The Titan Wind Project is a proposed 5,050 MW wind farm

Wind farm

A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...

 project, formerly known as Rolling Thunder, based in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

. The project developers, Clipper Windpower

Clipper Windpower

Clipper Windpower is a wind turbine manufacturing company formed in 2001 by James G.P. Dehlsen, who also formed Zond in 1980. In December 2010 Clipper Windpower was acquired by United Technologies Corporation.-History:...

 and BP Alternative Energy, expect to build Titan in several phases and, when completed, it will be one of the largest wind farms in the world.

The complete wind farm would use up to 2,020 of Clipper's Liberty 2.5 MW wind turbines

Liberty Wind Turbine

The 2.5 MW Liberty Wind Turbine is the largest wind turbine manufactured in the United States. The turbine was developed through a partnership with U.S. Department of Energy and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory for Clipper Windpower....

.

Production

Operating at full capacity, the project would be able to supply the electricity for 100% of the households in the state several times over. South Dakota's entire electricity consumption in 2005 was 9.811 TWh. At an assumed capacity factor

Capacity factor

The net capacity factor or load factor of a power plant is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its potential output if it had operated at full nameplate capacity the entire time...

 of 25% (probably conservative for windy South Dakota), a 5.05 GW nameplate capacity

Nameplate capacity

Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity or maximum effect, refers to the intended technical full–load sustained output of a facility such as a power plant, a chemical plant, fuel plant, metal refinery, mine, and many others.For dispatchable power,...

 would correspond to an annual generation of:

Phase I

Construction of phase I began in 2009 on a 7500 acres (30.4 km²) site in Hand County

Hand County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,741 people, 1,543 households, and 1,050 families residing in the county. The population density was 3 people per square mile . There were 1,840 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile...

 in the Ree Hills south of Ree Heights

Ree Heights, South Dakota

Ree Heights is a town in Hand County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 62 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Ree Heights is located at ....

. The project was complete by the end of the year. Phase I consists of 10 Liberty C89 2.5 MW wind turbines for a combined nameplate capacity of 25 MW. Northwestern Energy

Northwestern Energy

NorthWestern Corporation owns NorthWestern Energy, a utility company that serves South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana that is based in Sioux Falls...

has a long-term power purchase agreement.

Renewable Energy Objective

In 2008, the South Dakota legislature passed a Renewable Energy Objective. The bill is mostly a symbolic gesture, as it's not a mandate, only an objective. Furthermore the obective is only 10% by 2015. Considering that hydroelectric dams already produce about 45% of the state's electricity, that objective will likely be met.