EDF Renewable Energy’s 200MW Longhorn Wind Project in Texas has reached commercial operation on May 1st, 2015. The project will generate enough clean electricity to power around 55,000 homes while offset approximately 375,000 MT of greenhouse gas emission annually. Longhorn’s output is sold to a creditworthy counterparty under a long-term, fixed-price energy purchase agreement.
The Project, spanning 33,000 acres in Floyd and Briscoe counties, is comprised of 100 Vestas V-100 wind turbine generators with a rated capacity of 2 MW each. Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES) developed and constructed the project, which utilizes the CREZ (Competitive Renewable Energy Zone) transmission infrastructure to deliver the low-cost renewable generation resources of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.
“Longhorn represents EDF Renewable Energy’s fifth project to be placed in service in Texas in the past three years bringing our installed capacity in the state to 872 MW,” commented Ryan Pfaff, Executive Vice President of EDF Renewable Energy. “We are particularly pleased to be up and running in Floyd and Briscoe Counties, and look forward to working closely with the local community throughout the life of the Longhorn Wind Project.”
Andrew Fowler, Chief Operating Officer for RES Americas, added, “Longhorn is our 18th completed project in the Lone Star State and marks our first construction project with EDF RE.” the company spent nearly US$3.5 million in the local community and has create up to 250 jobs during construction. 14 permanent jobs for operations and maintenance were created through the wind project.