Greenbang remembers a bygone era when wind was just good for kite flying, drying clothes and sailing. Pah, stupid wind. What good was it to humanity then? Selfish, Greenbang reckons.

Nowadays, thanks to the growing need for viable renewable energy options, human beings have forced the wind to do their own bidding and given it a slap on the back of the legs for messing around with kites when it could be generating energy for us power-hungry types. Now, with wind officially humanity’s quivering servant, harnessing wind power is an inviting money-making prospect for companies wanting to make a green dollar or two. Indeed, the investment arm of GE Energy has just announced its investment in two new wind farms in the US.

Managed by wind power developer Invenergy Wind, the McAdoo wind farm in Lubbock, Texas, and the Grand Ridge wind farm in La Salle County, Illinois, will together generate 250MW of power when they come online later this year. Both will employ scores of GE-built 1.5MW wind turnines. Together, the farms will be capable of meeting the domestic power needs of 70,000 average homes with GE already investing in 72 wind farms to date, the scamp.

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