Tehachapi Homeowners and Wind Energy Projects are a Good Match

Why should Tehachapi homeowners care what’s been going on in the Tehachapi Wind Energy Industry?

If you’ve been down Tehachapi Willow Springs road lately you may have noticed the earth moving equipment near Oak Creek.  According to this March 3, 2010 press release, Terra-Gen Power, LLC broke ground for a major wind energy project installation. The ground-breaking marks the beginning of the Alta-Oak Creek Mojave project installion of 100 GE 1.5 megawatt wind turbines.  Phase 1 will produce 150 megawatts of clean, renewable energy.  The entire project includes 320 turbines with an 800 megawatt capacity.  This project will fulfill about 50% of Terra-Gen’s contract to provide 1550 megawatts of wind-generated energy to Southern California Edison.  The energy from these new turbines will be fed to SCE’s WIndhub adjacent to the site.

Terra-Gen has seven existing wind projects in the Tehachapi area.  Terra-Gen is not the only wind energy company that’s been busy in the Tehachapi area. Beacon Power’snew flywheel installation is now in service.

The system is part of a demonstration project undertaken for the California Energy Commission.  The primary goal of the project is to demonstrate that advanced control technology with energy storage can help expand the delivery of wind energy by effectively increasing the capacity of constrained transmission facilities in the area.

According to Beacon’s press release up to 4200 megawatts of wind-generated energy may added in the Tehachapi area in the coming years.

I can hear you saying to yourself, “that’s all nice, but why should Tehachapi homeowners care?”  Several reasons, actually.  The first one is that all this new industry means more jobs.  Maybe that’s an opportunity for you or a neighbor to get back to work.  It is also likely that some of these employees will be looking for new places to live.  If you’ve been thinking about selling your home, this may be a good time to consider moving forward.  Could this be the right time to make your move?

If you’d like more information, please feel free to call me at (661) 375-REAL or send me an email.

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