The 605.2 megawatt (MW) Peñascal Wind Farm project is located south of Baffin Bay in Kenedy County, Texas. It was built in three phases by Iberdrola and Mortenson Construction. It became Iberdrola's largest renewable energy facility in the world after completion of the second phase in 2010.Iberdrola Opens 404-MW Penascal Wind Farm Renewable Energy World, 22 June 2010.
Details
The first two construction phases of the wind farm each have 84 Mitsubishi MWT-92 2.4 MW wind turbines. Around 200 people were involved in the construction. Phase I was completed in April 2009, and Phase II came online in April 2010.
The facility also created about 20 long-term jobs in maintenance and operation. Iberdrola received a $114 million treasury grant for the project as part of the stimulus funds that was released in September 2009. On July 30, 2010, the U.S. Treasury's 1603 Program website listed the Penascal II Wind Project as having received a total award amount of $222,861,149.
Phase three of the project consists of 101 Gamesa G97 2.0 MW wind turbines. Construction began in 2013 and was completed in 2015.
The wind farm includes an innovative radar system that detects the arrival of large flocks of migratory birds and shuts down the turbines if visibility conditions present a danger.
Electricity production
+Peñascal Wind Project electricity generation (MW·h) Year Peñascal 1(201.6 MW) Peñascal 2(201.6 MW) Baffin(202 MW) Total annualMW·h 2008 87* - - 87 2009 376,572* - - 376,572 2010 595,498 333,048* - 928,546 2011 619,812 666,210 - 1,286,022 2012 636,724 584,703 - 1,221,427 2013 608,004 576,422 - 1,184,426 2014 564,882 528,958 - 1,093,840 2015 446,547 460,217 356,943* 1,263,707 2016 510,071 469,891 532,618 1,512,580 2017 588,153 525,946 624,903 1,739,002 2018 576,536 522,695 628,961 1,728,192 2019 494,618 462,752 607,698 1,565,068Average annual production (years 2016-2019) 1,636,210Average capacity factor (years 2016-2019) 30.9% (*) partial year of operation
See also
Wind power in Texas Environmental impact of wind power List of wind farms in the United States
References
External links Penascal Wind Power Project, Fact Sheet Penascal Baffin Wind Power Project, Fact Sheet VIDEO: Peñascal, Texas Wind Power Project