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Texas is known throughout the USA for its commercial wind farms built on wide plains and vast ranches. The wind turbines in Texas are large and profitable. In two decades of the wind industry in Texas, developers have constructed some of the largest wind farms. But what is the largest wind farm in Texas? Los Vientos Wind Farm is!
Los Vientos also held the record of the second largest wind farm in the country for six years. Later in 2022, two new wind farms surpassed the Los Vientos Wind farm. Western Spirit Wind and Traverse Wind Energy Centre in 2022 overtook Los Vientos Wind Farm, giving a glimpse of the potential for the industry up ahead.
Nonetheless, the feat of Los Vientos shows that large-scale wind farm projects pave the way for future record-breaking projects.
912 MW with 426 wind turbines generate 912 MW of power in the Los Vientos Wind Farm. The wind farm is in Starr County and Willacy County.
Texas Wind Industry
Texas’ wind power industry has significantly grown in the past decades. Large-scale operations with expanded commercial wind capacity are also some of the hallmarks of Texas’ wind farms. According to USGS, 71 wind farm sites in the state installed at least 100 turbines.
Wind farms often install turbines across thousands of hectares wide. Texas is also the state with the most wind turbines in the USA. Developers installed 17,779 turbines throughout the state with varying capacities between 60 kW to 4.8 MW.
According to the USGS, at least 161 wind farm sites in the Lone Star State have at least 100 MW of renewable wind power capacity. Texas wind farms most commonly install 1.5 MW and 2-MW turbine sizes with 2,329 and 2,222, respectively.
Duke Energy and Leeward Energy have invested in Texas, and other large investors such as NextEra Energy Resources, E.ON Climate and Renewables N.A., and Invenergy expanded in the state.
American Clean Power Association (formerly American Wind Energy Association) noted in a 2022 report that Texas led the United States’ new renewable energy capacity installations in 2021. The state installed 7.3 GW of wind, solar, and energy storage in 2021.
The Natural Wind Belt in West Texas
As a state gifted to be located in the natural wind belt, the wind farms in Texas benefit from wind masses moving down South from the Midwest.
When the wind blows south to Texas, turbines as short as 36 meters tall and as high as 130 meters start to turn. Areas like Lubbock, with 11,000 turbines, and Wichita Falls can have winds as fast as 7.5 meters per second. Far up north at Amarillo, the average wind speed moves from 8.0 to 8.5 meters per second. NREL measured the wind speed at 80-meter heights.
Wind conditions may also vary, but the winds slow down when the wind belt meets the high-pressure wind. The high-pressure wind scatters the wind mass from the MidWest and causes it to move on the opposite path.
Los Vientos Wind farm, on the other hand, receives its wind power from the pattern of winds coming from the Gulf of Mexico.
Economic Benefits to Starr and Willacy Counties
Starr and Willacy benefit from selling the electricity generated to other counties.
The wind farm delivers electricity to more than 200,000 homes powering households. Furthermore, the wind farm sites, almost split between Starr and Willacy Counties, provide supplemental income to landowners.
Lowering Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The power technology of wind turbines lasts for more than two decades, saving billions of gallons of water from power plants in the long run. Moreover, turbines spin during the day when the energy requirements are highest among households and commercial businesses.
Wind turbines also do not pollute the air, giving residents and wildlife an added benefit. The health outcomes of better air quality mean that the developers can work hand in hand with cattle ranchers who need to preserve the environment for their ranches and farms.
Commissioning in 2016
After Duke Energy completed the Los Vientos IV in 2016, the wind farm reached a capacity of 912 MW. The government commissioned the first phase in 2012, and the developer installed the remaining phases afterward.
CPS Energy, Austin Energy, Garland Power and Light, Greenville Electric Utility System, and Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) buy the clean energy from the wind farm and form the five customers of the power plant.
Project Cost of Los Vientos Wind Farm
North American Development Bank provided loan funding worth $220 million for Los Vientos I and II.
Los Vientos III and IV cost $410 million and are in Starr County.
Key Investment
Duke Energy Renewables and Leeward Renewable Energy own the farm.
Duke Energy Renewables is a leading renewable energy developer in the wind power generation business. The commissioning of the last phase of the farm in 2016 meant that the developer reached 1.5 GW of installed capacity in the state of Texas.
It was only in 2008 when Duke Energy installed its first 29-MW wind farm site. Less than a decade later, the company quickly scaled its wind energy portfolio to almost 100 times that size in 2016 at 2,500 MW. Los Vientos Wind farm made the milestone possible for the company but continues to build on its legacy and technology today.
The wind farm also represented a significant step for Vestas, the turbine manufacturer for Los Vientos III to Los Vientos V. The commissioning of Los Vientos IV allowed Vestas to surpass 75 G.W. of installed capacity in 75 countries.
The Other Biggest Wind Farms in Texas
Texas delivers a lot of the capacity from its largest wind farms.
Out of the total installed capacity of the state’s turbines, its top five wind farms in Texas comprise 8.9% of the state’s wind nameplate capacity. The total installed capacity in Texas is 36.8 MW.
- Los Vientos Wind farm – 912 MW
- Roscoe Wind farm – 404 MW
- Capricorn Ridge Wind farm – 735 MW
- Sweetwater Wind farm – 662.5 MW
- Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center – 585 MW