BP WInd Energy Completes Latest Wind Farm in Texas

BP Wind Energy, a subsidiary of British energy giant BP plc, has brought its latest wind farm online in Texas.

Located on 20,000 acres east of Fort Stockton, the Sherbino 2 Wind Farm is comprised of 60 Clipper Windpower turbines that combine to add 150 MW of renewable energy capacity to BP's growing U.S. wind energy portfolio.

Sherbino 2 joins the 150 MW Sherbino 1 which is owned in partnership by BP and NRG Energy, Inc.  Sherbino 1 was completed in 2008. Both wind farms are delivering power to the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas transmission system to be sold on the wholesale power market.

With the completion of Sherbino 2, BP Wind Energy claims to have 1,000 wind turbines in operation and expects to have a total wind capacity  of 2,600 MW by the end of the year.

In its five year history BP Wind Energy has invested nearly $5 billion in new wind power installations. As CEO John Graham says, "We have been building two to three projects each year since we started and have invested over $1 billion in wind power in Texas alone."

Commenting on hosting part of Sherbino 2, landowner D.A. Harral said, "Texas used to be about cattle, then it was about cattle, oil and gas," he says. "Now it's also about wind energy."

Texas is not the only state where BP is extending its wind energy investment. In early January, BP Wind Energy and Sempra U.S. Gas and Power announced a $1 billion dollar joint venture to develop two new wind farms in Pennsylvania and Kansas. Estimated to be operational by the end of 2012, the Mehoopany Wind farm and the Flat Ridge 2 Wind farm will combine to generate up to 560 MW of renewable energy.

Image Credit: ianmunroe via Flickr