John McFarland with the Associated Press is reporting that today, October 1, 2009, the Roscoe Wind Complex, the world’s largest wind farm, “got up and running.” All 627 wind turbines covering 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland are moving and “churning out electricity [.]”Construction on the project began back in 2007. The project spans across four counties and “is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes,” according to the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America. The company’s chief development officer Patrick Woodson had this to say, ‘“[t]his is truly [a] sign [of a] milestone for us . . . In three years to be able to take this project from cotton fields to the biggest wind farm in the world is something we’re very proud of.”’
Texas leads the U.S. in terms of wind power production. In fact, the previous largest wind farm in the world is located on a farm southwest of Abilene, Texas. Still, wind power has slowed from its 2008 rate. Many blame this on the poor economic conditions hamstringing much of the world. The American Wind Energy Association is still hopeful that 2009 will be a good year for wind power overall.
Most of the land the giant 350-415 feet tall turbines are on is leased from cotton farmers who are able to work the fields surrounding the farms. More wind farms are planned, but there needs to be infrastructure improvements, namely in transmission lines, to meet the demand and to be able to supply the power to larger populated areas.
To read the article by John McFarland click here.
Posted: 10/01/09
