Company closes deal to build 200 MW wind farm

A global investments firm specializing in renewable energy assets said Tuesday it has entered into a joint venture with Elawan Wind to build a project that ultimately could put 365 megawatts of windgenerated power into the grid that serves Oklahoma.

Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners also said construction and tax equity financing needed to build the Persimmon project’s first phase, which will be capable of generating 200 megawatts of power and is expected to be operational sometime later this year, had been secured.

Shawn Cumberland, a senior managing director at Quinbrook, said the Persimmon project will involve 80 turbines spread across parts of Woodward, Dewey and Ellis counties and added it is a perfect addition to its 2 gigawatt wind portfolio.

“We also have found an ideal partner in Elawan, who successfully developed the project over several years in one of the United States’ strongest wind regimes,” Cumberland said.

The turbines for the project’s first phase are being supplied by GE Renewable Energy. A release from Quinbrook said GE Renewable is supplying 73 2.5 megawatt turbines, and seven 2.3 megawatt turbines.

“All of the turbines have been delivered to the site, and our contractor started working on the project in November.”

Cumberland said power from Persimmon will be fed into the grid using an Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. substation at Woodward.

Once operational, Persimmon is expected to generate nearly 900,000 megawatt hours of renewable power every year, offsetting 630,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

The power will be available for use within the Southwest Power Pool, which serves Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and parts of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and New Mexico.

Elawan and Quinbrook announced they had secured long-term commitments from a customer to buy power from the project.

The remainder of the $269 million (loans and tax equity) involved in building the project came from GE Energy Financial Services, CIT, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Rabobank.