Duke Energy’s subsidiary Duke Energy Renewables has commenced operations at the 200MW Mesteño Windpower project in Texas.
Located in Starr County, Texas, the wind farm began generating energy on 31 December, last year. It is the fourth wind farm of Duke Energy in Starr County and its eleventh in Texas.
The wind farm will generate enough clean energy to power nearly 60,000 average American homes. The power generated from the wind farm will be sold into the ERCOT market and Duke Energy Renewables has entered into a long-term hedge agreement to sell the majority of the power being generated from the wind farm.
Duke Energy Renewables president Rob Caldwell said: “We’re excited to bring another wind project online in Texas and plan to continue investing in renewable energy in the state. This project will deliver clean energy and significant economic benefits.”
Mesteño Windpower project created nearly 200 jobs during its construction phase
During the construction phase, the wind farm created nearly 200 jobs and within the first 10 years of operation, it could bring more than $16m in tax revenue.
The wind farm is powered by 56 of Vestas’ 3.6MW turbines. Each of the turbines is claimed to be 590.5ft tall, claimed to be some of the tallest wind turbines in the US.
Vestas the US and Canada sales and service division president Chris Brown said: “We’re pleased to expand our tall tower technology and V136-3.6 MW platform. The combination of taller towers and V136-3.6 MW technology is perfectly designed to extract the abundant resource at the site, and deliver low-cost, reliable energy to the community and customer.”
Last September, Duke Energy Renewables had signed a 15-year 160MW virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with AT&T for the 350MW Frontier Windpower II located in Kay County, Oklahoma.
Frontier II is an expansion of Frontier Windpower, which has been operating since 2016. Once complete, the two wind farms will generate nearly 550MW of clean energy, enough to power nearly 193,000 US homes.
