Oklahoma, Eight Other States Set Record for Wind Power Generation

• Logan Layden
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  Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. He is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Logan spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman and six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017. Most recently, he was news director for McAlester Radio before returning to public radio in 2020.

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The Southwest Power Pool, the eight-state regional electricity transmission organization that includes Oklahoma, set a record for wind power generation on Oct. 10, generating about 6,400 megawatts for several hours.

Including coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower, about a quarter of the of the region’s power that afternoon came from wind, The Oklahoman’s Paul Monies reports:

The organization has a total wind generating capacity of more than 7,260 megawatts, so Thursday’s peak of 6,448 megawatts was about 89 percent of the wind capacity in the region. One megawatt can power about 200 homes during peak demand times.

The amount of megawatts produced is a record, but the SPP actually used a higher percentage of wind power in its mix back on April 6. Monies talked to Michael Goggin with the American Wind Energy Association, who said the spring and fall months provide the best conditions for the generation of wind power.

“The winds have been pretty high in the last few days with the weather systems over much of the Midwest,” Goggin said. “The SPP has great wind in Oklahoma and Kansas that can provide high amounts of power. We’ve got a stable, high-quality resource there.”