South Plains Wind Farm

The South Plains Wind Farm, is located between Floydada, Texas and South Plains, Texas, on the high plains of the Llano Estacado in Floyd County. Completed in 2016, the wind farm was constructed in two phases that have a total generating capacity of 500.3 megawatts (MW).

South Plains Wind Farm
View of the western edge of South Plains Wind Farm
CountryUnited States
LocationFloyd County, Texas
Coordinates34°11′07″N 101°22′18″W
Construction beganSpring 2015
Commission dateNovember 2015 (Phase I)
April 2016 (Phase II)
Owner(s)TerraForm Power (Phase I)
Novatus Energy (Phase II)
Operator(s)TerraForm Power (Phase I)
E.ON Energy Services (Phase II)
Power generation
Units operational191 turbines
Make and modelVestas V100 2.0 MW
Vestas V117 3.3 MW
Nameplate capacity500.3 MW
Capacity factor45.2% (average 2018-)
Annual net output1,980 GW·h

Details

The project was conceived and developed by Westerly Wind and purchased by First Wind in June 2014. First Wind was subsequently acquired by SunEdison in November 2014.[1] SunEdison financed the construction and selected Mortenson Construction to provide EPC services. In addition to erecting the wind turbines, each phase required the construction of new access roads, turbine foundations, collection lines, 345 kV electrical substation, and operations & maintenance building.[2][3]

Phase I includes 100 Vestas V100 turbines, each rated at 2 MW, that collectively are capable of generating 200 MW. These turbines have a hub height of 80 meters and a blade rotor diameter of 100 meters.[4] Construction began in spring of 2015 and the project was completed in November of the same year. The electricity produced annually is sufficient to service approximately 60,000 households.[2]

Phase II includes 91 Vestas V117 turbines rated at 3.3 MW than can collectively generate 300.3 MW. These more powerful turbines were the first of their kind to be installed in the United States, and have a hub height of 91.5 meters and a blade rotor diameter of 117 meters.[5][6] Construction began in July of 2015 and completed in early 2016. The electricity produced can service approximately 90,000 homes.[3]

Hewlett Packard helped to enable construction of phase II by purchasing 112 MW of the power to supply its data centers in Texas with 100% renewable energy.[7] The remaining 188 MW is contracted to an affiliate of Citi.[8]

Construction of the facility was complete by the time that SunEdison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 21, 2016.[9] The company's yield co, TerraForm Power, retained its ownership of phase I.[10] Novatus Energy acquired phase II during the restructuring, and announced its selection of E.ON Energy Services to maintain and operate the facility.[11][12]

Electricity production
South Plains Wind electricity generation (MW·h)
YearSouth Plains I
(200 MW) [13]		South Plains II
(300.3 MW) [14]		Total annual
MW·h
2015 24,141*- 24,141
2016 818,301672,154* 1,490,455
2017 ID1,097,241 -
2018 825,7301,154,432 1,980,162
Average annual production (years 2018–) --->1,980,162
Average capacity factor (years 2018-) --->45.2%

(*) partial year of operation
(ID) incomplete dataset

See also

References
  1. "Westerly Wind Sells 400MW Texas Wind Project to First Wind". energytrend.com. June 30, 2014.
  2. "South Plains Wind Project". M.A. Mortenson Company. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  3. "South Plains II Wind Project". M.A. Mortenson Company. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  4. "South Plains (USA)". thewindpower.net. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  5. "South Plains II (USA)". thewindpower.net. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  6. Katherine Weir (September 15, 2016). "Mortenson uses MLC650 crawler to assemble 91 wind turbines". khl.com.
  7. "HP announces agreement with SunEdison to support clean energy in Texas". Windpower Engineering & Development. July 23, 2015.
  8. "Construction Commences On South Plains II Wind Farm". energymatters.com. August 6, 2015.
  9. Bomey, Nathan (April 21, 2016). "SunEdison files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  10. "TerraForm Power - Projects". terraform.com. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  11. "Novatus Energy - Projects". novatusenergy.com. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  12. "Novatus Energy Selects E.ON Energy Services to Manage Four Wind Farms". PR Newswire. September 26, 2016.
  13. "South Plains I, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  14. "South Plains II, Annual". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
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