Acciona Energía has announced its second wind project in Texas, the 144.9 MW Palmas Altas facility.
Representing the company’s ninth wind farm in the U.S., the project will increase Acciona’s U.S. wind power capacity to 866 MW. Located in Cameron County, the $200 million facility is expected to be grid-connected in November 2019.
Situated near the San Roman wind farm, which Acciona started up in December 2016, the new project will produce around 524 GWh of clean energy per year, equivalent to the consumption of 43,000 U.S. households. The energy will be sold in the ERCOT-South Texas wholesale market.
“We are proud to undertake a new wind power project that consolidates the reactivation of our investment activity in the United States and confirms our commitment to grow in a controlled and profitable manner in a market that continues to offer very interesting opportunities for the renewables sector,” says Rafael Esteban, CEO of Acciona Energy USA Global LLC.
The Palmas Altas project will employ approximately 170 people at the peak of construction and will be staffed by a 10-person operations team. Over its 25-year lifespan, Palmas Altas is expected to generate $40 million in local tax revenue, as well as more than $44 million in lease payments to local landowners.
The project will comprise 46 Nordex AW125/3150 turbines with a rotor diameter of 125 meters, mounted on an 87.5-meter steel tower.
Acciona Energía currently owns and operates eight wind farms in the U.S. In addition to San Roman (93 MW), the company has three others in Oklahoma (329 MW), two in the Dakotas (192 MW), one in Illinois (101 MW) and one in Iowa (6 MW). It also has a 64 MW concentrating solar plant in Nevada. In addition to Palmas Altas, the company has other wind power projects in its pipeline that will increase its operational capacity in the U.S.
