DOE).
  • Wildlife. DOE says wind ranks lower than other energy developments for wildlife impacts but that more research, better technology, careful siting, and environmental studies are still needed (DOE).

Birds: the numbers each side cites

A USGS comparison of recent estimation methods concluded that "about a quarter- to a half-million birds are killed per year by colliding with wind turbines" in the United States, based on the 2012 build-out (USGS, Avian fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America). U.S. wind capacity has grown since then to nearly 150,500 MW (Land-Based Wind Market Report 2024), so the 2012-based figure is a floor, not a current count. For context, a U.S. Forest Service review estimated that "from 500 million to possibly over 1 billion birds are killed annually" in the United States by all human causes, and cautioned that per-source estimates often vary by an order of magnitude (Erickson, Johnson, and Young, 2005). Opponents emphasize raptors and specific sites; supporters emphasize the share of total mortality. Both read the same numbers.

Scale and cost trend

Turbines keep getting larger: the average new U.S. machine in 2023 was 3.4 MW with a 103.4-meter hub, both up 5% in a year (Land-Based Wind Market Report 2024). Larger machines raise the visual footprint; the report page we opened did not state an installed cost per kW, so we do not quote one.

What is genuinely unsettled

How current bird and bat mortality compares to the 2012-based estimate, how much siting and curtailment reduce it, and how to weigh noise and view effects that are real to neighbors but hard to price. Also unsettled is the share of a project's cost that transmission should bear. None of those questions is answered by the sources above.

See how wind turbines work, grid interconnection by market, the permit finder, and substation versus transmission line.

General information from the sources linked above, not legal, tax, or financial advice.

Sources and helpful links

More official contacts and resources: Helpful links.

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