Enel has started operations of the 298MW Thunder Ranch and 300MW Red Dirt wind farms, located in the US state of Oklahoma.
The two projects were developed by the company’s US-based renewables subsidiary Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA).
Thunder Ranch, which is located in the Garfield, Kay and Noble counties, was built with an investment of around $435m. On the other hand, Red Dirt was built with an investment of about $420m in Kingfisher and Logan counties.
Enel Green Power head Antonio Cammisecra said: “This milestone is testament to our continued investment in the US energy market, which is strategic for Enel Green Power.
“We are growing our US footprint through traditional avenues such as organic development and small-scale acquisitions, boosted by more innovative and diversified solutions such as the ‘Build, Sell and Operate’ model and the sale of energy to corporate customers.”
The Thunder Ranch wind farm, which can generate more 1,100GWh of clean energy annually, is capable of meeting the power consumption needs of more than 89,400 homes. Construction of the wind farm began in May 2017.
Thunder Ranch is backed by long-term power purchase agreements which include a 152.5MW capacity sale to beer giant AB InBev’s US subsidiary.
This wind farm will also house an rooftop solar PV system which can power its operations and maintenance building with 55kWh of power per year. The rooftop system is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2018.
The Red Dirt wind farm is capable of generating around 1,200GWh of power each year which can cover the consumption requirements of about 97,000 households.
It is backed by two long-term power purchase deals. One of them is for 160MW capacity for T-Mobile US while the remaining 140MW capacity is for the Grand River Dam Authority, which in turn sells the renewable energy to Google.