World's Largest Wind Farm Churns in Texas

100,000-Acre Complex Holds 627 Turbines Capable of Generating Enough Juice To Power 230,000 Homes

(CBS/AP)  The world's largest wind farm officially got up and running Thursday, with all 627 towering wind turbines churning out electricity across 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland.

The Roscoe Wind Complex, which began construction in 2007 and sprawls across four counties near Roscoe, is generating its full capacity of 781.5 megawatts, enough to power 230,000 homes, the German company E.ON Climate and Renewables North America said.

"This is truly sign milestone for us," said Patrick Woodson, the company's chief development officer. "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."

The project, which cost more than $1 billion, involved negotiations with 300 landowners and contains a mix of different turbines made by several companies including Mitsubishi, General Electric, and Siemens, writes CNET's Candace Lombardi.

The complex is about 220 miles west of Dallas and 300 miles south of the land where billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens had planned an even larger wind farm before he scrapped the idea in July.

Texas leads the U.S. in wind power production, and this wind farm tops the capacity record of 735.5 megawatts set by another West Texas farm southwest of Abilene.

Renewable energy makes up a small fraction of the electricity grid, but the wind and solar sectors were among the fastest growing in the U.S. before the recession. Wind power in Texas has grown again this year but has slowed from the 2008 rate.

"We are expecting '09 to be a somewhat smaller year overall, but still a fairly solid year," said Kathy Belyeu of the American Wind Energy Association.

At the Roscoe wind farm, the turbines range in size from about 350 feet to 415 feet tall, and they are generally spaced about 900 feet apart, Woodson said. The land is leased, mostly from dryland cotton farmers who continue to work the fields around them, Woodson said. Texas is the leading U.S. producer of cotton, most of it from West Texas.

"It's a use that appears to be quite complimentary," Woodson said. "This whole community was extremely welcoming to us."

E.ON has facilities around the state, but it could be awhile before the company builds more huge wind farms in West Texas because of the glut of wind companies and lack of transmission lines, Woodson said. The state is planning more lines from West Texas to more heavily populated areas, but they won't be completed for at least two more years.

Pickens cited the transmission problem when he bailed out on his planned wind farm. He had already invested $2 billion in 687 turbines when he pulled the plug on the 200,000-acre project.

E.ON is one of the top 10 wind power companies in the world, the company says on its Web site, with operations in the U.S. and Europe.

[Scimajor]

Wow, I would have never expected so many negative comments about a project that is helping us move towards energy independence as well as keeping millions of tons of CO2 from polluting our planet. As with any solution, it?s only part of the solution not the whole solution.

Now nuclear power plants are the way to go. Had we not given in to the hysteria over radiation decades ago we?d already be energy independent. For the uneducated, coal burning produces several orders of magnitude more radioactive waste than the equivalent nuclear reactor not to mention the fact that a coal plant spews the radiation into the atmosphere in stark contrast to a nuclear power plant which spews forth ?.. nothing.

Additionally, people have been misinformed as to the volume of radioactive waste produced by a nuclear reactor. If processed correctly, a nuclear reactor produces about a shot glass full of waste in a given year. That?s all folks.

[sjc_1]

There is 1000 times more energy reaching the earth daily from the sun than we use. The sun has another 2 billion years, but we have about 50-100 years of fossil fuel left. Use renewable energy and save the fossil fuel for later.

[dragon8me]

Enough Hydrothurmal energy can be produced from all the sources in the world to power the world many times over.

[cbs4111]

It's only a matter of time until these windfarms get shut down. Windmills kill birds. If you care about the environment, read this story in the Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574376543308399048.html

NO MORE WINDMILLS!!!

[incog-nito]

How about a hand-cranked generator that people wind up every time they need power? That would be truly "green".

[sjc_1]

There is a concentrated solar thermal electric plant in the Mojave desert of California that produces 300 megawatts and has been in operation since the 70s. That powers a lot of air conditioners in L.A. without burning any coal at all.

If you want to store the energy for later use, you can do pumped hydro, CAES, molten salt or any number of methods. With natural gas combined cycle, biomethane, geothermal, solar, wind and other methods, we can provide energy without using fossil fuels. Use renewable and save the fossil fuels for later.

[rwsmith29456]

Now old-fashioned farm windmill are considered to be nostalgic. Could the wind farm of today be nostalgic tomorrow and not be considered an eyesore?

[sjc_1]

I would not put wind turbines in Yellowstone either. Cape Cod is known for its scenic beauty, if the people of west Texas want them that is their choice. Not a lot of visitors go to west Texas for its scenery, there is a time and place for everything and the people living there should decide.

[donbl1]

The conservatives of Texas have the most wind power..... but, the liberals of Mass. reject wind generated electricity on Cape Cod.

Ya gotta walk the walk.

[sjc_1]

If people put solar thermal and PV on their roofs, you would not need transmission lines. Distributed power is the way to go. Sun shines everywhere and you do not need to go where the wind blows.

[wrexall9]

Wind farms have sprouted up everywhere, but if you live in West Texas, you know we get more than our share of wind. The gulf stream is mostly right on top of us and the wind blows most days.

[dragon8me]

Don't forget all the hot air we get coming in from Austin and D.C..

[marcosis78]

I think its the case of "We got it first because we're Texas," kind of deal. Its not like they did it voluntarily. Its all about Oil in Big T.

[kphx]

Kudos to Texans on taking a lead on this renewable energy sector.

[lmartink]

If you didn't notice, E-ON is a German company. And the other issue is a whole new transmission grid to get this power to people in cities who will use it. It's a bit early to be giving out a T for Texas Yahoo.