Iberdrola has entered into a power purchase agreement today with the energy marketing subsidiary of PPL Corporation for the first Iberdrola wind project in the US.
The contract is for sale of wind energy from the new Locust Ridge Wind Farm, currently under construction in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The Locust Ridge project is expected to have a capability, when running to at maximum, to produce 26MW of electricity, which is enough to power over 20,000 homes.
Compared to the average generation mix in the regional electric grid, the environmental benefit of the project is equal to an offset of over 74 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing over 5,000 cars from the road each year.
Iberdrola entered into the deal through its US subsidiary, Community Energy. The Locust Ridge Wind Farm is the first US project to be built by Iberdrola and the first power purchase agreement to be signed in the US by Iberdrola, which had 4,004MW of renewable capacity worldwide at the end of the first half of 2006.
In other news, Enel chairman Piero Gnudi has reportedly dismissed rumors regarding the Italian firm’s interest in Iberdrola, with AFX news reporting him stating that media speculation over a possible tie-up is a big fantasy.