North America's Largest Wind Farm Awaits for Approval

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could soon give the green light to the biggest wind project ever developed in North America, even larger than the 781 MW Roscoe Wind Farm built in Texas.

Once completed and fully functional, the ChokeCherry-Sierra Madre Wind Project, proposed by the Denver-based Anschutz Corp, could provide up to 2,000 MW of power, due to its 1,000 wind turbines placed on two different surfaces, according to Clean Technica.

Each wind turbine installed in the facility has a capacity ranging from 1.5 to 3 MW. All in all, the power generated could easily be distributed to the energy grid.

The energy offered by the giant farm would account for one third of the overall renewable power output expected from all the announced projects, located on public land that are currently waiting for governmental approval.

If the Obama administration were to give the green light to this project, it would represent a premiere for America, since so far projects involving renewables built on public land have focused on harnessing geothermal power.

Moreover, it appears that even if BLM is controlling 245 million acres of public land, a much-needed boost given to the sector of alternative power has not been on the list of priorities so far. Instead, BLM was determined to make the best of oil and gas.

In this case, the approval of the Wyoming wind farm count as a powerful example, favoring the market of alternative sources of power and helping Americans green up their homes.

So far, the Obama administration tried to shift the US from a coal and foreign oil addiction, by giving the green light to projects summing 6,600 MW (6.6 GW) of renewable power, in 2011.

If the same path is preserved, by the end of the year the number could increase to 13.6 GW. This means that renewable sources could satisfy the energy demand of 5% of the American households, over the next three decades.

Other projects involving renewables, also waiting for approval, are coming from Arizona, Nevada and California.