Wind power in Arkansas

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2007 50-meter wind resource map of Arkansas

Wind power in Arkansas remains mostly untapped and as of 2014 no electricity was produced by wind turbines in the state.[1][2] As of 2015 it had not established a renewable portfolio standard.[3] Studies conducted conclude that while the state is generally consider to have low resources there are significant pockets throughout the state.[4][5]

Wind farm proposal

In January 2015, Texas-based Dragonfly Industries International, LLC, announced its intention to develop the first Arkansas wind farm on a 312-acre site in northeastern Arkansas in outside of Elm Springs in Washington County Dragonfly plans to build up to 40 wind pole turbines (80 Megawatts), rather than windmills, placed at one-acre intervals. The 150-foot wind poles will support generators (resembling those on the wings of jetliners, that would be raised and lowered using computers. It would be the first of its type to be built.[6] [7][8][9]

Import by transmission

The Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) purchases electrical power from wind farms outside the state, including[10] 51MW from Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm in Kansas.[11] In 2013 AECC entered a long-term agreement to buy 150 megawatts of wind energy from Oklahoma from the RES Americas-built Origin Wind Farm, which has 75 turbines in Murray County and Carter County, Oklahoma came on line at the end of 2014.[12][13] It was taken over by Enel.[14] It intends to purchase poet from Drift Sand Wind Farm in Oklahoma.

Potential

In 1991, using 50 meter hub height wind turbines, Arkansas was considered to have the potential to install 2,460 MW of wind turbines.[15] In 2010 this estimate was increased to 9,200 MW using 80 meter hub height turbines, which could generate 26.906 TWh of electricity each year.[16] In 2015 Arkansas used 46.346 TWh of electricity.[17] Raising the hub height to 110 meters, though, vastly increases the potential to 180,978 MW, capable of generating over 555 TWh of electricity each year.[18]

See also

References

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  4. http://www.cleanenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/Arkansas-Elevated-Opportunities-Wind-Technology-for-the-South.pdf
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  10. http://www.newportindependent.com/article/20150521/NEWS/150529884
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  15. An Assessment of the Available Windy Land Area and Wind Energy Potential in the Contiguous United States
  16. Estimates of Windy Land Area and Wind Energy Potential, by State
  17. Electric Power Monthly Table 5.4.B.
  18. Potential Wind Capacity