Haystack Wind project : Ørsted acquires and begins construction on 298MW wind farm in Nebraska

Danish renewable energy company Ørsted has acquired the 298MW Haystack Wind project in Wayne County, Nebraska, for an undisclosed price, from an unknown seller.

Ørsted has also broken ground on the new wind farm in Nebraska, having taken the final investment decision. The Haystack wind farm will expand the presence of the Danish energy company in the US Southwest Power Pool.

Since the Haystack Wind project is located near Ørsted’s 230MW Plum Creek wind farm, it will use the available interconnection infrastructure in Southwest Power Pool North.

The new Wayne County wind farm is expected to begin operations in Q4 2021.

Map showing the location of Haystack Wind project. Photo courtesy of Ørsted A/S.

Commenting on the acquisition of Haystack wind farm, Vishal Kapadia – CFO of Ørsted Onshore said: “The acquisition of Haystack adds another large-scale project in a region with robust wind resource to our Onshore portfolio and is a further reflection of our continuing strategy to supplement our core development activities with opportunistic acquisitions.”

According to Ørsted, on average, the project will provide $4 million per year in the form of local taxes and landowner payments to the community. Besides, the Haystack Wind project will involve 300 workers at the peak of its construction phase.

The acquisition of the Haystack wind farm is said to increase the diversity of Ørsted’s portfolio, which includes onshore wind, solar PV, and energy storage assets located across Texas, the Midwest, and also Southeast US.

The onshore business of the Danish renewable energy company has now hit 3GW of capacity in operation and under construction following the addition of the Haystack Wind project.