The massive expansion of US wind farms of the next two years has begun in earnest. Among these stands German utility Eon, announcing that the installation of the 220 MW Cranell project in the Texan county Refugio has started.

The wind farm, which is expected to be operational later this year, will consist of 100 Vestas wind turbines. Thus, it is identical to the order of V120.2.2 MW turbines that the Danish manufacturer announced in late March. At the time, however, no name was given as to the project nor the customer of the order, which includes a 25-year service agreement of the type AOM5000.

The announcement arrives just a few weeks after the German utility announced construction of another Texan project. This announcement concerned the 151 MW wind farm Peyton Creek, which is to be established with the slightly larger 3.15 MW turbines from Nordex. With the latest project, Eon reaches a number of 25 projects in North America, of which the main part of the capacity – about 3 out of 4 GW total – is located in Texas.

Besides Eon's projects, a range of other developers are in the process of installing wind turbines across the US. Looking ahead to the expiration of the full PTC support by the end of 2020, a veritable boom in construction is expected, with wind turbine installation exceeding 20 GW of combined capacity.

English Edit: Jonas Sahl Jørgensen

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