Airtricity, the Dublin-based renewable energy company, plans to build wind energy facilities large enough to supply a million homes with electricity.
Wind turbines in Texas will produce energy that, if produced from non-renewable fuels, would cause the release of more than six million tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions into the atmosphere each year, the company said last night.
The wind turbines will be connected to a $1.5 billion (€1.14 billion), 800 mile long "transmission loop" that will also be fed from new gas-fired and coal-fired generating facilities.
If one of the generating sources is working at a low capacity, then the others can make up for it.
Chief executive of Airtricity Eddie O'Connor said the project, in the Texas Panhandle plains area, "is like constructing a power station greater than the entire generation for Ireland".
Airtricity is one of five companies involved in the project, which it is due for completion by 2010. The panhandle is an area in northern Texas encompassing large areas of flat land.
Mr O'Connor said the panhandle has a rich and abundant wind resource and the planned loop would allow the entire state benefit from wind-generated energy.
He described the scale of the project as "unprecedented" and said it would have substantial benefits for the US economy and the global environment.
"This is another example of the power of imagination. Airtricity is proud to be the initiator of this landmark project."
Airtricity already has a number of wind turbines operating in Texas. Connecting up turbines over a very wide area significantly increases the efficiency of wind power electricity generation.
Airtricity is also involved in an ambitious project in Europe called the Supergrid, which would see turbines being connected from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.
The Texas project "mirrors the vision for our revolutionary Supergrid project, which will bring, among other things, security of supply, reduced energy costs and large-scale interconnection to Europe", Mr O'Connor said.
The other companies involved in the project are Babcock & Brown Renewable Holdings, Celanese, Occidental Energy Ventures Corp, and Sharyland Utilities.
Airtricity supplies electricity to 35,000 Irish commercial customers.
