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News

Report: Texas Now King in Wind Power

April 29, 2008

Texas is now the best region in the country to install wind turbines. According to a new report by the Global Wind Energy Council, at 4,356-megawatts (MW), the Lone Star State has nearly twice the wind power capacity of nearest rival California (2,439 MW).

West Texas in particular has seen the most growth. Experts point to almost constant wind, flat range land, and an extensive network of high voltage lines as the main catalysts. In the last 120 days alone, new West Texas wind power projects worth more than half a billion dollars have been announced.

NRG Energy said it will build Elbow Creek, a 122-MW wind project near Big Spring.

NACEL Energy unveiled two West Texas wind farms totaling 40 MW -- Blue Creek located north of Amarillo and Channing Flats in Moore County. NACEL is one of the only pure wind power generators in the country and went public last December.

Arlington, Va.-based AES announced it would expand Buffalo Gap, its West Texas wind facility, by 170 MW. When complete, Buffalo Gap will rank in the top five largest wind farms in the United States.

Opinion

Will EPA be Forced to Issue a Climate Change Endangerment Finding?

On April 2, 2008, exactly one year after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, 12 states, supported by an additional five states as amicus curiae, as well as the District of Columbia, the cities of New York and Baltimore, and a number of environmental organizations, filed a petition for mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to act on remand within 60 days.

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