Avangrid Renewables has completed commissioning of the 308MW Karankawa wind farm in Texas.
Karankawa is located in San Patricio and Bee counties in south Texas.
The project’s 124 GE wind turbines range in capacity from 2.3MW to 2.52MW, amounting to a total project capacity of 307.06MW.
Karankawa spans 18,000 acres with turbines hosted by 64 landowners. The facility supplies clean electricity to Austin Energy and Nike, helping both companies meet their sustainability commitments.
Austin Energy has committed to meet 65% of its customers’ energy demand with renewable resources by 2027. Nike has committed to power 100% of its owned or operated facilities with renewable energy by 2025 as a part of its RE100 commitment.
“Austin Energy, with the support of the Austin City Council, is proud to continue our longstanding leadership in wind energy,” said Austin Energy general manager Jackie Sargent.
The project is located along the coast, so gulf breezes will generate more energy during the day, matching the needs of the Texas electric market and benefitting customers, she added.
Nike chief sustainability officer Noel Kinder said: “At Nike, we’re on a mission to help protect the future of sport, and there is no bigger environmental threat to sport than climate change.”
“With the opening of the Karankawa Wind Farm we are proud to be using renewable energy to power 100% of our owned or operated facilities in our North America geography, and are tracking toward our commitment to achieve 100% globally by 2025.”
The project will provide the region’s farming economy and local community with over $29m in land lease payments and $60m in taxes over the first 20 years of the project’s operations.
Construction of the wind farm employed over 350 people at its height.
Going forward, the project will employ up to 12 full time employees and support local businesses through the purchase of products and services.