California, Hawaii Take the Lead as West Coast Looks at More than 1,300 Megawatts of Wind Energy for 2012

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Wind generation is continuing to move forward in the U.S., even though the federal production tax credit (PTC) is at a standstill. There are more than 1,300 megawatts (MW) of wind energy under construction in the states that make up the West Coast. Currently, there are 12 projects that are represented in these states that are on target to reach full commercial operations by the end of 2012.

California leads the charge in wind energy for the West Coast, with six projects on target to be completed before the end of this year that will generate nearly 880 MW. Iberdrola Renewables' Manzana windfarm, one of the largest projects in the state, will produce more than 240 MW once it reaches commercial startup. Alaska and Washington have three projects between them, totaling more than 140 MW, with the 100-MW Palouse windfarm (owned by First Wind) slated to be completed by the end of the year. Oregon's Shepherds Flat III project, which is owned by Caithness Energy LLC, will produce more than 260 MW by the fall. It is one of the largest projects being constructed in the state. Hawaii has three projects in the later parts of construction, totaling more than 100 MW, with the Kawailoa Windfarm set to generate more than 60 MW of wind energy.

Recently, First Wind Holdings Incorporated (Boston, Massachusetts), through its subsidiary Kaheawa Wind Power LLC (Pukalani, Hawaii), completed an estimated $42 million expansion at the Kaheawa Pastures windfarm, located in Kihei, Hawaii.

Construction on the expansion project began during the summer of 2011. Commercial operation was achieved earlier this month. The expansion consisted of the construction 14 additional GE Energy 1.5sle-model wind turbines to the existing facility. Before the recent expansion took place, Kaheawa Pastures was capable of producing only 30 MW of wind energy. Now that the project is complete, the nameplate capacity for Kaheawa Pastures is just more than 50 MW, which is enough renewable energy to power 50,000 homes.

RMT WindConnect ( Madison, Wisconsin) acted as the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project throughout the duration of construction.

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