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A wind turbine blade sits on the back of a flatbed trailer. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Although many Texans seem to doubt that climate change is man-made, they are still firm believers in clean energy. According to a new report released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Texas once again leads in wind- energy capacity and largest wind farms installed, ranking sixth in the world behind Germany, the rest of the U.S, Spain, China and India.
The report also found that the U.S pushed above Germany and became the world wind- energy leader in 2008. Over 8,500 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity was installed,reaching a total of 25,300 megawatts (MW) while employing approximately 85,000.
“Whether it is building or maintaining a wind project, or producing wind turbine components, you’ll find employed in wind power in nearly all 50 states today”, said AWEA CEO Denise Bode.
Still, Texas is in a league of its own. Four of the five largest single owner projects in the country are in the state. The largest wind farm, Horse Hollow, was brought on-line in 2005/2006 and generates 735.5 megawatts (MW), Capricorn Ridge is second with 662.5 (MW), Sweetwater third with 585.3 (MW) and Buffalo Gap fourth with 523.3 (MW).
Both Horse Hollow and Capricorn Ridge are owned by NextEra Energy Resources, a company that dominates the ownership of wind assets in the U.S with 1,215 MW installed in 2008.
The report also takes a look at the top five House Congressional districts with most installed wind-power. Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R) is number one with more wind power installed in this district (TX-19) than the entire state of California. Second is Rep. Mike Conaway (R) in TX-11, third Rep. Tom Latham (R) in Iowa-4, and fourth Rep. Chet Edwards (D) in TX-17 and fifth is Rep. Steve King (R) in Iowa’s legislative districts 5.
The full annual rankings report is available on the AWEA Web site at www.awea.org
Comments
Very interesting story for sure. Certainly as you say, you don't have to believe in global warming to believe in clean energy solutions. Wind power is a great solution for places like Texas, my own state of Colorado and others where there are wide open - and windy - areas to deploy them.
Well, you know what they say, everything is bigger in Texas!
RT
www.anon-tools.at.tc
Glad to see that the big oil state is getting on board w/ the wind. Thanks for the report, Caroline.
There continues to be great news on the Texas wind front! (pun intended)
That said...the global warming comment was kinda smarmy...I mean, I agree it's a problem...and "many Texas" also do accept that we need to do something about it. Texans get enough crap from outsiders even with good green energy stories coming out of this state...can't we just take points here and move on?
Tony, You're definitely right...all of the plains states (and the plains sub-state of Eastern Colorado) are just as apt for wind power generation. It's also a potential solution for the economic and population decline of the Great plains.
If people who don't support taking on human effects on the planet...but still support things that are part-solutions to that...then it's a good thing.
very interesting. i was talking to a friend at www.affluence.org who is a large investor in wind power and he said it was really growing- but i did not realize by how much!
yeah but...
Out of Thin Air
By David S. Van Dyke
I am really astounded by the public's apparent ignorance about "wind energy". We all experience sunshine and wind but few of us bother to examine the "quality" of that sunshine and wind. Obviously wind turbines only spin and generate electricity when the wind is blowing. Accordingly, solar panels only generate electricity when the sun is shining on them. In order for these technologies to be economically viable you have to have a lot of wind and/or a lot of sunshine.
Wind energy works best in areas with a lot of sustained wind usually blowing from one prevailing direction. Here in the mountains of New Mexico we certainly get wind, but it is seldom sustained wind of significant velocity and it often changes direction. We're far better suited for solar power than wind turbines. The truth is, there may be a number of areas around the country that experience frequent, sustained wind from one prevailing direction, but not all are suitable for large, unsightly wind turbines.
I lived in Amarillo, Texas for over 10 years. I can't imagine anywhere better suited for large wind turbines than West Texas. The wind is so predominately from the southwest that all the trees grow leaning to the northeast (after you live there a few years you don't even notice it). The wind blows all the time. I remember there being very few days without incessant wind. Except for the majestic canyons (most of which are located on private land), the vast expanse of west Texas is unbelievably flat and is almost always windswept. This is perfect terrain for the T. Boone Pickens plan for wind farms. There is "high quality" wind there. It's nearly constant and almost always from one general direction. Further, a huge tower and wind turbine is not particularly aesthetically displeasing. You're not blocking anyone's view of anything except more flat, featureless landscape.
The problem is that these things cost something like a million dollars each and every spring they experience another weather anomaly in that region -- tornados. Over the next few years I anticipate there being a number of million dollar losses of wind turbines due to weather.
I certainly would not want a huge wind turbine (many times the size of a pump jack) blocking my view of the Sandia and Jemez mountains. Large wind farms are only effective in certain locations and if those locations happen to have nice scenery around them, you can expect tremendous resistance to them.
The great promise of wind energy currently depends on huge government subsidy. As soon as the subsidy dries up, these great twirling giants will suddenly look pretty stupid when they are no longer cost-effective to build and maintain.
Further, once these wind farms clutter up a skyline, more and more people will lose interest. Solar power is even more inefficient except in a very few locations. Even in the best locations solar arrays require a lot of real estate and unless built on top of an existing structure, they destroy or certainly change the ecosystem beneath them.
Wind energy is limited to rather specific geographic locations and certain prevailing weather patterns. Right now it is utterly dependent upon government subsidy for economic viability. There is a wealth of information available online to show where solar and wind are potentially viable options and where they are most likely not good options. Most of the land mass of the United States is, for any one of a number of reasons, not well suited for these technologies on a large scale.
Only a fool would believe that government subsidy will create thousands of sustainable long-term jobs and significantly supplement our future energy needs out of thin air.
Caroline please leave the self deprecation out of the article. I somehow think that we won't be able to bury this anti-Texan attitude the rest of the country now has thanks to GW's 8 year reign when you start off your article telling us how our state is full of idiots.
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