Gulf Wind Farm

American high-power-producing wind farm

27°05′16.02″N 97°35′22.02″W / 27.0877833°N 97.5894500°W / 27.0877833; -97.5894500Commission date2009^[1]Construction cost$740 million^[2]Owner(s)Pattern Energy GroupWind farm Type

Onshore

Power generation Units operational118 × 2.3 MW^[1]Make and modelSiemens Gamesa^[1] SWT-2.3-108Nameplate capacity271 MW^[1]External linksWebsitepatternenergy.com/projects/gulf-wind/

[edit on Wikidata]

Gulf Wind is a 271 megawatt wind farm located on the Texas Gulf Coast in Kenedy County. It is operated by Pattern Energy which is based in San Francisco.^[3] The wind farm’s output is contracted under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Austin Energy.^[1]

History

Gulf Wind first generated electricity for the Texas power grid in November 2008,^[4] with all turbines expected operational by September 2010.^[5] Gulf Wind's former owner Babcock & Brown sold the development rights to Pattern Energy in 2009.^[6]^[4]

In 2021 Pattern Energy replaced its Mitsubishi^[7] 2.4 MW turbines with Siemens Gamesa SWT-2.3-108 turbines.^[8] This changed total output from 283.3^[9] to 271.4 MW.^[1]

Hurricane Harvey

Gulf Wind farm was operational during most of Hurricane Harvey's landfall in Texas in August 2017, with turbines only shutting down when winds reach 55 miles per hour (89 km/h), and returning to normal operation the next day.^[10]^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Gulf Wind Factsheet" (PDF). Pattern Energy. October 2022.
^ Zamora, Michael (January 8, 2009). "Energy in the wind". Corpus Christi Caller-Times – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Pattern Energy Group Acquires 283 MW Texas Wind Farm From Babcock & Brown". Green Energy Reporter. March 18, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14.
^ ^a ^b Chirinos, Fanny S. (April 21, 2009). "Kenedy Gulf Wind site put on shopping block". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. p. 6B – via Newspapers.com.
^ Chirinos, Fanny S. (January 6, 2009). "Two area wind farms have turbines turning". Corpus Christi Caller-Times – via Newspapers.com.
^ Chirinos, Fanny S. (June 26, 2009). "Portion of Kenedy County wind farm project sold". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. p. 6C – via Newspapers.com.
^ Kelley, Dan (September 5, 2009). "Lawsuit could affect Kenedy County wind farms". Corpus Christi Caller-Times – via Newspapers.com.
^ Ramirez, Chris (January 6, 2020). "Who is the Pattern Energy Group and why is it becoming more of a player in Texas?". Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
^ Collette, Mark (January 6, 2013). "Coastal bend wind farms". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. p. 5B – via Newspapers.com.
^ Mahan, Simon (August 30, 2017). "Texas Wind Farms Survive Hurricane Harvey". Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Archived from the original on 2017-08-30.
^ Kessler, Richard A. (29 August 2017). "Most Texas coastal wind farms avoid Harvey storm damage". Recharge.