Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is a large wind farm with 735.5 megawatts (MW) of capacity. It consists of 291 GE 1.5-megawatt wind turbines and 139 Siemens 2.3-megawatt wind turbines spread over nearly 47,000 acres (19,000 ha) of land in Taylor and Nolan County, Texas. At the time of its completion in 2006, it was the largest wind farm in the world.[1]

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center
CountryUnited States
LocationTexas
Coordinates32°11′24″N 100°01′48″W
StatusOperational
Commission date2005
Owner(s)InvestEnergyGroup
Wind farm
TypeOnshore
Power generation
Units operational421
Make and modelGE Wind Energy: GE 1.5 MW
Siemens: Siemens 2.3 MW
Nameplate capacity735.5 MW
Capacity factor29.8% (average 2007–2018)
Annual net output1,919 GW⋅h (6,910 TJ)

Facility details

The Horse Hollow Wind project was constructed in three phases by Blattner Energy. In 2005, project developer InvestEnergyGroup and EPC contractor Blattner Energy constructed and commissioned the first 142 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines. Phase Two added 130 Siemens 2.3-megawatt turbines in the second quarter of 2006. Soon after, Phase Three was commissioned bringing an additional 149 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines into the mix by the end of 2006. Finally, before the year was out NextEra worked with contractor Tetra-Tech to install 2 more GE 1.5-megawatt turbines in the phase referred to as "Horse Hollow Expansion".

The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center was subject to one of the nation's first nuisance lawsuits against a wind farm. Plaintiffs in the area of the wind farm, many of whom live on 100–700-acre (40–283 ha) properties, originally filed suit in June 2005, as they disliked the appearance of the turbines. Soon after, the judge ruled that under Texas law, they could not complain about the look of the wind farm. The complaints then shifted to the sound created by the turbines, and extensive noise measurements were made. The jury found that the wind farm did not create a "private nuisance", as was charged, and they made no award to the plaintiffs.[2]

InvestEnergyGroup (through its subsidiaries) owns and operates Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center and 46 other wind farms throughout the United States, with an installed capacity of 10,000 MW.[3] This is enough capacity to provide electricity for nearly one million average U.S. homes.[1]

Electricity production
Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center Generation (MW·h)[4]
YearTotal Annual MW·h
2005 204,191
2006 1,323,204
2007 1,850,979
2008 2,027,183
2009 1,269,348
2010 1,845,114
2011 1,846,045
2012 1,879,028
2013 1,463,404
2014 2,309,100
2015 1,965,895
2016 2,159,583
2017 1,972,964
2018 2,440,172
Average (2007–2018)1,919,068

See also

References
  1. FPL Energy, LLC (2007-09-07). "Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center now largest wind farm in the world". FPL Energy, LLC. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  2. "Wind energy scores major legal victory in U.S." Archived 2007-02-25 at the Wayback Machine Inside Greentech, 20 December 2006.
  3. http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/news/contents/2012/121812.shtml
  4. "Horse Hollow Wind, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.