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Texas the world's 6th biggest wind-power producer
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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
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