California Breaks Ground on Nation's Largest Wind Farm

alta-wind
A huge 3-GW wind project planned for outside of Los Angeles has received a boost in funding and is now on track to be operational by next year. The Alta Wind Energy Center will be the largest wind project in the country, capable of powering 600,000 Southern California homes.

Terra-Gen Power LLC, the company building the project consisting of five separate wind farms, just secured $1.2 billion in funding, which has kicked construction into high gear. The project just broke ground today in the Mojave Desert foothills, just 75 miles north of Los Angeles. The first phase, which will produce about 570 MW, should be up and running by next year, while the full project will be completed in about a decade.

Southern California Edison has already committed to 1,550 MW of electricity produced by the project over 25 years. Just that slice of energy is twice the capacity of the largest existing wind farm, a 735-MW one in Texas.

via LA Times

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Land use and wind farms
written by mkass, July 28, 2010

Sooner or later there's going to be some push back on the land use issues of massive wind farms. I'm a fan of the idea of natural energy generation. I don't want to see it derailed by some misguided nimbyism. So maybe there's another way of looking at wind generation: http://organicconnectmag.com/w...an-energy/

When do we get to hear about....
written by Kat, July 28, 2010

When do we get to hear about California Breaking Wind on Nation's Largest Ground Farm?

Sorry... had to.

Don't confuse spacing with foot print
written by Matt, July 28, 2010

The windmill spacing and it foot print are two totally different thing. The land used for windmills can be used for other things also. When my father lease land on his farm for windmills he didn't loose the 100 acres they are spaced over. Yes he did make them de-compact the soil they had compress to make the access paths for build. But now each is just a small foot print in the field. The "Magenn Air Rotor System" (MARS) system in the link by mkass would have an even larger spacing issue, since they need to be spread out enough so as not to become tangle together.

Beat me to the punch
written by Steve, August 04, 2010

Kat, Beat me to it..had the same thought as you smilies/cheesy.gif

Big and High is good
written by Steven J. Scannell, August 05, 2010

My offshore wind and wave mill designs produce Compressed Air, Oxygen Rich Compressed Air (ORCA), and Hydrogen, since the offshore continental shelf of New England is too far from the need. The Pipe used to transport and store this form of energy then turns into a Track Pipe, or TRIPE, an innovative new two hundred year design for transportation. I have the system outlined with illustrations at my web page www.environmentalfisherman.com. This TRIPE system report introduces the new green grid. The system carries all maner of things too, such as Natural Gas, broad band, compost tea, water, you name it, very very versatile with multiple cash flows. Great news about the new wind farm. But if we really want power, we need to get high, and that means using the Georges Bank Mega Mills.

Schwarzenegger says it all
written by Zoe, August 05, 2010

“Having the world’s largest wind project break ground in our state is tangible evidence that our pioneering policies are drawing investment, improving the economy and creating jobs now when we need them most,” Arnold Schwarzenegger says it as it is: http://blog.ewea.org/2010/08/s...in-the-us/

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