The installation of the final turbine marks the completion of 200 MW Los Vientos IV, the last of the five projects in the area to begin operation. The power generated by Los Vientos IV will be purchased by Austin Energy along with its associated renewable energy credits under a 25-year agreement, increasing its total output purchased from Duke Energy Renewables to more than 665 MW.
Duke Energy Renewables has installed more than 1,500 MW of wind energy in Texas thus far, more than double its owned wind capacity in other states combined. Los Vientos IV is located approximately 35 miles northwest of McAllen, near Rio Grande City. It utilises Vestas V110-2.0 MW turbines. Vestas will be servicing the project under a three-year operations and maintenance agreement.
“Four years ago, we first began capturing the winds off the gulf with Los Vientos I and II in Willacy County” said Rob Caldwell, president, Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology. “Since then, we’ve brought three other Los Vientos wind projects on line, delivering 900 MW of clean energy to South Texas. With 500 MW of that total in Starr County, we’d like to thank county leaders and our business partners for helping us deliver clean, low-cost renewable energy to south Texas customers and provide economic benefits to this region.”
Starr County Judge Eloy Vera added that Duke Energy has been a great partner and member of the community and that the county is looking forward to continuing working with the company in order to provide more wind farm opportunities.
Chris Brown, president of Vestas’ sales and service division in the United States and Canada said that with the turbines installed at Los Vientos IV, the company has crossed a historic milestone of 75 gigawatts installed in 75 countries. Mr Brown added that the company is especially proud to have accomplished this on the Los Vientos IV project, which is a testament to its valued partnership with Duke Energy.
The wind farm was constructed by Wanzek Construction with Amshore US Wind providing development support.
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