Onshore wind: Resources and labour

Concrete, steel and people: what a wind farm really consumes

What this tab covers The natural resources (land, water, materials, fuel or feedstock) and the labour needed to capture this energy, per unit, with the reason each is needed.

Per megawatt, an onshore wind farm is mostly concrete and steel, with smaller amounts of copper, aluminium, glass fibre and, in some designs, rare-earth magnets.

Natural resources

Resource	How much	Why it is needed
Concrete	About 457 t per MW (calculated from 22,836 t for 50 MW); 8,000 t per TWh (US DOE)⁷⁸	Massive foundations stop a tall tower overturning under the sideways force of the wind on the rotor.
Steel and iron	About 117 t per MW (calculated from 5,860 t for 50 MW); 1,920 t per TWh (US DOE)⁷⁸	Tall, stiff towers reach faster, steadier wind; nacelle frames, shafts and generators are steel or cast iron.
Glass fibre and polymers	About 7.4 t of fibreglass and 13.6 t of polymers per MW (calculated)⁷	Long blades must be light and stiff.
Copper and aluminium	About 1.7 t of copper and 3.4 t of aluminium per MW (calculated)⁷	Generator windings and collection cables carry large currents with low losses.
Critical minerals in total	About 10 t per MW (IEA, including copper, zinc and rare earths)⁸	Direct-drive turbines use neodymium-iron-boron magnets instead of a gearbox.
Land	Median 130 ha per TWh per year directly; 12,000 ha including spacing¹⁰	Turbines stand several rotor diameters apart for undisturbed wind; land between can still be farmed.

Labour

Phase	How much	Skills	Why it is needed
Manufacturing and procurement	About 380 person-days per MW (calculated from 18,967 per 50 MW)⁷	Factory workers, welders, composite technicians	Towers, blades and nacelles are made in specialised factories.
Construction (installation and grid connection)	About 690 person-days per MW (calculated from 34,480 per 50 MW)⁷	Civil workers, crane operators, electricians	Roads, foundations, cabling and heavy lifts are done on site.
Operation and maintenance	About 53 person-days per MW per year (calculated from 2,665 per 50 MW); 43% of lifetime labour⁷	Wind technicians working at height	Moving parts need regular inspection over 20 years or more.
Decommissioning	About 170 person-days per MW (calculated from 8,420 per 50 MW)⁷	Crane crews, demolition and recycling workers	Turbines are dismantled and sites restored.
All phases, global total	About 1.9 million wind jobs worldwide in 2024 (onshore and offshore), 61% of them in China⁹	As above	Reflects where turbines are made and installed.

IRENA's breakdown for a 50 MW farm totals 144,420 person-days over 20 years; its stated phase shares do not match its own phase tables, so the per-MW figures above are indicative.

Sources

Renewable Energy Benefits: Leveraging Local Capacity for Onshore Wind, Executive Summary (50 MW wind farm, Tables 2-9 and materials table) IRENA, 2017
Mineral Requirements for Electricity Generation (citing IEA 2021 and US DOE Quadrennial Technology Review 2015) World Nuclear Association, 2024
Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2025 (Table 1, 2024 employment) IRENA and International Labour Organization, 2026
Land-use intensity of electricity production and tomorrow's energy landscape (Lovering, Swain, Blomqvist and Hernandez, PLOS ONE 17(7): e0270155) PLOS ONE, 2022