Earth Protect Blog

A wind farm is a collection of wind turbines in the same location. This may also be called a “wind power plant,” because many wind turbines working together can produce a lot of electricity—just like coal or nuclear power plants. Wind turbines are often grouped together in wind farms because this is the most economical way to create electricity from the wind. In other words, wind farms give us the most power for our buck! Electricity from wind farms is one of the most affordable sources of electricity today, and may soon be the cheapest form as technology advances and fossil fuels become less abundant.

Horse Hollow Wind Farm - 735.5 MW        (FPL)

Some wind farms are very small - just two or three turbines sited together. Other wind farms are enormous. The largest wind farm in the world is in Texas. It has 421 wind turbines spread out over 47,000 acres. This wind farm can produce a total of 735.5 Megawatts of electricity. That is enough to power over 220,000 American homes! Other huge wind farms are being planned around the world. One large wind farm being planned off the coast of England would power 25% of the homes in London! Shell WindEnergy Inc. has announced plans to build a 3,000 MW wind farm in the panhandle of Texas. As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas!

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center is a large wind farm with 735.5 megawatt (MW) capacity. It consists of 291 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines and 130 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines spread over nearly 47,000 acres (190 km²) of land in Taylor and Nolan County,Texas.^[1]

The first phase of the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center consisted of 213 MW and was completed in late 2005; phase two consisted of 223.5 MW and was completed in the second quarter of 2006; phase three which consisted of 299 MW, was completed by the end of 2006.^[1]

The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center was subject to one of the nation's first nuisance lawsuits against a wind farm. Plaintiffs in the area of the wind farm, many of whom live on 100-700 acre properties, originally filed suit in June 2005, unhappy about the appearance of the turbines. Soon after, the judge ruled that under Texas law, they could not complain about the look of the wind farm. The complaints then shifted to the sound created by the turbines and extensive noise measurements were made. However, the jury found that the wind farm did not create a private nuisance, and awarded the plaintiffs nothing.^[2]

NextEra Energy Resources (through its subsidiaries) currently owns and operates Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center and 46 other wind farms throughout the United States, with an installed capacity of 4,002 MW, which is enough capacity to provide electricity for nearly one million average U.S. homes.^[1]