San Antonio-based CPS Energy, a municipally owned energy company providing natural gas and electric service, has signed an agreement to acquire renewable energy from the first wind farm near the Texas coast.
‘Renewable energy is already an important part of our electrical-generation portfolio, and we support its future expansion in our strategic energy plan to meet the community's present and long-term energy needs,’ says Aurora Geis, chairman of the CPS Energy board of trustees. ‘When the first coastal wind farm comes online in December, CPS Energy will add another 75 MW to its renewable energy capacity. That will give us a total of 575 MW of wind power.’
CPS Energy has entered into a 15-year agreement with PPM Energy Inc., the wind farm's developer and operator, to purchase electricity created at the Penascal Wind Farm, which is currently under construction.
The agreement with PPM Energy entitles CPS Energy to the output associated with 32 of the project's 2.4 MW turbines. Located a mile inland from the coastline on the Kenedy Ranch just south of Baffin Bay, the turbines will not be visible from the nearest community, Sarita, any major highway or much of the coast, according to CPS Energy.
