Two U.S. wind farms with a total capacity of 119 MW, operated by TransAlta Corp., became operational in December 2019.
The 90-MW Big Level wind park in Pennsylvania started commercial operation on December 19. It sells power to technology giant Microsoft Corporation, under a 15-year contract.
The 29-MW Antrim wind facility in New Hampshire has been operational since December 24.
Read more: renewablesnow.com
Site preparation has begun on the 114-turbine Pryor Mountain Wind Project in Montana. At least four wind farms are in various stages of development and combined could deliver up to 480 megawatts of capacity, enough to power a large city.
Pryor Mountain Wind “is a 240-megawatt wind project with a 40% net capacity factor and will produce about 841,000 MWh/year, making it an excellent wind power generation site,” said Spencer Hall of PacifiCorp. “The facility will produce the power equivalent to the usage of more than 76,000 U.S. households on an annual basis.”
Read more: billingsgazette.com
The largest floating wind turbine to date just went online off the coast of Portugal.
One of the three platforms that will make up the WindFloat Atlantic off-shore wind farm was connected to the grid via a 20-kilometre (12.4-mile) long cable on New Year’s Eve.
Once the other two platforms come online, WindFloat will be able to provide enough clean energy for around 60,000 homes.
Texas is known for its oil production, but it is increasingly a major player in wind energy. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the Lone Star State had more than 27 gigawatts of installed wind capacity and 14,198 wind turbines during the third quarter of 2019. The nearest rival in terms of installed capacity, Iowa, had less than half (8.965 GW) of Texas’ installed capacity during the same period. Capacity refers to the maximum amount that installations can theoretically produce.