Mesa Power, the sustainable energy company founded by Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, has just placed the largest order ever for a single-site wind turbine purchase. Mesa is ordering 667 wind turbines from General Electric, which will be capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 300,000 homes.
The deal is the first stage of the Pampa Wind Project, a proposed $2 billion wind farm in the Texas Panhandle. The area is known for strong, stable winds, low population and wide-open spaces, making it an attractive area for wind-generated energy.
When all four phases of the Pampa Wind Project is completed in 2014, the company says it will be the world's largest wind energy generator and five times bigger than the U.S.'s current largest wind power project, which produces 736 megawatts.
Earlier this spring, Mesa Power took landowners in the area on an organized tour and the company says it is starting the paperwork on signing leases with individual owners. A study commissioned by Mesa Power projected the wind farm would generate an estimate 1,495 jobs during the construction phase and 720 jobs a typical year once the site is up and operational.
About 1.3 million homes will be powered by the more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity the Mesa Power project will eventually generate. When finished, the Pampa Wind Project will be spread out over some 400,000 acres.
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