RWE, reputedly the third largest renewable energy company in the USA, is advancing its commitment to investing in American energy production and rural economic development with projects to upgrade and expand ‘home-grown’ energy capacity near Big Spring, Texas. The projects signal a strategic investment in expanding domestic power generation to meet demand from the state’s booming manufacturing and technology sectors.
Through the repowering of its 127 MW Forest Creek wind farm currently underway and construction of its 181 MW Honey Mesquite project, which will begin in autumn 2025, RWE will deliver 308 MW of new and upgraded capacity to West Texas. Both projects will use GE Vernova’s domestically produced wind turbine technology. GE Vernova is making use of its robust domestic supply chain to deliver 109 of its 2.82 MW wind turbines for the two projects
Onsite construction is now underway at Forest Creek to modernise the facility and extend its operating lifetime for an additional 30 years. The project includes the decommissioning of all original wind towers, turbines and other components and construction of new tower foundations for the 45 new turbines that will be installed onsite. Forest Creek is expected to resume operations by the end of 2025.
As part of its commitment to minimising waste and reusing or recovering materials at its projects, RWE is partnering with Wanzek Construction, a MasTec Renewables company, to ensure that all decommissioned components including the wind turbine blades, rotors and nacelles will be repurposed or recycled.
RWE’s Honey Mesquite wind farm will begin construction this year and is expected to begin operating in late 2026. In total, RWE has invested $9 billion statewide in Texas since 2007 when Forest Creek first began operations.
