The project will be constructed by Gallop Power LLC, a U.S.- based company established to develop, own, and operate clean energy projects. Gallop has acquired Flat Water Wind Farm from juwi’s J.W. Prairie Wind Power LLC. The project was developed by the juwi group, a leading renewable energy developer based in Germany, through its J.W. Prairie Wind Power LLC, located in Lawrence, Kansas. A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was concluded with Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), a public power utility serving Eastern Nebraska. The PPA is a 20-year contract and is renewable at OPPD’s option.
Under the terms of the relationship between Gallop and juwi, juwi will participate in the construction of the wind farm. It is planned that juwi will also perform the technical and commercial management (TCM) of the Flat Water Wind Farm for Gallop. juwi has great experience in TCM while the renewable energy specialist is already responsible for the management of more than 260 wind turbines in Europe.
The juwi group’s management team is in the process of building a TCM unit in the US. “The Flat Water Wind Farm is not only a milestone for juwi but also for OPPD and renewable energies in Nebraska. juwi is proud to have set the course for OPPD’s first commercial wind farm, and we are delighted to be working with them”, says Richard Zachariason, COO of juwi wind is the US. By the beginning of 2011, 40 General Electric (GE) wind turbines with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts each will generate around 220 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity, thereby covering the annual energy needs of about 19,000 households within OPPD’s service territory.
“This is a very important project for OPPD as we go about meeting our commitment to increase the amount of renewable energy in our portfolio,” said W. Gary Gates, OPPD President/CEO. “In fact, we have already started construction of a new substation in connection with this wind farm. We look forward to working closely with Flat Water Wind Farm, LLC to deliver this additional wind energy and make this long-term agreement happen”.
Although Flat Water Wind Farm is juwi’s first wind power project in the US, the company is not a newcomer on the American market: in the solar business, juwi has already claimed a leading role in the US for free-field installations, and more PV-projects are in development. In 2009 juwi solar Inc., an US subsidiary of the juwi group, completed the construction of a 2.2 MW project in Hackettstown, New Jersey and commenced the construction of a 12 MW project in Upper Sandusky, Ohio and a 15 MW project in Jacksonville, Florida. juwi solar Inc. expects to begin construction of its 16 MW Blue Wing project in San Antonio, Texas in the first quarter of 2010.
In the coming years, juwi plans to connect wind energy and solar installations with a total capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts to the US grid, ultimately making the US one of juwi’s most important markets. In addition to Nebraska, juwi is developing wind projects among others in Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan.
juwi is one of the leading companies in the field of renewable energies. Since 1996 the project development company has been designing, building, financing and operating plants that harness renewable energies. The CEOs Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung together transformed the company from a two-person operation focusing on wind farm project development into an internationally active group with about 750 employees and an annual revenue of approximately 600 million euros.
In addition to wind power, solar and bioenergy, juwi also specializes in hydro power as well as geothermal energy. To date, juwi has installed more than 400 wind turbines producing a total output of about 600 megawatts, while in the solar sector, juwi has built around 1,200 PV systems with a total capacity of over 400 megawatts, among them one of the world’s biggest solar power plants in Eastern Germany. The company operates internationally and has subsidiaries in Germany, the United States, France, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Costa Rica. In July 2008, juwi commissioned the construction of the world’s most energy-efficient building in Wörrstadt.
The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is one of the largest publicly owned and business managed electric utilities in the United States. OPPD serves more retail customers than any other electricity utility in the state of Nebraska servicing a population base of more than 754,000 people in a service area of 5,000 square miles. Founded in 1946, OPPD is governed by an elected eight member board of directors. The utility’s corporate headquarters is located in Omaha, Nebraska.
