Innogy has kicked off construction of the 250MW Scioto Ridge wind farm in Ohio, its first onshore project in the US.
Scioto Ridge will comprise 75 Siemens Gamesa turbines and is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The total investment in the wind farm is $300m, Innogy said.
Innogy chief operating officer of renewables Hans Bunting said: “Today is an important milestone for Innogy.
“Only one year since acquiring a 2GW pipeline of onshore wind projects, we are now implementing our first wind farm in the US.
“With Scioto Ridge, Innogy’s successful US market entry becomes visible. Ohio’s place in the heartland of the US offers ideal conditions for renewable energy and is considered as an attractive market for clean energy investment.
“Our growing team of more than 50 US-based Innogy employees is driving our business growth across technologies, including onshore wind, offshore wind and solar.
“All of us at Innogy are excited to deliver Scioto Ridge and continue with more long-term renewable energy investments in Ohio and other key US markets.”
Scioto Ridge project manager Jason Dagger said: “Scioto Ridge will supply the equivalent of more than 60,000 Ohio homes annually with renewable electricity.
“The project represents a significant contribution to the area, injecting over $75 million in new revenues over the next 25 years to the local governments, school districts, and landowners.
“Over 100 Hardin and Logan County families will also directly benefit from the project.
“Pre-construction activities have begun onsite, and commencement of full construction is planned for the third quarter of 2019.
“Once we are totally underway, Scioto Ridge will host over 150 short-term construction jobs and up to 10 full-time, long term operations jobs.”
Innogy said it also plans for the 240MW Baron Winds and 126MW Cassadaga wind farms to start operating in the fourth quarter of 2020 in New York state.
The remainder of the 2GW pipeline is spread across Maine, Maryland, Montana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia.
Innogy also recently acquired equity interests in the Tamworth and Tanager solar projects in North Carolina which have a total capacity of around 10MW.
Construction will start in the second quarter of 2019 with commissioning targeted for the fourth quarter of 2019.
Both projects result from a joint development agreement with US-based developer Birdseye Renewable Energy, Innogy said.


