90 MW Bluebonnet Wind Farm, Texas

The proposed 90 MW Bluebonnet wind farm will be

located on farm and pasture land in Lamb County, Texas. We have finished site development activities -- this project is essentially ready to construct. We are currently working on power marketing activities.  A photo of the project site is shown here.

The Bluebonnet wind farm would provide the average energy supply for about 55,000 homes in Texas.

Environmental Benefits. The renewable energy produced by wind power is clean and non-polluting (i.e., no emissions). As compared with the energy produced by a coal-fired power plant, the environmental attributes and air emissions savings benefits of this 90 MW wind farm are estimated as follows:

●  reduces equivalent coal consumption and mining of 41,000 tons per year

●  equivalent reduced natural gas consumption of 1,030,000,000 cubic feet per year

●  reduces dependence on imported oil, saving the consumption of 182,000 barrels per year

●  reduced water pollution/consumption of 151,000,000 gallons per year

●  equivalent avoided emission of 665,000,000 lbs of CO2 per year, which reduces the impacts of global warming and climate change

●  equivalent to planting about 24,000,000 trees (or a 110,000 acre forest), because trees naturally absorb CO2

The emissions and pollution SAVED (or prevented) during the Bluebonnet wind project’s life of 20 years — roughly 13.3 billion pounds of NOx, SOx, PM, and CO2 — would cover the entire City of Lubbock, Texas (115 square miles) 102 feet deep! Wow!

Ahhh, breathe the clean, natural air from the Bluebonnet wind farm…

Economic Benefits. Wind power is a renewable energy resource that would lessen the region's dependence on fossil fuels. The “fuel” for this energy resource — the wind — is natural, abundant, and free/renewable, which would reduce the impact of fossil fuel price volatility on local utilities and their customers.

This Project would be a boost to Texas’ economy through local construction jobs and expenditures on materials, tools, supplies, and equipment purchases, as well as through the creation of long-term employment. The local economic benefits (direct and indirect) from this wind project over 20 years is estimated to be roughly $180 million, including property taxes, payroll from high-skilled jobs, land owner/farmer land leases, sales taxes, business taxes, various services purchased from local retailers, etc.

Social and Health Savings. Further, the hidden economic burdens placed on society from air pollution created by coal and gas-fired power generation is huge—the costs to “medicate” and “repair” our society, based upon the various air pollution values over 20 years mentioned above, is roughly estimated at $370 million, which comprises health care and disease costs, plus damage to crops, property, climate, etc., as well as, impacts to public services. Therefore, the clean, renewable power from this wind farm would save our society roughly $370 million over 20 years in health and societal costs.

Birds/ Wildlife Benefits. Not only does the use of clean, natural wind power save human lives, it also saves the lives of birds and other wildlife.  Birds are far more sensitive to air pollution than humans due to the thinness of the bird's lung's air-sac gas-exchange tissue, roughly half of the thickness of mammals, plus the large amounts of oxygen required for flight.  Therefore, birds are far more sensitive to airborne particulates and pollution.  In addition, fossil-fired power plants cause significant bird fatalities not only from air pollution, but from mining, destruction of forests, acid rain which causes acidification of soil and lakes/rivers, ingesting toxic mercury, collisions with power plant smokestacks and structures, climate change which wreaks havoc on migration routes and degrades habitats, etc.  However, birds also collide to a lesser extent with wind turbines.  Therefore, considering the entirety of the impacts, this wind farm will save an estimated net 30,000 birds over 20 years, as well as other wildlife, by displacing fossil-fired power (Sovacool, 2009).
 
For more information about the environmental, health, and economic benefits of wind power, please visit our Health Benefits of Wind Power page page.

All values contained herein are preliminary and approximate. 

April 2010