E.On to invest $500m to develop 440MW Big Raymond wind farm in Texas
US wind industry news : E.On will embark on its largest single-phase project to date in the US in the form of the 440MW Big Raymond wind farm in Texas which will be developed with an investment of $500 million.
The new E.On wind farm in Texas will be built across the Willacy, Cameron, and Hidalgo counties.
Construction on the Big Raymond wind farm is scheduled to begin at the end of the year with commercial operations expected to be achieved in December 2020.
The German energy supplier said that its current wind and solar projects under construction have a combined capacity of over 900MW in the US. Overall, E.ON has developed more than 3.8GW of solar, wind, and energy storage projects in the US with others in the preparation stage.
Big Raymond wind farm : E.On to invest $500m to build 440MW wind farm in Texas
Big Raymond wind farm PPA
The company has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with electric utility company Austin Energy according to which it will sell 200MW of power generated from the Big Raymond wind farm to the latter for a period of 12 years.
Currently, Austin Energy meets 41% of its customer needs with renewable resources, which will go up to almost 61% once the Big Raymond wind farm is operational along with previously approved contracts that are slated to come on line in 2021 and 2023.
As per Austin Energy Resource Generation Plan, the company is aiming to reach at least 55% of its renewable energy goals by 2025 and 65% by the end of 2027. The company has 1.7GW of wind power under contract after including the PPA with E.On.
Jackie Sargent – Austin Energy General Manager, commenting on the Big Raymond wind farm PPA, said: “Austin Energy is proud of our long record as an innovator and leader in promoting wind power in Texas, including our participation in the first commercial wind farm in Texas back in 1995 and our award-winning GreenChoice retail program. This agreement is part of meeting our ongoing ambitious renewable energy goals.”
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