Allete Clean Energy has announced the start of commercial operations at its Diamond Spring wind farm in southern Oklahoma.
The output from the 303MW Diamond Spring site is contracted to provide renewable energy to Walmart, Smithfield Foods and Starbucks though separate renewable energy sales agreements with 12-15 year terms.
Diamond Spring is Allete Clean Energy’s largest wind site, producing enough energy to power about 114,000 homes and increasing the company’s total wind capacity to more than 1GW.
Allete Clean Energy president Allan Rudeck said: “Diamond Spring will help our customers achieve their climate-action goals and bring more renewable energy onto the nation’s power grid.
“I’m extremely proud of our team for developing our largest wind site and bringing it to commercial operation on schedule during a global pandemic.
“We intend to continue to build on our strong reputation for delivering timely, responsible and cost-effective renewable solutions. Allete Clean Energy will continue to innovate and drive new growth opportunities in the clean-energy sector.”
Allete president and chief executive Bethany Owen said: “Meaningful and lasting actions to address climate change by utilities, cities, and corporate and industrial customers are an important part of Allete’s sustainability in action strategy and provide an exciting market for Allete Clean Energy as companies embrace sustainability goals.
Smithfield Foods, a $16bn (€12.9bn) global food and agriculture company, announced a goal in 2016 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its supply chain 25% by 2025.
With Diamond Spring online, Allete has turned its attention to developing the Caddo wind site in central Oklahoma.
The 303MW Caddo site is fully contracted to three corporate customers, of which 200MW is contracted to McDonald’s, increasing Allete’s share of the corporate and industrial clean-energy market.
The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.