Duke Energy to build 200MW wind farm in Texas

Duke Energy has unveiled plans to build and operate a 200-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Texas and sell the electricity it generates to San Antonio-based CPS Energy, the US’s largest municipally owned energy utility.

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke Energy, plans to build the Los Vientos I Windpower Project in Willacy County, around 20 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

Duke Energy will sell all of the output from the wind farm and associated renewable energy credits to CPS Energy under the terms of a 25-year agreement. CPS Energy already buys all of the electricity generated at Duke Energy Renewables’ 14-MW (16-MW direct current) Blue Wing Solar Project in San Antonio. The Blue Wing solar farm, which consists of approximately 215,000 photovoltaic panels, began commercial operation in November 2010.

Duke Energy Renewables plans to start construction of the new wind power project in the fourth quarter of this year, and expect to begin operations in December 2012. The wind farm will be Duke Energy’s fourth in Texas. The company is also developing a second phase of the Los Vientos wind farm in the region, but it has not yet announced a power purchase agreement for that phase.

Duke Energy Renewables owns nearly 1,000 MW of generating capacity at nine US wind farms – four in Wyoming, three in Texas, one in Colorado and one in Pennsylvania. Since 2007, the company has invested approximately $1.75 billion to build its fleet of wind farms.