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The largest wind farm in the US is the 1,550-MW Mojave Wind Farm or Alta Wind Energy Center. Alta Wind Energy Center is a wind farm complex formed in 11 phases. The developers built the 11 projects over four years, from 2010 to 2013. The wind farm is in California at an elevated location in Kern County.
Alta Wind Energy Center has one of the largest installed capacities for onshore wind farms globally. The other large wind farms in California are
- Altamont Pass Wind Farm
- San Giorgino Pass Wind Farm
- Shiloh Wind Farm
- Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm.
The wind farm supplies a significant amount of renewable wind energy to Southern California.
The wind farm remains crucial to California, but offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Sea will soon eclipse Mojave Wind Farm’s capacity.
Wind energy, including upcoming offshore wind farms, is expected to help the US eliminate fossil fuels.
How many acres is the largest wind farm in the US?
Renewable onshore wind projects often have limited capacity due to space restrictions.
Based on google maps and Northwest Renewable Energy Institute, the approximate size of the wind farm is around 32 square kilometers or 3,200 hectares.
California’s broad desert plains allowed the wind farm to expand progressively and continuously up to its 11th phase.
When did the Mojave Wind farm achieve commercial operation?
The developers started to operate the wind farm in 2010 with Alta 1. The 11th phase of the farm, its last phase, was commissioned in 2013.
What are the five largest wind farms in the US?
These are the five largest wind farms in the US based on installed capacity.
- Mojave Wind Farm in Kern County, California (1.5 GW)
- Western Spirit Wind Farm in Guadalupe, Lincoln, and Torrance Counties, New Mexico (1.05 GW)
- Traverse Wind Farm in Blaine and Custer County, Oklahoma (998 MW)
- Los Vientos Wind Farm in Starr and Willacy Counties, South Texas (912 MW)
- Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Morrow and Gilliam Counties, Oregon (845 MW)
The developers only commissioned Western Spirit and Traverse in 2022. Traverse Wind Farm is part of a larger wind energy facility called North Central Energy facilities.
Maverick Wind Farm, Sundance Wind Energy Center, and Traverse Wind Farm comprise North Central Energy facilities for a total of 1.48 GW. The energy facility is in Oklahoma.
Where is the largest wind farm in the US?
The largest wind farm in the US is in California near Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm. Alta Wind Energy Centre, also known as Mojave Wind Farm, is the third largest onshore wind farm globally.
The desert plain of the southwestern Mojave desert is an excellent area for the 1550-MW wind farm project. The farm utilizes the desert with few structures inhibiting the wind or prohibiting expansion of the wind farm complex.
The wind farm is south of Highway 58. It is adjacent to the Tehachapi Pass wind farm. Beyond the Mojave community, the wind farm extends to the west near Oak Creek road.
Moreover, the Mojave community elevates at 2,762 feet. A higher elevation means more consistent winds. The Tehachapi Mountains also bring a lot of wind mass into the area.
Who owns the biggest wind farm in the US?
Several developers own the Mojave Wind Farm. Project investors have expanded the project through 11 phases resulting in one of the largest wind farms in the world and the largest in the US.
The following is the ownership composition of the project:
- NRG Energy – 948 MW
- BHE Renewables – 300 MW
- EverPower (now owned by BlackRock) – 150 MW
- Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners – 150 MW
Terra-Gen Power owned 947 MW of Alta Wind Energy Center, then sold its share in 2014 to NRG Yield.
What are the phases of Mojave Wind farm?
Eleven small projects form the Mojave Wind Farm Complex. USGS wind turbine database provided the data.
- Alta I – 150 MW
- Alta II – 123 MW
- Alta III – 150 MW
- Alta IV – 111 MW
- Alta V – 168 MW
- Alta VI (partial) – 138 MW
- Alta VIII (partial) – 174 MW
- Alta X – 136.8 MW
- Alta XI – 91.35 MW
- Pinyon Pines I – 177 MW
- Pinyon Pines II – 111 MW
These wind farms collectively have the highest wind generation capacity in the US.
How many wind turbines are in Alta Wind Energy Centre?
According to the USGS wind turbine database, the wind farm uses 581 turbines.
Which wind turbine models does Alta Wind Energy Centre use?
The farm uses GE and Vestas wind turbines to produce electrical energy. The wind farm used a combination of 1.5 to 3 MW turbines.
The following are the turbines used in the wind farm.
- GE 1.5 MW – 100 turbines
- GE 1.7 MW – 42 turbines
- GE 2.85 MW – 55 turbines
- Vestas V90 3 MW – 384 turbines
How much power does the Mojave Wind Farm generate?
The wind farm averages 3.1 terawatt-hours of electricity generation annually.
The total installed capacity of the farm (1,550 MW) is more than the combined installed capacity of Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center and Roscoe Wind Farm at 1,517 MW. Horse Hollow and Roscoe are in the top 10 largest wind farms in the United States.
Among wind farms in the US, the only other wind farm reaching at least 1,000 MW of installed capacity is the Western Spirit Wind farm in New Mexico. The developer commissioned the newly minted in March 2022 with a 1,050 MW installed capacity.
Who buys the power generated by the wind farm?
Southern California Edison signed a 25-year purchase agreement to buy the electricity from the wind farm.
Is Mojave Wind farm larger than Tehachapi Pass Wind farm?
Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm has more turbines than Mojave Wind Farm. The wind farm has around 1,200 turbines installed in its wind resource area.
The developers also built Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm much earlier, beginning in the 1980s and continuing to operate until today.
The owners have only been operating Mojave Wind Farm for ten years. Mojave, though, has a more substantial installed capacity than Tehachapi–a little more than double the 705 MW of Tehachapi.
Which state has the largest wind farm in the US?
California has the largest wind power facility in the US–Mojave Wind Farm. The wind farm has wind energy production of 3.1 terawatt-hours annually.
The wind project has 1550 MW of wind power capacity with the chance to expand more.
Expansion Plans
The owners have yet to sign an intent to expand the wind farm.
Alta Wind Energy Center has more space to expand its turbine footprint and may benefit from federal support. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the industry can get a leg up from federal mandates.