Duke Energy will make its first foray into Oklahoma with construction of a 200MW wind farm in the US state.
Duke Energy will build, own and operate the Frontier project in Kay County and sell power to City Utilities of Springfield under a 22-year agreement.
Construction is expected to accelerate in the first quarter of 2016 and the project is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.
When completed the project will push the Duke’s wind power capacity to more than 2GW.
“We’re investing heavily in renewable energy and surpassing 2000MW of wind power is a significant accomplishment for our company,” said Duke Energy commercial president Greg Wolf.
“We are excited to be working with the community and local landowners as we get our first project in this wind-rich state underway. The facility will help City Utilities meet its renewable energy goals while creating economic development opportunities for Kay County.”
City Utilities of Springfield general manager Scott Miller said: “City Utilities is pleased to partner with Duke Energy on the Frontier wind power project.”
“Providing a long-term renewable source of power generation in this changing market is critical to the future of utilities. We look forward to bringing this source on line for our customers in the coming months.”
The wind farm will feature 61 Vestas V126-3.3 MW wind turbines, extending a partnership used before on some Duke projects in Texas.
Vestas sales president Chris Brown said: “We’re very pleased to continue building our excellent partnership with Duke Energy Renewables, one of the top wind players in the competitive US market.
“By choosing the V126-3.3 MW turbine for the Frontier wind site, the order also showcases our product portfolio’s great flexibility across all wind sites, as the model provides highly competitive cost of energy in a traditional 2MW turbine market.”
Image: Duke Energy
