Duke Energy has completed the last of the five projects that make up the 900MW Los Vientos wind power development in Texas, US.

The development features the 200MW Los Vientos I, 202MW Los Vientos II, 200MW Los Vientos III, 200MW Los Vientos IV and 110MW Los Vientos V wind parks.

Los Vientos IV, the last one to be completed, is situated about 35 miles northwest of McAllen, near Rio Grande City.

It features 100 units of the V110-2.0 MW turbines supplied by Vestas, which will also service the units under a three-year contract.

Wanzek Construction built the plant, while development support was provided by Amshore US Wind.

Austin Energy is purchasing the power and related renewable energy credits from the Los Vientos IV under a 25-year agreement. The utility’s total output purchased from Duke Energy Renewables now totals over 665MW.

Duke Energy said the Los Vientos projects will produce most of the power during the day when the demand for energy is very high.

Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology president Rob Caldwell said: “Four years ago, we first began capturing the winds off the gulf with Los Vientos I and II in Willacy County.

“Since then, we’ve brought three other Los Vientos wind projects on line, delivering 900 MW of clean energy to South Texas."

Duke Energy Renewables now has over 1.5GW of installed wind power capacity in Texas, which is more than double its owned wind capacity in other states combined.


Image: Las Vientos IV wind project of Duke Energy in Texas starts operations. Photo: Courtesy of Duke Energy Corporation.