Enel's U.S. renewable company Enel Green Power North America, Inc. (EGPNA) began operations at the 185-megawatt (MW) HillTopper wind farm, its first wind facility in the state of Illinois, the Italian energy group announced Wednesday.
According to Enel's statement, the investment in the construction of HillTopper located in Logan County, which is expected to generate around 570 gigawatt-hours annually, amounts to approximately $325 million.
HillTopper is supported by three long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Bloomberg LP, General Motors as well as Constellation, an Exelon company.
Under a long-term PPA with Bloomberg LP, Enel will sell the power generated from a 17 MW portion of the wind farm to help the company reach its 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2025.
The energy generated by a 100 MW portion of HillTopper will be sold to General Motors under a second long-term PPA. The wind energy will provide 100 percent renewable electricity to all of GM’s Ohio and Indiana manufacturing facilities and help the company achieve 20 percent energy supply from renewables, according to the statement.
Under the third long-term agreement, the power produced from a 23 MW section of HillTopper will be sold to retail energy products and services provider Constellation, who will then sell the power to two corporate customers through separate retail agreements.
The HillTopper wind farm brings the total renewable capacity connected by Enel Green Power to grids around the world from January 2018 to date to approximately 1,981 MW.
According to the statement, EGPNA is currently the largest wind operator in Kansas and Oklahoma, and was the fastest growing renewable energy company in the U.S. in 2017, bringing approximately 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity online.
The company has projects operating and under development in 24 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, and operates around 100 plants with a managed capacity of around 4.4 GW powered by renewable hydropower, wind, geothermal and solar energy.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr