Enbridge Inc. has entered into an agreement with Renewable Energy Systems Americas (RES Americas) for construction of the 110 MW Keechi wind project, located in Jack County, Texas, at a cost of approximately $200 million.
Construction for Keechi Wind commenced in December 2013, and the project is expected to reach commissioning in the first quarter of 2015. Upon attaining commercial operation, MetLife Inc. will provide tax equity financing for the project. The wind farm is slated to deliver electricity into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas market under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft Corp.
According to Enbridge, Keechi Wind brings the total generating capacity of the green power projects in which the company has interests to more than 1.8 GW.
‘As the nation's leader in wind energy – both in installed capacity and number of turbines – Texas represents a natural extension for Enbridge's growing U.S. renewable energy portfolio,’ comments Enbridge's Don Thompson. "We're also pleased to continue building our relationship with RES Americas, which has developed three other wind facilities for Enbridge.’
The Keechi Wind project comprises 55 Vestas V100-2.0 MW turbines and will be constructed by RES Americas under a fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction agreement. A 12-mile generation tie-line will connect the project to Brazos Electric's Joplin substation. Vestas will provide turbine operations and maintenance services for the first five years of the project after the commercial operation date.
