E.ON's Texan wind farm stakes claim as world's largest

Energy giant E.ON will today flick the switch on what it says is the world's largest wind farm, a 627-turbine, 781.5MW development spanning nearly 100,000 acres near Roscoe, Texas.

The company said that the 627 wind turbines manufactured by Mitsubishi, General Electric and Siemens would together provide enough electricity to power more than 230,000 homes.

Steve Trenholm, North American chief executive of E.ON's Climate and Renewables arm, said that the project was unprecedented in its scale, covering an area as large as several Manhattans.

"Completing the world's biggest wind farm took more than a billion-dollar investment, co-ordination with more than 300 landowners and management of more than 500 workers," he said.

The project was welcomed by Texas governor Rick Perry, who said that it underlined the state's position as a leading player in the global wind energy industry. "Texas continues to lead the nation in the development of renewable energy and has more wind-generation capacity than any other state and all but four countries," he said.

The scale of the Roscoe complex further highlights the burgeoning success of the US wind industry, which recently overtook Germany as the leading provider of wind energy globally. It has pulled in a number of high-profile investors and developers from Europe attracted by a generous incentive regime and fewer planning restrictions.

Most notably, Shell and BP both announced earlier this year that they planned to focus all future wind-energy investments in North America, while turbine manufacturer Vestas controversially closed a number of plants in Europe in order to increase its presence in the US.

The sector received a further boost this summer when the Obama administration launched a new $3bn (£1.9bn) investment fund which will provide direct funding to around 5,000 renewable energy projects in return for them forgoing the previous tax break incentive scheme.