The Roscoe Wind Farm complex has enough power to be the second biggest wind farm in Texas. Four smaller wind farms (Roscoe, Champion, Pyron, and Inadale) roll up under this umbrella project.
The complex, including all four phases of the project, is one of the largest wind farms in RWE’s portfolio. The Rose Wind Farm is also one of the largest in the US, with a nameplate capacity of 781 MW.
The farm is also one of the oldest wind farms in Texas. Fully commissioned in 2009, it has averaged a little over 2-gigawatt hours a year in electricity production.
The farm saves greenhouse gas emissions by producing clean, renewable wind energy. The power generated at Roscoe Wind Farm offsets about 2 million tons of coal-fired power plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.
Additionally, according to the American wind energy association, wind projects provide jobs much faster than the economy, up to nine times faster than other industries.
The Roscoe Wind Complex was the first of many wind projects in Texas that allowed the state to expand its renewable portfolio goals while growing the economy in the rural areas.
How did the Roscoe Wind farm come about?
The Roscoe Wind Farm was a citizen-initiated project. A cotton farmer named Cliff Etheridge took it upon himself to measure the wind speeds in his area and took records. He organized his neighbors, and together they looked for investors who might be interested.
Interestingly, most of the lands where the farm operates are from dryland cotton farmers. This made the search more profitable for them because the strong winds in their county used to destroy the crops. Getting investors that would turn the negative impact of wind energy into an asset was easy!
Their search for investors ended with Airtricity, a renewable energy company from Ireland that decided to invest a billion dollars in the project.
After negotiations, around 400 farmers got $5,000 to $15,000 in royalties per turbine yearly. It had pumped life into the county’s economy of less than 1,500 in population.
How large is the Roscoe Wind Farm?
Roscoe is not the world’s largest wind farm. Still, with a size of nearly 100,000 acres or 404 square kilometers, it’s a considerable project undertaking. For scale, the size of the area is more than six times the size of the land area of Manhattan.
How many phases are there in the Roscoe Wind Farm?
The wind project has four phases and was fully commissioned in 2009. The four phases are the following:
| Phase | Name | Nameplate Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| First Phase | Roscoe | 209 MW |
| Second Phase | Champion | 126.5 MW |
| Third Phase | Pyron | 249 MW |
| Fourth Phase | Inadale | 197 MW |
- First Phase – Roscoe (209 MW) in Roscoe City, Nolan County
- Second Phase – Champion (126.5 MW) in Mitchell County
- Third Phase – Pyron (249 MW) in Hermleigh, Scurry County
- Fourth Phase – Inadale (197 MW) in Roscoe city, Nolan county
How much wind power does Roscoe Wind Farm deliver?
The total nameplate capacity of the project is 781.5 MW. The farm utilizes 1 MW turbines up to 2.3 MW capacity turbines to harness wind power.
The total installed capacity of the four phases of the farm provides enough energy for 265,000 homes. There are a total of 627 turbines installed in all the phases of the farm.
Roscoe Wind Complex has more capacity than famous wind farms in the US, such as Horse Hollow Energy Center and Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm, but less than Los Vientos Wind Farm.
The farm’s installed capacity ranks fifth in the top 10 largest onshore wind farms in the USA.
What turbines does Roscoe Wind Farm use?
The wind turbines used were all major brands in the wind industry. The farm uses GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi turbines. The Roscoe Wind complex used the following turbines:
| Phase | Turbines | Turbine Manufacturer | Turbine Capacity | Total Phase Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roscoe | 209 | Mitsubishi | 1.0 MW | 209 MW |
| Champion | 55 | Siemens | 2.3 MW | 126.5 MW |
| Pyron | 166 | GE | 1.5 MW | 249 MW |
| Inadale | 197 | Mitsubishi | 1.0 MW | 197 MW |
- First Phase (Roscoe) – 209 Mitsubishi 1.0 MW turbines
- Second Phase (Champion) – 55 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines
- Third Phase (Pyron) – 166 GE 1.5 MW turbines
- Fourth Phase (Inadale) – 197 Mitsubishi 1.0 MW turbines
Where is the Roscoe Wind farm?
The Roscoe Wind Farm is in the heart of West Texas’s natural wind belt. The large wind farm spans three counties in the state, including Nolan county, Mitchell county, and Scurry county.
The farm is near the pioneer project and one of the largest wind farms in the USA, the Sweetwater Wind Farm.
As the leading state in wind technology, most Texas wind farms have industrial-scale capacities connecting to the CREZ transmission lines. These transmission lines allow the farms to harness the winds in the rural areas and transfer them to the populated cities.
Who owns the Roscoe Wind Farm?
One of the leading renewable energy developers, RWE, owns and operates four phases of the farm. It is a multinational energy corporation based out of Essen, Germany.
Airtricity built the farm in May 2007. GE Energy also invested a stake in the project. In October of the same year, E.ON Climate And Renewables bought Airtricity’s North American business for $1.3 Billion.
E.ON Climate And Renewables finished the project in 2009. It was then E.ON’s second project with GE Energy Financial Services, which surpassed $15 billion in renewable energy investments in 2017.
The project was sold to RWE in 2019 after ten years of operations.
RWE is heavily invested in the Texas wind industry, like Duke Energy Renewables, which operates four wind farms in Starr County, Texas.
When was the first power of the Roscoe Wind farm?
The project’s construction began in 2007 and first power in 2008. RWE Energy commissioned all four phases of the Roscoe Wind Farm in 2009.