Wind farms have been getting bigger and bigger in Texas in recent times and this latest wind farm is no exception. The Roscoe wind farm, about 320 kilometres west of Fort Worth, surpasses the nearby 735.5 MW Horse Hollow wind farm, owned by FPL Group's NextEra Energy Resources, as the largest in the world.
"Completing the world's biggest wind farm took more than a $1 billion investment, coordination with more than 300 landowners and management of more than 500 workers," said Steve Trenholm, chief executive of German-based E.ON AG's renewable unit in North America.
The Roscoe wind farm spans parts of four Texas counties and covers nearly 40,500 hectares, several times the size of Manhattan, the company said. It has 627 turbines, manufactured by units of Mitsubishi, General Electric and Siemens.
Texas leads the way in US wind
In 2006, Texas became the leading state for wind capacity with about 2,400 MW, an amount that has expanded to 8,335 MW, according to the state grid operator. New power lines are under development that will allow wind developers to more than double the current amount of wind in Texas over the next few years.
E.ON Climate already operates another major wind farm in the Lone Star State, having recently completed the 458 MW Panther Creek wind farm near Big Spring, and will soon finish the 180 MW Papalote Creek wind farm near Corpus Christi. Elsewhere, the company recently began construction on Britain's big London Array offshore wind project, which will become the largest offshore wind farm in the world when finished.
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