The Roscoe Wind Farm near Roscoe, Texas is one of the world's largest-capacity wind farms. With 627 wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 781.5 MW, owned and operated by RWE. At the time of its completion in 2009, it was the largest wind farm in the world, surpassing the nearby 735.5-megawatt Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center. In 2012, it was overtaken by California's 1,020-megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center.
Facility details
Roscoe was constructed in four phases. The first phase, Roscoe, was constructed in 2008 and consists of 209 Mitsubishi 1-megawatt turbines. Phase two is called Champion was also completed in 2008 and includes 55 Siemens 2.3-megawatt machines. The third phase is called Pyron. Its 166 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines were commissioned in mid-2009 shortly before the fourth phase, Inadale, was completed. Inadale adds 197 more Mitsubishi 1-megawatt turbines to the existing project.
The project cost more than $1 billion and provides enough power for more than 250,000 average Texan homes. It is located about west of Fort Worth, spanning parts of four Texas counties and covering nearly , several times the size of Manhattan.O'Grady, Eileen. E.ON completes world's largest wind farm in Texas Reuters, October 1, 2009.EC&R Completes 780-MW Roscoe Wind Farm Renewable Energy World, 2 October 2009.E.ON Delivers 335-MW of Wind in Texas Renewable Energy World, 23 September 2008.American Wind Energy Association. U.S. Wind Energy Industry Installs over 2,800 MW in First Quarter
Cliff Etheredge, a local cotton farmer, helped to organize the project. In addition to its large size, the farm is also notable for the large number of individual land owners (as many as 400) who share in royalties from the project.John Burnett. Winds of Change Blow into Roscoe, Texas NPR, November 27, 2007. Wind farms are helping to revive the local economy in remote areas of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle.
The Roscoe Wind Farm and Cliff Etheredge are featured in the 2010 documentary film, Carbon Nation.
Electricity production
+Roscoe Wind Farm Generation (MW·h) Year Roscoe209 MW Unit Champion126.5 MW Unit Pyron249 MW Unit Inadale197 MW Unit Total AnnualMW·h 2008 523,383 277,725 - - 801,108 2009 488,402 317,097 506,951 - 1,312,450 2010 532,548 349,945 559,509 384,481 1,826,483 2011 615,420 416,677 603,565 380,443 2,016,105 2012 596,742 413,620 716,988 476,472 2,203,822 2013 561,408 393,195 775,605 549,300 2,279,508 2014 591,896 406,486 811,344 592,687 2,402,413 2015 440,211 349,128 706,057 495,005 1,990,401 2016 562,424 308,250 772,988 539,177 2,182,839 2017 554,037 366,144 712,817 506,879 2,139,877Average Annual Production (20112017) 2,173,566
See also
Wind power in the United States List of onshore wind farms Wind power in Texas List of power stations in Texas
References