October 1st, 2009
From Green Right Now Reports
The Roscoe, Texas, wind farm (Photo: E.ON Climate & Renewables)
Global energy company E.ON Climate and Renewables today announced the completion of what it says is the world’s largest wind farm near Roscoe, Texas. The new wind complex has an installed capacity of 781.5 megawatts (MW), which can generate enough electricity to power more than 230,000 homes.
The project area spans parts of four West Texas counties and covers almost 100,000 acres — an area several times the size of Manhattan. The wind farm has a total of 627 wind turbines manufactured by Mitsubishi, General Electric and Siemens.
North American CEO of EC&R Steve Trenholm said the wind farm is the result of a billion dollar investment, and involved the coordination of more than 300 landowners and 500 workers. “Today is a great day for our company and the team that made this a reality,” he said in a statement.
EC&R is constructing an offshore wind project near London that it says will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The company operates wind farms producing more than 2,600 megawatts worldwide, including 1,488 MW in the U.S.
“Texas continues to lead the nation in the development of renewable energy and has more wind generation capacity than any other state and all but four countries,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement. “We are pleased that E. ON Climate & Renewables North America has chosen to open this facility in Roscoe that will further expand our state’s diverse energy portfolio.”
However, Gov. Rick Perry continues to oppose any federal cap and trade legislation.
Yesterday he met with business and industry leaders in Houston to discuss the impact of the proposed legislation in Washington. He emphasized the importance of diversifying the state’s energy portfolio by pursuing innovative energy sources as an alternative to the “burdensome regulations” associated with federal cap and trade rules. And he warned the proposed legislation would increase the cost of living for Texas families and “crush Texas and the nation’s energy producing sectors.”
“Texas has shown you don’t need federal mandates to improve the environment or foster the next generation of energy technology,” Gov. Perry said in a statement. “Rather than emulate Texas’ success, Washington seems determined to cripple our economy by imposing sweeping mandates and draconian regulation. Texans should be wary about a cap-and-trade bill that would not only impose the largest tax hike in the history of the United States, but also inject the federal government further into every Texas home, farm and workplace.”
Perry’s opposition to the Waxman-Markey Bill, also known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, is a sign that even as the state tries to become a leader in alternative energy development, it faces pressure to balance those efforts against the interests of a deeply entrenched legacy energy industry. Texas supplies 20 percent of the nation’s oil production, one-fourth of the nation’s natural gas production, a quarter of the nation’s refining capacity, and nearly 60 percent of the nation’s chemical manufacturing.
Add it all up and Texas’ fossil fuel-based energy industry employs 200,000 to 300,000 Texans and represents $35 billion in total wages.
