Enel Green Power North America Inc., the U.S. renewable subsidiary of Enel, has started operations of its 450 MW High Lonesome wind farm in Upton and Crockett counties in Texas – the largest operational wind project in the group’s global renewable portfolio.
Enel also signed a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with food and beverage company Danone North America for the physical delivery of the renewable electricity associated with 20.6 MW of the project, leading to an additional 50 MW expansion of High Lonesome that will increase the plant’s total capacity to 500 MW.
The construction of the 50 MW expansion is currently under way, and operations are due to start in the first quarter of 2020.
“The start of operations of Enel’s largest wind farm in the world marks a significant achievement for our company,” said Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power. “This milestone is matched with a new partnership with Danone North America to support their renewable goals.”
In addition, the energy produced by a 295 MW portion of the project will be hedged under a proxy revenue swap (PRS) with insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Inc.’s Alternative Risk Transfer unit and Nephila Climate, a provider of weather and climate risk management products. Under the PRS agreement, High Lonesome will receive fixed payments based on the expected value of future energy production, with adjustments paid depending on how the realized proxy revenue of the project differs from the fixed payment.
The PRS for High Lonesome, which is the largest by capacity for a single plant globally and the first agreement of its kind for Enel, was executed in collaboration with REsurety Inc.
The investment in the construction of the 500 MW plant amounts to around $720 million. The wind farm is due to generate around 1.9 TWh annually.
Enel also currently operates the 63 MW Snyder wind farm, located in Scurry County, Texas, and is building one of the largest solar plants in the state, the 497 MW Roadrunner solar farm.
