Pensacola's General Electric Westinghouse Plant plays a key role in the future of Wind Power
Although Pensacola Florida is not the ideal place for wind power, it is playing a key role in this growing industry. GE Wind Energy's, (formerly Westinghouse) huge assembly plant off Scenic Highway, is now one of the world's leading suppliers of 1.5 megawatt generators.
If you find yourself at the Pensacola port you may be lucky enough to see a shipment of their product being loaded for delivery around the world. States like North Dakota and California and countries like Denmark all utilize this unique energy production method. Wind Turbines are also shipped to countries like Thailand, Germany and Spain.
One wind powered generator runs about $2,000,000 to build and install but will have an estimated life span of 20 years and can produce enough electricity to power 400 homes. It is estimated that in America there is enough power in the wind to produce three times the electricity currently produced by all other sources combined. That is a lot of wind. California, North Dakota and many mid-west states are in optimum locations for windmill generators.
This may be an emerging industry but the demand for just the turbines is so great that the Pensacola plant runs 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. The Pensacola plant has created a lot of much needed employment for our area and has contributed to an industry that everyone can agree is great for our worlds future.