The new wind farm developed by Iberdrola Renewables has 202 MW of installed capacity, which is enough to power about 70,000 households. One of the features of the new wind farm is also a radar detector which alerts operators of incoming large flocks of migratory birds, something that  has been identified as a problem with wind farms (huge wind turbines in the birds' flight path pose a threat to the birds). More than 4000 hours have been spent in studying the migratory habits of birds in the area, to ensure wind farm construction and operations wouldn't harm the birds. If a bird flock is detected, the operators are warned in advance, so wind turbines are stopped on time to allow the birds to pass without being harmed.

The farm is located in Kennedy County, Texas. The total 202 MW come from 84 wind turbines. The company has signed agreements to sell the produced energy over the next fifteen years with CPS Energy of San Antonio and South Texas Energy Cooperative. As part of local community support, Iberdrola has signed lont-term agreements with a school in the area, the Sarita Elementary School, to support its new science lab.

Iberdrola Renewables installed more than 3 GW of wind power capacity in the US, which makes this wind power market very important for the company.

Fowler Ridge Wind Farm (Image credit: vaxomatic on Flickr)

BP Wind Energy and Dominion announced that phase one of the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in Benton County, Indiana, is now fully operational. This means Indiana just got an additional 400 MW of clean renewable energy, enough to power about 120,000 households. BP and Dominion are partners for a portion of about 300 MW of the total installed capacity so far. The two companies could increase the total installed capacity to about 750 MW in the future.

Construction of Phase 1 began back in 2008, and utilizes 182 Vestas 1.65 MW wind turbines and 40 Clipper 2.5 MW turbines. BP Wind Energy is the facility operator.

This project, and the Meadow Lake Wind Farm project bring a total of about 600 MW of active wind power capacity at the present time. Since both projects have additional phases, Indiana could be looking at an additional 950 MW of wind power in the future (350 from Fowler Ridge and 600 the Meadow Lake).

The Meadow Lake Wind Farm represents an important project in Indiana's initiative for increasing installed renewable energy capacity. Located in the northwestern part of Indiana, the farm will stretch across the White and Benton Counties. Indiana has a significant wind power potential, and the chosen location has many benefits, for example electrical energy transport access, and proximity to power markets. Phase I of the Meadow Lake project will see some 200 MW of wind power capacity installed. Phase II is actually quite larger, potentially bringing an additional 800 MW of installed wind power capacity to the states renewable energy total.

Meadow Lake Wind Farm will bring some 400 temporary jobs, and 20 permanent jobs once the project becomes operational. Wind turbines used for the project will be 121 Vestas V82 1.65 MW units. Horizon Wind Energy, the wind farm developer and operator, is owned by EDP Renewables, one of the largest wind power operators in the world, with more than 2.5 GW of installed wind power capacity.

Indiana wind resource map. (Image credit: NREL.gov)

In total, that's about 1 GW of wind power installed in Indiana in the "near" future, which is great news for the region.

American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released its latest report on the wind industry in the US.

Wind energy leaders have kept their top positions, while other leaders have emerged in different categories. Twenty four states have had new wind turbine manufacturing facilities opened, expanded or announced during 2008.

A quite interesting conclusion from the report is that Texas is the state with largest wind energy capacity installed – 7.2 GW, while Minnesota (1.75 GW) and Iowa (2.8 GW) generate about 7% of total energy needs from wind power. Indiana is the state with the fastest growth in wind power, percentage wise.

AWEA CEO Denise Bode said the wind energy industry today generates not only clean energy for the US economy, but also hope for American workers and businesses. She went on to say that no matter what part of the wind industry we look at, manufacturing or maintenance, people are employed in the wind power almost in all 50 states today.

The overall goal is to produce 25% of electricity needs from renewable sources by the year 2025. The US is going to have to make long-term investments in billions of dollars in clean energy installations and manufacturing facilities, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Major project owners are NextEra Energy Resources, Iberdrola Renewables, MidAmerican Energy and Horizon-Energia de Portugal. Interestingly enough, about 43% of wind turbines installed come from GE Energy, while the rest come from other major wind turbine manufacturers – Vestas, Suzlon, Gamesa, but also from some newer companies – Acciona, REpower (now owned by Suzlon), Fuhrlander, DeWind and AWE, all whom entered the US market in 2008.

More than 25 GW of installed wind power will generate about 73 TWh in 2009, which should ne enough to power some 7 million average US households.

The report, with all the detailed information, is available on the AWEA website.

Update: you may want to take a look at AWEA's Windpower Outlook 2009 report as well. It features great charts illustrating wind power growth in the US, as well as other benefits of renewable energy over traditional energy sources.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has given its approval for the infrastructure investment rate incentives for a 3000-mile regional "green power superhighway" proposal. The new transmission infrastructure is aimed at transporting electricity generated by wind power from the upper Midwest to consumers in Chicago, Minneapolis and other centers.

Green Power Express LP (ITC Holdings) designed the project for the benefit of customers who are going to use energy coming from remote renewable energy locations through high voltage transmission lines. This kind of project requires effective transmission planning that goes way beyond the needs of a single utility or local region, according to ITC.

One of the major obstacles for connecting consumers with renewable energy sources, is the transmission infrastructure that has been thus far tailored to accommodate the needs of traditional power sources, such as fossil fuel power plants. In order to move towards more renewable energy derived electricty, a new transmission infrastructure needs to be built. Similar projects have been announced in Europe, especially in Great Britain, where a major renewable energy electricity transmission line is going to be built between Ireland and the UK.

Green Power Express has estimated the costs for the 765 kW transmission network to be between US$ 10 billion and US$ 12 billion. The network will eventually span across seven states and delivery up to 12 GW of wind energy and stored energy from the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, to Midwestern load center in Chicago, Minneapolis and southeastern Wisconsin.

If anyone has been having doubts about the expansion of renewable energy, at least on the North American continent, this should be enough of a reassurance that renewable energy is coming to the mainstream consumers, and with serious figures.

The motor industry capital of the world has seen some hard times lately. Many have been left unemployed, and more trouble is on the way, as the motor industry in the US is sinking further. The wind energy industry, even though currently slowed down by a combination of recession effects and delays in government funding, brings a little hope to the unemployment troubled Detroit area. One wind turbine manufacturer has decided to move things along. Global Wind Systems has decided to hire 250 new employees to work for the company's latest venture, a new wind turbine assembly plant in Novi, Michigan, some thirty miles away from Detroit.

In December last year, Global Wind Systems received about US$ 7 million in tax credits, to create additional 256 jobs over six years. Global Wind systems hopes to double that number in the next two years.

Other companies may find the Detroit area interesting for hiring workforce – these are all individuals who are well versed in manufacturing process, having worked for the motor companies in the past years. In fact, most applicants for job positions in the new wind turbine manufacturing facility listed automotive industry work experience. With the expected boom for the renewable energy industry, wind energy in particular, there is realistic hope for employment for everyone in the area.