AECI is a cooperative made up of over 50 local energy providers spread along Missouri, Southeastern Iowa and Northwestern Oklahoma, supplying over 900 thousand households. EGP is currently supplying energy to the Tri-County Electric Cooperative of Oklahoma (TCEC) and Springfield’s City Utilities. Both operators purchase renewable energy from the Diamond Vista wind farm in Kansas.
AECI will instead purchase the full capacity of Enel’s new White Cloud Wind Project in Nodaway County, currently in its planning stages. Once operational, the new wind farm will feature an installed capacity of 236.5 MW.
“Utilities across the country are increasingly turning to Enel Green Power to help diversify their energy supply through renewables. Through our new, White Cloud wind project, we are expanding our presence in Missouri, providing zero-emission, locally-sourced energy to its citizens,” said Georgios Papadimitriou, head of Enel Green Power North America.
White Cloud is expected to begin construction in the second half of 2019, with commercial operation due by the end of 2020.
“Associated added its first of eight contract wind resources more than a decade ago and has a long history of proactively adding new resources to meet its load growth,” stated David J. Tudor, Associated’s CEO and general manager.
PPAs are long-lasting partnerships that allow companies and institutions to secure a long-term renewable energy supply from certified power plants. The power purchase agreement is the first announced by Enel Green Power North America since its recent acquisition of Tradewind Energy, the Lenexa, Kansas-based developer of White Cloud.
Enel Green Power and Tradewind have been strategic development partners since 2006. Over the course of this partnership, EGP successfully built and began operations of around 3.9 GW of capacity developed by Tradewind.
In Missouri, Enel Green Power North America currently operates the 300 MW Rock Creek wind farm, located in Atchison County.
