BP Wind Energy and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power have announced plans to further expand their relationship by jointly developing the Mehoopany Wind Farm in Pennsylvania and the Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm in Kansas.
The two wind projects represent a combined investment of more than $1 billion and a combined total output of 560 MW. Both wind farms are fully contracted under long-term agreements, and are expected to be in commercial operation by year-end.
The Mehoopany Wind Farm will be located in Wyoming County, Pa., and is expected to generate up to 141 MW of energy. The power output from the wind farm has been sold under contract to Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative Inc. The contracts were negotiated by the National Renewables Cooperative Organization.
Construction of the Mehoopany Wind Farm site began in November 2011. The wind farm will utilize 88 GE 1.6 MW wind turbines and will employ some 250 workers during peak construction. The construction contract has been awarded to Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc.
The Flat Ridge 2 project will be located on a 66,000-acre site approximately 40 miles southwest of Wichita, Kan., and will utilize 262 GE 1.6 MW wind turbines to generate 419 MW of renewable energy. The power output from the Flat Ridge 2 project has been sold under contracts to Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. and Southwestern Electric Power Co., a unit of American Electric Power. A third contract has been secured but has yet to be announced.
The construction contract for the Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm has been awarded to Blattner Energy and is expected to employ approximately 500 people on-site during the peak of construction.
BP will be the operator of both wind farms when they become commercially operational.
