Santa Rita East Wind Farm in Texas commissioned by Invenergy

Chicago-based renewable energy developer Invenergy has achieved commercial operations at its 302.4MW Santa Rita East Wind Farm in Texas, as per the latest US wind industry news.

Santa Rita East Wind Farm location and other details

The Santa Rita East Wind Farm, which has been built in Reagan County, nearly 70 miles west of San Angelo, will be able to meet the power consumption needs of 120,000 homes.

Construction on the Texan wind farm began in December 2018 and had involved more than 300 jobs. The Invenergy wind farm in Texas has created 14 permanent full-time operations and maintenance jobs.

Construction on the Santa Rita East Wind Farm in Texas. Photo courtesy of Invenergy.

The Santa Rita East Wind Farm is expected to contribute around $ 5million annually to the local economy in the form of tax and lease payments.

In June 2019, a subsidiary of AEP Renewables completed the acquisition of 75% stake in the Santa Rita East wind project from Invenergy, which has retained the remaining 25% stake. Under a 20-year agreement, Invenergy will provide operations, asset management and energy management services for the Santa Rita East wind project.

Nicholas K. Akins – AEP chairman, president and CEO, commenting on the acquisition of stake in the Santa Rita East Wind Farm, said: “AEP’s long-term strategy, driven by the expectations of our customers and technology advances, includes diversifying our power plant portfolio with clean, renewable generation.

“This acquisition increases our contracted renewable generation portfolio to 1,302 megawatts. We’ve targeted approximately $2.2 billion in capital investment in our contracted renewables business by 2023, and combined with our purchase of wind, solar and battery assets in April, we have achieved nearly 70 percent of our contracted renewables investment goal.”

Santa Rita East Wind Farm turbines

One of the 120 GE turbines of the Santa Rita East Wind Farm in Texas. Photo courtesy of Invenergy.

The Invenergy wind farm is equipped with 120 GE 2.5-116 turbines supplied by General Electric (GE), which has also implemented its Digital Wind Farm solutions for the project. The rotor of the Santa Rita East Wind Farm turbines has a diameter of 116m. The turbine blades of the Regan County wind farm are 56.9m in length with each turbine having a swept area of 10,660sqm.

The hub-height and tip-height of the Santa Rita East Wind Farm turbines are 94m and 152m, respectively.

Santa Rita East Wind Farm PPAs

Invenergy signed three individual virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) totaling 260MW with Grupo Bimbo (100MW), Merck (60MW) and Novartis (100MW) for the Santa Rita East Wind Farm in 2018.

Mick Baird – Senior Vice President of Invenergy Renewable Development, commenting on the commissioning of the Santa Rita East Wind Farm, said: “Invenergy is pleased to have completed the Santa Rita East Wind Farm, which is our 16th operating project in the Lone Star State.

“We are proud to have partnered with AEP Renewables on the sale and long-term operations of the project, and to be supporting the goals of corporate environmental sustainability leaders Grupo Bimbo, Merck and Novartis.”

For more US wind industry news and updates on Santa Rita East Wind Farm, keep following Business News Today.