Santa Rita East wind farm is a 302MW onshore wind farm located approximately 112km west of San Angelo in the Reagan Country, Texas, US. It started commercial operations in July 2019.
The project was developed by Invenergy, the biggest independent, privately-held renewable energy company in North America.
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AEP Renewables, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP), acquired 75% interest in the project in July 2019, while operator Invenergy retains the remaining 25% interest.
Invenergy completed financing for the wind farm in December 2018 and started construction in the same month.
The project is expected to generate enough clean energy to power 120,000 US homes over its estimated initial operational life of 20 years.
The onshore wind project created approximately 300 jobs during the construction phase and 14 permanent jobs.
Santa Rita East wind project financing
Santander and Rabobank were the co-lead arrangers and issuing banks for the construction financing of the Santa Rita East wind project.
Santa Rita East wind farm make-up
The Santa Rita East onshore wind farm consists of 120 GE 2.5MW-116 turbines.
With 116m-diameter rotor and 56.9m-long blades, each turbine has a swept area of 10,660m².
The hub-height and tip-height of the turbines are up to 94m and 152m, respectively.
Designed to operate at 50Hz as well as 60Hz frequencies, each turbine has a nominal generating capacity of 2.5MW.
The annual energy production (AEP) of a single GE 2.5MW-116 turbine operating at 8.0m/s wind speed is estimated to be 11,832MWh.
Power purchase agreements
Invenergy secured three power purchase agreements for 260MW of the Santa Rita East wind farm in 2018.
Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican multi-national baking company, signed a PPA for purchasing100MW of energy from the Santa Rita East wind farm, in April 2018.
Merck, a multi-national pharmaceutical company based in the US, also signed a PPA to off-take 60MW of power from the wind farm in April 2018. Schneider Electric Energy and Sustainability Services served as an advisor to Merck for finalizing the deal.
Novartis, a Swiss multi-national pharmaceutical company, signed a PPA for 100MW of the Santa Rita East wind farm in August 2018. Edison Energy was the advisor to Novartis for the 12-year agreement.
Contractors involved with the Santa Rita East wind farm
GE Renewable Energy was selected for supplying 120 GE 2.5MW-116 turbines for the Santa Rita East wind farm in May 2017.
Blattner Energy is responsible for the civil and mechanical construction works of the wind farm, while RES System 3 is the contractor for the electrical substation of the wind farm.
