Zenergy Zone: Big Wind

The Great Plains states provide a tremendous potential "Wind Zone" that can be harvested as a natural resource.

Zenergy is targeting areas from Canada to Mexico across the plains with an abundance of suitable sites for wind energy development.

This green wind zone has become the major supplier of U.S. wind power and Zenergyis positioning itself to grow with what it believes will eminently become a boom in wind farm and wind technologies growth. Texas is the leading wind power state in the U.S. followed by Iowa in the Midwest. The Pacific Northwest and the Northeast also have many excellent sites as well. In contrast, the Southeast has very poor wind energy resources, however the Appalachian Mountains do provide a few good areas.

A groundbreaking study has found that Nebraska and the other states in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) region can reliably obtain 40% of their electricity from wind energy, achieving major carbon emissions reductions and incurring only minor costs associated with operating the power system differently than it operates.

The wind integration study, funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, examined how the power system would operate in scenarios in which 10%, 20%, and 40% of the electricity was supplied by wind energy in Nebraska and the SPP region, which includes all of Kansas and Oklahoma, most of Nebraska, and parts of New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas. A 40% wind energy penetration is one of the highest levels studied thus far, in the U.S. or anywhere in the world.

Major carbon emission reductions were found in all scenarios, with CO2 emissions dropping by over 25 million tons per year in moving from the 10% wind scenario to the 40% wind scenario. As the world's growing energy consumption increases demand for clean power solutions, wind technology has proven to be a full-blown growth industry with symbiotic green answers for a small planet.

America's Wind Energy

The United States was the second largest installed capacity of wind power, after Germany until 2008, when it surpassed Germany with the American Wind Energy Association stating that the United States had 21,000 MW of wind energy capacity at the end of 2008. A total of 8,538 MW were added in 2008. At the end of March 2008 the United States wind power capacity was 18,302 MW, which is enough to serve 4.9 million average households.

Currently, the largest wind farm in the US and the largest in the world is Florida Power & Light's Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, located in Taylor County, Texas. The Horse Hollow project operates 421 wind turbines and has a capacity of 735 megawatts.

Prior to Horse Hollow's completion, the largest US wind farm was the Stateline Wind Project on the Oregon-Washington line, with a peak capacity of 300 megawatts. Three California wind "farms" arguably have greater combined capacity but are actually collections of dozens of individual wind farms. The California farms have many different owners and turbine types and have been constructed, retrofitted and occasionally dismantled since they were first installed in late 1982. As of 2005, all three of these areas are seeing renewed growth.

Primarily, the older and smaller wind turbines are being replaced with much larger, more efficient models. Some of the workhorses of the past were only 65 kilowatts (kW) in capacity or even smaller, though some were several hundred kW. Today, a few models approach 6,000 kW (6 MW). Secondarily, non-functional turbines are also being returned to service.

Northern California is home to one of the earliest large wind farms. An advantage of the Altamont Pass Wind Farm is that under hot inland (Central Valley) conditions, a thermal low is developed that brings in cool coastal marine air, driving the turbines at a time of maximum electricity demand. From 2003 to 2006, dozens of state-of-the-art turbines were installed at the Montezuma Hills near the Sacramento River delta. Eight of the turbines, at 415 feet tall, are the largest in the United States-and are 110 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

These 3-megawatt Vestas wind turbines each produce enough power to meet the annual needs of more than 1,000 households. The majority of the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm as viewed from the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. (The farm continues over the hills to the north along California State Route 62 and is not visible from this vantagepoint). The layout includes a variety of large modern and older smaller turbine designs. (Pictured below)