Enel Green Power North America, the US subsidiary of Enel Green Power, has commenced operations on its Caney River wind farm in Elk County, Kansas, US.

The new facility consists of 111 units of V-90 wind turbine of 1.8MW each for a total installed capacity of around 200MW.

It required a total investment of 350 million dollars and will generate 765 million kWh per year, enough to meet the annual consumption of about 70,000 US households and to avoid the atmospheric emission of more than 580,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

The electricity generated by the Caney River Wind project, which was developed by EGP-NA’s partner, TradeWind Energy, will be purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority under the terms of a 20-year contract.

The Caney Wind River project provides 8.5 million dollars in funding for the plan to protect the tallgrass prairie in Kansas.

Specifically, the funding will be used to help establish environmental restrictions needed to protect over 18,000 hectares, restore 6,000 hectares of the Tallgrass Prairie Habitat and conduct research on its eco-system’s wind patterns and wildlife.