OU Spirit wind farm supply agreement with OG&E approved

27 November 2009

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has approved the terms of the OU Spirit wind farm project.

The Commission, the OG&E, the office of the state Attorney General, Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers and OG&E shareholders association had previously asked the Commission to approve terms of an agreement which allows OG&E to start recovering the costs of the new wind farm as it begins production through a temporary addition to its customers’ bills.

The approved agreement also assigns the proceeds from the sales of the wind farm’s renewable energy credits to OG&E’s customers, including credits purchased by the University of Oklahoma (OU). The 101MW OU Spirit electric generating facility is currently under construction in Woodward, Okla.

‘We applaud our state regulators for their support of this project that adds to Oklahoma’s renewable energy portfolio in a way that benefits our customers, the university, and our entire state,’ said Howard Motley, OG&E vice president for regulatory affairs. ‘We also appreciate OU for its leadership, demonstrated by such a strong commitment to renewable energy.’

The new wind farm is expected to assist the university’s Norman campus achieve a goal to have all of its purchased energy from renewable sources by 2013.

OG&E provides its customers with 170MW of wind power from the Sooner and Centennial wind farms in northwestern Oklahoma;

The OU Spirit wind farm will bring the total wind power capacity provided by OG&E to 270MW. The company also supplies electricity from the Sooner and Centennial wind farms in Oklahoma.

OG&E is also asking for Commission approval of two additional wind power projects totaling 280MW that could come online by 2012. The 550MW of wind generation capability would represent about 7.6 per cent of OG&E’s total generating capacity.

OG&E recently entered into agreements with General Electric Energy (GE) and smart grid provider Silver Spring Networks, to handle its Positive Energy smart grid programme, deployed in Norman, Oklahoma, next year. The power provider also awarded contracts for 280MW of wind power development to CPV Keenan and Edison Mission Energy in the state.

OG&E is a subsidiary of NYSE-listed Oklahoma-based OGE Energy Corporation.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: wind

This story was published on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 6:36 pm and is filed under North America, companies, wind. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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