EON plans to construct a 228 MW wind farm in Texas
German energy firm EON plans to construct a 228 MW wind farm, named Bruenning Breeze, in the south of Texas. The farm will be the 22nd of its kind to be built in the US by EON, with the company operating with 3 GW of power in North America. EON has already begun construction on an Illinois wind farm, and started operations at its 20th US wind farm in Amarillo Texas. Despite Texas’ leadership as an oil producer, it installed the largest amount of wind capacity in the US in 2015.

German energy company E.ON says it's taking a leadership position in North American wind power with new plans for Texas. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo

ESSEN, Germany, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Claiming a leadership position in North America, a German energy company said it's planning to install a wind farm in the oil-rich state of Texas. German energy company E.ON said it plans to build a 228-megawatt wind farm near the southern Texas coast. The Bruenning Breeze wind farm will be the 22nd wind farm constructed by the German company in the United States. Advertisement

"This decision reflects our strong commitment to further develop renewables in the U.S. market," Michael Lewis, the head of the renewables division at E.ON, said in a statement. "Projects like Bruenning's Breeze demonstrate that we are clearly competitive with conventional power and we will continue our goal to further drive down the costs of renewable energy."

The company already entered the construction phase for a wind farm in Illinois before making the Texas announcement. Combined, E.ON has 3 gigawatts of power installed in North America and claims a leadership position in the region in onshore wind farms. Almost half of that capacity is in the United States.

E.ON started operations at the Colbeck's Corner wind farm in Amarillo, Texas, its 20th wind farm in the United States, in August.

Advertisement

Texas is the No. 1 oil producer in the nation, but added the most wind capacity of any state last year. The German energy company said wind farms are becoming more cost-competitive, with the budget for the Texas projects coming below what similar projects cost in 2009.

A report in May from the American Wind Energy Association found the wind energy sector is on pace to meet about 10 percent of the electricity in the United States by 2020.