Italian energy company Enel through its subsidiary Enel Green Power North America has begun construction of two wind farms with a total capacity of 300MW.
The two wind farms include the 66MW Whitney Hill in Illinois and the 236.5MW White Cloud in Missouri. Located in Logan County, Illinois, the Whitney Hill wind project is expected to generate about 246GWh annually, while helping to avoid 167,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
The wind farm is located adjacent to the company’s existing 185MW HillTopper wind farm that started operations last December. The two wind farms, Whitney Hill and HillTopper wind projects were developed by Swift Current Energy.
Enel’s White Cloud wind project is located in Nodaway County, Missouri. When it begins operations next year, the wind farm will generate about 950GWh of clean energy annually, while avoiding nearly 643,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
Enel already operates a 300MW wind farm in Missouri
It will be the second wind farm for the company in the state and it already operates the 300MW Rock Creek wind farm in Atchison County, which began operations in 2017.
Enel Green Power North America Head Georgios Papadimitriou said: “Today’s announcement reinforces our commitment to continued growth throughout the country. “These projects will enable us to further capitalize on the abundant wind resource in the central US as we continue to expand our footprint in this region and increase the geographical diversification of our portfolio.”
The two wind farms, along with the 450MW High Lonesome wind project and the 497MW Roadrunner solar project, both being built in Upton County, Texas, add to the company’s total renewable capacity under construction in the US to about 1.25GW.
Enel Green Power North America also stated that it will use new tools and techniques to build the two wind farms including construction machinery equipped with active safety systems, smart tracking of turbine components, advanced digital platforms and on tablet software solutions to monitor and remotely support site activities along with plant commissioning.
Last December, Enel Green Power North America began operations of the 320MW Rattlesnake Creek wind farm and the 300MW Diamond Vista wind farm in Kansas. These two wind farms are expected to generate about 2,600GWh of clean energy annually.
