“This grant constitutes a significant recognition of the increasingly important role renewable energy development has for our country – not only in terms of producing clean, safe and domestic energy for our citizens, but the enormous economic impact and jobs it provides for our local communities,” said Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire.
The Windy Flats portion will produce over 350-megawatts (MW) of the 500+ MW project. The expansion will add over 250 additional jobs and will provide more than $32 million in overall community and state benefits over the life of the project. This is in addition to the more than 350 jobs and $145 million in overall economic benefits created by the 400 MW that Cannon has installed to date in its Klickitat County project. More than 75 percent of the project’s workforce comes from the Klickitat County region.
Windy Point/Windy Flats represents one of the largest wind farms in the nation, will produce enough clean electricity for over 250,000 households per year and will displace more than 800 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. The $200 million cash grant will go towards the purchase of wind turbines and other project costs. The total investment of the project to date is over $1 billion.
“I applaud President Obama for his vision and leadership, and I am proud that the state of Washington is home to a project that is helping spur billions of dollars in private ‘green’ investment and creating thousands of jobs,” Gregoire continued.
ARRA was signed by President Obama in February 2009 to encourage renewable energy projects such as Windy Point/Windy Flats. The Act allows developers of alternative energy projects to apply for a grant totaling up to 30 percent of the eligible costs of a project in lieu of receiving federal investment tax credits or production tax credits.
“We commend President Obama for making renewable energy development in this country a priority,” said Gary Hardke, Cannon Power Group’s president and managing director. “As an American-based company, we are up to the challenge.”
Power from Windy Flats is being purchased by the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), a California joint powers agency comprising of 11 municipal utilities and one irrigation district, in October 2009. In a unique partnership, the Maryhill Museum of Art is home to 15 of the project’s wind turbines and will receive over $100,000 in revenue each year once the turbines begin producing energy in 2009.
Celebrating its thirtieth year as renewable energy pioneers, San Diego-based Cannon Power Group has developed, constructed, operated, and maintained more than 30 utility-scale wind energy projects in the US, India, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Croatia. Currently Cannon Power Group has over 3,000 MW of wind projects and over 1,500 MW of utility-scale solar projects in various stages of development in Europe and western North America.
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