The Shell Group (Houston, TX) has expanded its wind energy capacity in the US. Shell WindEnergy Inc., part of the Shell Renewables LLC division, has purchased Whitewater Hill Wind Partners LLC, which is developing the 61.5MW Whitewater Hill wind farm in California's San Gorgonio Pass. The facility will be built by Cannon Power with 1.5MW turbines from General Electric Corp., and is scheduled to be operational next month.
The GE Wind Energy manufacturing facility is located in Tehachapi, 160km away. The San Gorgonio Pass has 1,300 turbines, and the Whitewater Hill project will install the 1.5MW turbines along existing smaller units to increase power density at the site. In May, Shell said it would purchase the 41MW Cabazon Pass wind farm, which will be completed in August 2002. The two acquisitions will complement Shell's 50MW Rock River wind farm in Wyoming and the 80MW White Deer facility in Texas.
