Duke completes 200MW Texas wind farm

OREANDA-NEWS. Duke Energy Renewables has started commercial operations at its 200MW Los Vientos III wind farm in south Texas.

Generation and associated renewable energy credits from the Los Vientos facility will be sold entirely to Austin Energy under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA), bringing the municipal utility's total contracted renewable capacity with Duke to more than 500MW.

Duke plans to sell 200MW of capacity from the Los Vientos IV farm to Austin when operations begin in 2016, the company said.

The deals are part of Austin Energy's push to increase the renewables share of its power sales to 35pc by 2020 and 55pc by 2025. The utility has 1,340MW of wind in its portfolio, or about 33pc of its total generation capacity.

Municipal utility Austin Energy recently procured power from the 300MW Jumbo Road wind farm in the Texas Panhandle from Berkshire Hathaway unit BHE Renewables over an 18-year PPA.

"Austin Energy will be able to surpass its 2020 goal of 35pc renewable energy production," Austin Energy general manager Larry Weis said.

Future renewable energy deals will likely drive the utility closer to 55pc renewable energy power supply, Weis said. Last month, Austin Energy issued a solicitation for 600MW of solar.