Orsted confirmed it will build the 367MW Western Trail wind project in Texas, as it continues to aggressively diversify and expand its US onshore renewables portfolio.

When Western Trail reaches commercial operation in 2021 in Wilbarger County bordering Oklahoma, it will be the Danish company’s largest onshore wind project. That distinction now belongs to the 338MW Sage Draw wind farm in West Texas which came online in April.

Orsted, the global offshore wind leader, re-entered the onshore wind space in 2018 with the high-profile acquisition of US renewables developer Lincoln Clean Energy, whose portfolio was heavy with Texas projects.

Texas is the largest wind power market in both the US and western hemisphere with at least 30GW capacity installed and another 5-7GW in development.

Orsted now has about 1.4GW of installed US wind capacity that includes the recently commissioned 103MW Willow Creek project in the state of South Dakota.

Orsted is also making waves with utility-scale solar PV. In July, it acquired the 294MW Muscle Shoals project from Longroad Energy, which will be the largest solar array in the state of Alabama when completed in mid-2021.

The 460MW (420MW PV + 40MW battery storage) Permian Energy Center in West Texas in the heart of the state’s oil producing region is scheduled for commissioning in 2021. The project made headlines when ExxonMobil agreed to a 12-year power purchase agreement for 250MW of that capacity.

Wind

Biggest wind farm on dry land for offshore giant Orsted