Engie North America, a subsidiary of the French company Engie, has started the construction of the 160MW Jumbo Hill wind farm in Andrews County, Texas.
SECI's tenders have attracted limited bidders (Credit: Oimheidi/Pixabay)
Engie will sell the power and the Renewable Energy Credits generated from the Jumbo Hill wind farm to a corporate customer under a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA).
The wind farm will be powered by 57 of GE’s wind turbines. Each of the turbines will feature 127m rotor with capacity of more than 2MW. Wanzek Construction has been given the responsibility for construction of the balance of the facility.
Engie is investing more than $150m in the wind project, which is expected to create nearly 250 jobs during the construction phase. The wind farm will also generate significant economic development in the local area, through annual payments to landowners, along with purchase of local goods and services and nearly $30m in various tax payments. Once operational, the wind farm will create 12 permanent jobs.
The wind farm is part of a portfolio acquired last year by Engie from Infinity Power Partners, a joint venture between Infinity Renewables and MAP Energy.
ENGIE North America wind development commercial strategy vice president Emily Cohen said: “ENGIE is thrilled to be announcing our fifth wind project to start construction over the past year. The construction of the Jumbo Hill Project will take ENGIE North America’s renewable generation built or under construction to more than 1.5 GW of capacity. It is a strong project in a unique location in West Texas, and we expect it to complement and help grow the evolving industries in the region.”
The company has also entered into a proxy revenue swap for a portion of the wind farm’s generating capacity with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, in collaboration with its partners at Nephila Climate.
Last December, Engie North America developed and constructed a lithium-ion battery storage facility in Colorado, for United Power. The storage system has 4MW battery packs that can deliver up to 16MWh of power to support United Power’s grid with enough electricity to completely supply 600-700 homes.