Wind Farm Layout Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Wind Farm Layout and Siting Optimization Patents
Filings have plateaued, not grown. activity peaked in 2024 at 5 filings after a flat midpoint in 2022, so the field is not accelerating the way turbine deployment volumes might suggest. Filings rose from 2 in 2017 to a peak of 5 in 2024, with 2022 sitting at the midpoint value of 4. There is no sustained upward trend across the window, and the most recent year is necessarily undercounted because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
- 1HANGZHOU TAIJI YUCAI SOFTWARE CO LTD2
- 2FRAZER-NASH CONSULTANCY LTD2
- 3INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION2
- 4CENT SOUTH UNIV2
- 5ZHEJIANG UNIV2
See the full wind farm layout and siting optimization analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on wind farm layout and siting patents
How many patents cover wind farm layout and siting optimization?
This landscape identifies 15 published patent families matching wake-effect, turbine-spacing and siting-method search terms within the relevant wind-motor and business-method IPC classes, filed between 2015 and mid-2026. That is a small, tightly defined set rather than the full body of wind-energy patents, because the search deliberately narrows to layout and siting language rather than general turbine design. Broader wind-turbine patenting, including blade design, drivetrain and grid-interconnection hardware, sits outside this count entirely.
Who are the leading patent holders in wind farm siting optimization?
The assignee set mixes an established technology incumbent, International Business Machines Corporation, with Chinese academic institutions such as Zhejiang University and Central South University, plus specialist firms and grid operators. No single assignee dominates the 15-family set the way a market leader typically does in a mature patent landscape. That thin concentration means a new entrant is not necessarily filing against one blocking incumbent, but against a scattered set of method claims spread across several organizations.
What does US10387728B2 actually cover?
US10387728B2, assigned to International Business Machines Corporation and granted in August 2019, claims a computer-implemented method for detecting wind turbines in satellite imagery, inferring their geographic coordinates, and predicting wake effects impacting those turbines based on forecasted conditions. It is a data-analysis and prediction method rather than a physical turbine or layout arrangement claim. Anyone building a satellite-imagery-based turbine detection or wake-prediction pipeline should read its claim scope carefully before assuming a clear path, since it is the most-cited record in this landscape.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Wind Farm Layout and Siting Optimization covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.