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Green light for $400m wind project in northwest Oklahoma

The Crossroads wind farm is to use at least 85 Siemens wind turbines

Regulators have given the green light to a plan to build a 200-megawatt wind farm in northwestern Oklahoma.

Power utility OG&E wants to build at least 198MW of wind capacity at a site near Canton in Dewey County, about seven miles north of Taloga.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has approved a settlement agreement that could see up to 227MW of capacity developed.

The final scale of the $400 million project is dependent on a study of transmission capacity in the region.

The Crossroads wind farm, as it is to be called, is expected to come online in the second half of 2011.

Collaboration

“This is a good outcome resulting from collaboration of the various parties interested in the expansion of renewable energy in Oklahoma,” said Jesse Langston, vice president of Utility Commercial Operations for OG&E.

“We reached unanimous agreement with customer and shareholder groups, state agencies and regulatory officials which culminated in today’s 3-0 Commission vote to approve the Crossroads project.”

The new wind farm is expected to use at least 86 turbines, each rated to produce 2.3MW, supplied by German manufacturer Siemens.

It will be built by Renewable Energy Systems Americas, Inc., to connect with the new Windspeed transmission line to Oklahoma City, a power line energized earlier this year.

Savings

According to OG&E, its residential customers will see on average a 59-65 cent increase in their electricity bills each month in 2012, when the wind farm begins full production.

However, from 2013 or 2014, the lower-cost wind energy produced by the wind farm should see a decrease in average monthly residential electric bills for the rest of the project’s lifetime, the utility said.

OG&E, part of Oklahoma City-based OGE Energy Corp, serves about 779,000 customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas.

The utility currently has 270MW of wind power capacity in its portfolio, with expectations of reaching 550MW this year. The Crossroads project should bring the total to 750MW, around 10% of OG&E’s total electricity supply.