Enel Green Power, US 200 MW Wind Power Plant up and running

The American subsidiary of Enel Green Power – Enel Green Power North America Inc. (EGP-NA) – has put its wind farm in Caney River (Elk County, Kansas) into operation, bringing the company’s total wind energy installed capacity in North America to 986 MW.

With 200 MW of installed capacity, the wind farm can meet the needs of about 70,000 American households, avoiding the annual emission of over 580,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The wind power plant brings EGP total installed capacity in North America to 986 MW.

The new facility – consisting of 111 V-90 wind turbines of 1.8 MW each for a total installed capacity of around 200 MW. It required a total investment of 350 million dollars and will generate 765 million kWh per year, enough to meet the annual consumption of approximately 70,000 American households and to avoid the atmospheric emission of more than 580,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

“We pursue our organic growth in the USA fully in line with our schedule” Commented Francesco Starace, Enel Green Power CEO “Caney River represents a major evidence from EGP to carry out in a limited amount of time power plants of significant sizes in such an important market.”

The electricity generated by the Caney River Wind power project, which was developed by EGP-NA’s partner, TradeWind Energy, will be purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority under the terms of a 20 year-contract.

The Caney Wind River project provides 8.5 million dollars in funding for the plan to protect the tallgrass prairie in Kansas. Specifically, the funding will be used to help establish environmental restrictions needed to protect over 18,000 hectares, restore 6,000 hectares of the Tallgrass Prairie Habitat and conduct research on its eco-system’s wind patterns and wildlife.

Enel Green Power is the Enel Group company devoted to the development and management of power generation from renewable sources at the international level, with a presence in Europe and the Americas. It is among the industry leaders worldwide thanks to its approximately 22 billion KWh generated from a well balanced energy mix inclusive of water, solar power, wind energy and geothermal power sources.

This is enough to meet the energy needs of about 8 million households and avoid the emission of more than 16 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The company’s installed capacity exceeds 6,100 MW, produced by more than 620 plants in operation around the world, with a generation mix that includes wind power, solar energy , hydro, geothermal energy and biomass.

www.enel.com