The Lone Star Wind Farm in Shackelford and Callahan Counties in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

was officially opened by

EDP Renewables North America EDP Renewables North America (former names: Zilkha Renewable Energy and Horizon Wind Energy) and its subsidiaries develop, construct, own, and operate wind farms and solar parks throughout North America. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with 58 w ...

in June 2008, with an installed generating capacity of 400 MW. The site's 200

Gamesa Gamesa (formerly Galletera Mexicana S.A. de C.V. "Mexican Biscuit Company") is Mexico's largest manufacturer of cookies. The company also makes flour, ready to eat cereals and other related products. It is headquartered in San Nicolás de los Gar ...

2 MW

wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wi ...

produce enough electricity for at least 120,000 homes, with environmental benefits claimed to be equivalent to taking about 90,000 cars off the road.

Location

The Lone Star Wind Farm is located about 15 miles northeast of the city of Abilene. The wind farm is separated into two sites, or phases, with Phase I to the north that consists of 10
Gamesa G87
wind turbines and Phase II to the south also consisting of 100 Gamesa G87 wind turbines.

Land Use

Lone Star Wind Farm leases the land where the turbines sit and according to EDP Renewables North America from 2008-2019 has paid local landowners $24.9 million. In addition to the long-term lease agreements, Lone Star Wind Farm also has

easement An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...

agreements which allowed for the construction of access roads and transmission corridors. Land land surrounding the turbines is mainly used for ranching,

oil extraction Petroleum is a fossil fuel that can be drawn from beneath the earth's surface. Reservoirs of petroleum was formed through the mixture of plants, algae, and sediments in shallow seas under high pressure. Petroleum is mostly recovered from oil dri ...

, as well as

gas extraction Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...

Wind turbine of wind farm Arachnaio II 1

Environmental Impact

According to a facts sheet put out in 2021 by EDP Renewables North America, the Lone Star Wind Farm saves more than 711 million gallons of water each year. However in the fine print of the facts sheet it is stated that this number is calculated by using the assumption that more conventional forms of generated electricity use up 0.58 gallons for every kilowatt-hour(kWh) that is produced. The 0.58 gallon/kWh statistic is taken from a study published by the Argonne National Laboratory's Energy System Division in 2016, entitled ''Water Consumption Factors for Electricity Generation in the United States'' by authors Uisung Lee, Jeongwoo Han, and Amgad Elgowainy.

References

Energy infrastructure completed in 2008 Wind farms in Texas Buildings and structures in Callahan County, Texas Buildings and structures in Shackelford County, Texas {{wind-farm-stub