The construction of two new wind power facilities—one in Texas, the other in Iowa—was announced in March, 2001.
The Texas facility will be owned and operated by Enron Wind and Enron Power Marketing Inc. (EPMI), and will consist of a 135-megawatt wind farm near Iraan, Texas. EPMI will purchase the project’s electricity under a long-term agreement for resale into the Texas wholesale electricity market. This will be the first major wind facility that allows wholesale customers to purchase portions of the wind power production. The project, which consists of ninety wind turbines, is expected to be completed in late 2001 and will supply approximately 520,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year.
The Iowa facility will be developed by Northern Iowa Windpower, a joint venture between Zilkha Renewable Energy and Midwest Renewable Energy Corporation. It is planned to be an 80-megawatt wind-powered electric generating facility consisting of up to eighty-nine wind turbines on approximately 6,500 acres of cropland in western Worth County, Iowa. The facility is currently under development with commencement of construction planned for early spring and commercial operation for Dec. 31, 2001.
