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In Deaf Smith County, Texas, a 200MW wind project started operation on April 17th on a ribbon-cutting ceremony held by EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) and BlackRock Infrastructure. The Hereford Wind Project interconnects to the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission infrastructure which enables delivery of long-term, clean, competitively priced power from the strong wind resource regions of West Texas to the rest of Texas.
Texas continues to leads the nation in installed wind capacity, due to robust wind resources, a business friendly environment, and supportive stakeholders at the state and local levels. The Hereford Wind project utilizes 54 GE 1.85-MW and 50 Vestas V100 2.0-MW wind turbines and was completely constructed on last December. It will generate enough electricity to power approximately 55,000 homes, and it also avoids greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 80,000 vehicles off the road.
“We applaud the State of Texas for its vision in designing and implementing the CREZ transmission build-out over the past eight years,” commented Ryan Pfaff, Executive Vice President of EDF Renewable Energy. “CREZ has served to unlock the rich wind resources of the Texas Panhandle and West Texas for the benefit of millions of Texans, in the form of competitively-priced, clean energy from projects like Hereford Wind.” EDF Renewable Services will provide long-term operations and maintenance for the facility, balance of plant, project oversight, and 24/7 remote monitoring from its NERC compliant Operations Control Center (OCC).
As part of EDF Renewable Energy’s community engagement program the company presented the Deaf Smith County Crisis Center with a $2500 donation.
Following on from the Spinning Spur (161 MW) and Bobcat Bluff (150 MW) projects commissioned in December 2012; and Spinning Spur II (161 MW) commissioned in 2014, Hereford Wind is EDF Renewable Energy’s fourth operating project in Texas. The company has two additional wind projects in construction, eventually boosting the Group’s installed capacity in the state to over 1 GW.