A blustery Sunday last week across Texas broke the record for wind generation, the second time in less than two weeks that November wind gusts produced record-breaking power from the state’s wind farms.
Just after noon on Nov. 27, gusts along the Gulf Coast, the Texas Panhandle and in West Texas generated 15,033 megawatts of wind energy at once, accounting for nearly half of the state’s electricity at the time, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees about 90 percent of the state’s electric grid. The burst of clean power easily beat the previous record, set Nov. 17, when strong gusts drove wind turbines to generate 14,100 megawatts. (A megawatt can power about 200 homes during peak demand, and 500 homes during milder weather.)