Landowners, elected officials and community leaders gathered last week in Nodaway County, Mo., to celebrate the construction of the Tenaska Clear Creek Energy Center, a 242 MW wind farm being built north of Maryville.
Vestas is supplying 111 wind turbines, as well as maintenance services, for Tenaska’s project, and Mortenson is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. More than 150 people attended the celebration event, which included an opportunity for attendees to sign a wind turbine blade that will be installed at the project.
Tenaska has developed more than 10,000 MW of natural gas-fueled and renewable power generation, including Tenaska Clear Creek. Construction of the new wind farm began earlier this year, and Tenaska announced the closing of the project’s financing in April.
On the current schedule, all turbines should be installed by the end of 2019. When complete, Tenaska Clear Creek will provide 242 MW of renewable power for Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., an electric generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale power to regional cooperatives in Missouri, southeast Iowa and northeast Oklahoma.
“We selected Tenaska’s Clear Creek project because of its value to our overall portfolio of generation assets and location adjacent to our transmission system,” says David J. Tudor, Associated’s CEO and general manager. “This project will add to Associated’s existing 750 MW of wind resources under long-term power purchase agreements. We look forward to the successful completion of the project and the ultimate value it will provide our member-owners and the local community.”
The project is expected to create more than 300 jobs at peak construction and up to 15 full-time jobs when operational, in addition to opportunities for local businesses to provide goods and services.
The project is also anticipated to result in increased tax revenue of more than $1.2 million annually to local units of government, as well as diversify land use and provide stable income – estimated at more than $1.2 million annually – to landowners through lease payments.
Tenaska has also established a community fund that will support programs in Nodaway County. Once the wind farm is operational, it will contribute $15,000 per year for the next 20 years.
In addition to Tenaska Clear Creek, the Tenaska-developed Nobles 2 Power Partners wind farm in southwest Minnesota is under construction. This wind farm is anticipated to be operational by the end of 2020.
“Tenaska has a long-standing reputation for strong power projects, and we are excited to continue that with our wind program,” says Joel Link, senior vice president in Tenaska’s Strategic Development & Acquisitions Group. “Our team is adept at helping customers incorporate more renewables into their generation portfolios.”
Mortenson is building this project with little or no local labor so all of the revenue from construction on of this project is not staying in or near the community or even in the state as promised. As RES did two years ago next door in Atchison Co. on the Rock Creek Project. As they are presently doing on the White Cloud project in Southern Nodaway Co.