Capital Power announced that its 99MW New Frontier wind project located in North Dakota, has started operations.
Image: The New Frontier wind farm is powered by 29 of Vestas’ V126 turbines, each generating nearly 3.45MW of maximum power output. Photo courtesy of andrew sim/Freeimages.com.
Capital Power claims that the New Frontier wind project has been completed below its original project cost estimate of nearly $145m.
The wind farm is located in McHenry County, North Dakota. The wind farm covers more than 50km2 of farmland and is powered by 29 of Vestas’ V126 turbines, each generating nearly 3.45MW of maximum power output.
Active construction of the project started in May last year and the turbines were delivered in August. The first turbine was installed in early September, last year.
Capital Power will operate the wind farm under a 12 year fixed price contract with an investment grade U.S. financial institution which will buy 87% of the wind farm’s output. Under this contract, Capital Power will swap the market revenue from a fixed volume of New Frontier Wind’s generation for a fixed price payment over a 12 year term.
Capital Power president and CEO Brian Vaasjo said: “Utilizing our in-house construction capabilities, the construction of New Frontier Wind was completed in eight months and is another successful renewable development project in the United States.
“With everything in place and completion below budget, New Frontier Wind is set to exceed our original return expectations.”
In November, the company entered into an agreement to sell a minority stake of 90MW in its K2 Wind project to a consortium of investors led by Axium Infrastructure (Axium Consortium) for C$216m ($163.22m).
K2 Wind is a 270MW farm located in Ontario, Canada and it is a joint venture between Capital Power, Pattern Energy and an Axium-led consortium. Under the same agreement, Pattern Energy has also agreed to sell its stake to the Axium Consortium.
And, in September, the company agreed to acquire 100% stake in Arlington Valley facility, a 580MW combined cycle natural gas generation facility from Arlington Valley, for $300m. The facility is located nearly 80km southwest of Phoenix, Arizona.