Wind Farms Guidelines

Covered features

This documentation offers practical guidance for mapping wind power infrastructure, with a focus on onshore wind farms and off-shore wind farms.

The aim is to ensure consistent, high-quality mapping, especially during organised editing. Accurate tagging helps support research, planning, and energy transition projects.

Power generation facilities are industrial sites, typically closed to the public and posing serious risks such as electrical hazards, heat, exposure to chemicals, or death.
Information gathering on-site should always be done safely and in full compliance with local regulations and warning signs. You must never enter restricted or hazardous areas, and this documentation does not encourage or expect you to trespass fences or gates under any circumstances.

Wind farms

A wind farm is composed of a group of wind turbines that spread across a wide area and produce electricity.

In OSM terms, a wind farm is thus considered as a power=plant and a wind turbine is considered a power=generator.

Technology:

A wind turbine converts the kinetic energy of moving air into electrical energy. When wind flows over the rotor blades, it creates a pressure differential that causes the rotor to spin. The rotor’s motion is transferred via a gearbox (or directly, in gearless designs) to drive an electrical generator housed in the nacelle, producing electricity.

Most modern wind farms use horizontal-axis turbines, though vertical-axis designs also exist.

Turbine axis types

Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) have their rotor shaft mounted horizontally—parallel to the ground and wind flow. This is the most common type used in large-scale wind farms, known for their high efficiency and power output.

Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) feature a rotor shaft that stands vertically. The driving components like gearbox and generator are mounted near ground level, simplifying maintenance. VAWTs are omnidirectional and don’t require alignment with wind direction.

These plants include:

In satellite imagery: Wind turbines are generally easy to identify from aerial or satellite imagery due to their:

Tall towers and rotors casting long shadows.
Regular spacing along ridges, plains, or offshore arrays.
Associated service roads, substations, and power line routes.

Grid connection: Most wind farms are connected to the electrical grid through power cables and an on-site electrical generation substation.

How to map

Wind farms (plants)

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines that share a common operator or grid connection and are mapped together as a single facility. While each turbine is mapped individually (see dedicated section below), the wind farm itself is represented as a site .

Recommended tags on the relation :

Specific recommended tags for off-shore wind farms:

Additional tags for both onshore and off-shore wind farms :

type=site
site=wind_farm
name=*
operator=*
ref=*
source=*
start_date=*

When mapping:

Wind turbines (generators)

Wind turbines are typically surrounded by open land due to regulatory setbacks and spacing rules, which often mandate distances of 1 to 1.5 times the turbine height or a minimums of several hundred meters between turbines and nearby buildings.

In satellite or aerial imagery, wind turbines appear as a single thin tower casting a long shadow, with a distinct three-bladed rotor at the top.

Onshore wind turbines : turbines are usually arranged in lines along ridges, evenly spaced across open fields, or grouped in regular patterns.
Offshore wind turbines : isolated points on the sea surface, sometimes connected by visible maintenance vessel wakes during construction or servicing. They are rarely visible in satellite imagery available for OSM mapping, as high-resolution aerial photos over the sea are often absent or taken at night.

Recommended tags:

Specific recommended tags for off-shore wind turbines:

Additional tags for both onshore and off-shore wind turbines :

operator=*
ref=*
model=*
manufacturer=*
generator:type=* ex. * generator:type=horizontal_axis
rotor:diameter=*
start_date=*

When mapping:

Offshore and onshore turbines are generally mapped as .

Onshore, when imagery is particularly high-resolution, the footprint of the tower that supports the turbine can be mapped as a circular building. The generator is represented as a placed at the center of the building.

Wind turbines are then grouped within a relational multipolygon, as shown in the section above.

Grid connection

Each turbine is connected to a medium-voltage collector network, usually operating between 10 kV and 35 kV.

Onshore wind farms : cables are typically buried underground, running alongside or beneath the access roads between turbines. The cables converge at a generation substation see below).
Offshore wind farms: turbines are interconnected via subsea medium-voltage cables leading to one or more offshore substations. From there, higher-voltage export cables carry the electricity underwater to an onshore connection point in the main grid.

Recommended tags:

power=cable

Additional tags:

cables=* (number of cables)
voltage=*
frequency=*
layer=-1
location=underground (onshore) or location=underwater (off-shore)
operator=*
operator:wikidata=*
start_date=*

When mapping: Cables are mapped as , using available public information from the network operator or the wind farm project developer. Only map routes that are confirmed through official or verifiable public sources.

For detailed guidelines on mapping substations and substation equipment, please refer to the dedicated wiki page : tag:power=cable.

Generation substation

Wind turbines are connected via underground cables to a nearby power=substation, which collects their output, steps up the voltage, and feeds the electricity into the transmission network.

Recommended tags: power=substation substation=generation

Additional tags:

When mapping: For detailed guidelines on mapping substations and substation equipment, please refer to the dedicated wiki page : Power networks/Guidelines/Substations

Buildings

Wind farms often include technical facilities to support operation and maintenance. These may be mapped individually when their location and footprint are known.

At the base of each wind turbine, a small entrance provides access to internal equipment such as control cabinets and step-up transformers. These are enclosed within the tower itself and do not require separate building mapping.

Typical facilities include:

Control and operations buildings : for monitoring turbine performance, housing control systems, and storing spare parts.
Maintenance workshops : for repairs and servicing equipment.

Recommended tags:

building=yes
building=service or building=industrial.

When mapping: Map as a typical building as a .

Roads inside onshore wind farms

Roads and paths inside onshore wind farms should be mapped as .

They connect internal components such as turbines, control buildings, substations, or maintenance areas. They are typically used only by staff and maintenance vehicles for technical operations, and have restricted access.

Recommended tags:

highway=service
access=private

When mapping:

Trace each road accurately using satellite imagery.
Optionally, try to properly connect them with public roads at the facility entrance (if visible), often behind barrier=node when the road crosses the fenced perimeter.
Optionally, add surface details such as surface=gravel or surface=unpaved where applicable.

Quality control

Common mistakes

Wind farm as an area

When there is no barrier delimiting the perimeter of a wind farm (barrier that goes around all of the wind turbines), the wind farm should not be tagged as an .

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Power generation/Guidelines/Wind farms

Contents

Covered features