There were a number of signifcant developments this week in wind energy:

In a move that may be more for PR rather than energy savings, Workers installed 20 wind turbines in late December Adobe Systems.  The installation is expected to produce about 50,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year which sufficient to power 6 average homes.  In terms of Adobe’s consumption footprint however, it only represents 2% of the power used in their 1 million square foot corporate high rise buildings.

Wind "Turbines" at Adobe Headquarters

TVA said it has entered two contracts with Invenergy Wind affiliates to provide a total of up to 350 megawatts from wind projects at the White Oak Energy Center in McLean County, Ill., and the Bishop Hill Energy Center in Henry County, Ill., both beginning in January 2012.

GE has signed contracts to supply 88 wind turbines to HECIC New Energy, a Chinese wind energy developer, for three new projects in Hebei and Shanxi Provinces.  The projects will support the growth of wind energy investments in China and the wind farms expect to add 132MW of installed wind power capacity in China.   Some analysts expect China’s wind power segment to grow by 25% in 2010

Canada’s Western Wind Energy Corp (WND.V) said it received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority for 15 turbine locations for its wind and solar energy project based in Arizona. The company also said it was in the process of finalizing a turbine supplier, engineering procurement construction contractor and solar panel provider.

The UK wind farm planned is an order of magnitude larger than the picture of a wind farm near Wales above

The UK Government announced plans to build nine giant wind parks on their coasts, taking the lead in wind energy production globally and looking to provide 25% of their total energy needs.    The cost will top 110 billion euros and expected completion is in 2018.   If you have ever visited the UK coasts for any measurable period,  you are well aware of the turbulent seas and windy conditions in the land-locked country.

Broadwind Energy (BWEN) shares which we wrote about last week continue to be under pressure as T. Boone Pickens announced plans to cut back on domestic wind farms and concentrate on natural gas