SAN DIEGO & ROCHESTER, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) has signed an agreement to supply Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) with 100 megawatts (MW) of wind energy from the Stoneray Wind Project in Minnesota beginning in 2020. Construction is expected to commence in early 2018 with an anticipated commercial operation date (COD) of December 2018.
Stoneray Wind Project, located in Pipestone and Murray counties in Southwestern Minnesota, will be comprised of up to 50 wind turbine generators. The project was made possible due to grid transmission expansion. These important improvements propel the project forward, and with it comes an expected 150+ construction jobs and 10 long-term, full-time positions as well as millions of dollars in economic benefits to the local area.
“EDF RE is pleased to expand on its strong historical working relationship with SMMPA to help meet their energy supply goals and objectives,” commented Kate O’Hair, Vice President for Development-North Region. “Minnesota has long been a key state for EDF RE due to its favorable regulatory environment, excellent wind resource, and advantageous transmission expansion. Stoneray marks our twelfth wind project developed in the state totaling over 1.2 GW and further demonstrates EDF RE’s commitment to investment, involvement and employment in Minnesota.”
“Stoneray Wind is a big addition to SMMPA’s diverse renewable energy portfolio,” said Dave Geschwind, SMMPA’s Executive Director and CEO. “Building on the success of the 100.5 MW Wapsipinicon Wind project with EDF RE, we’re glad to be working further with EDF RE to provide more Minnesota wind energy to our Members and economic benefits to southern Minnesota through this important project.”
The expected electricity generated at full capacity is enough to meet the consumption of up to 47,000 average Minnesota homes. This is equivalent to avoiding more than 300,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually1 which represents the greenhouse gas emissions from 64,000 passenger vehicles driven over the course of one year.
EDF Renewable Energy is one of the largest renewable energy developers in North America with 9 gigawatts of wind, solar, biomass, and biogas projects developed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
1 According to US EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculations.
About EDF Renewable Energy:
EDF Renewable Energy is a leading US independent power producer with 30 years of expertise in the renewable industry, covering all range of services from project origination, development, sales and marketing, to long-term asset management. EDF Renewable Energy specializes in wind and solar photovoltaic with presence in other segments of the renewable energy market: distributed electricity, storage, biogas, and biomass. EDF Renewable Energy’s North American portfolio consists of 9 gigawatts of developed projects with 4.4 gigawatts of installed capacity throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. The operations and maintenance subsidiary, EDF Renewable Services, operates 10 gigawatts throughout North America. EDF Renewable Energy is a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles. EDF Energies Nouvelles is the renewable energy arm of the EDF group, the leading electricity company in the world. For more information visit: www.edf-re.com.
About Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency:
Created by its members as a joint-action agency in 1977, SMMPA generates and sells reliable wholesale electricity to its eighteen non-profit, municipally-owned member utilities, and develops innovative products and services to help them deliver value to their customers.
Though SMMPA member utilities are located throughout the state, most are in southern Minnesota. SMMPA members serve over 96,000 residential customers and over 12,300 commercial and industrial customers. www.smmpa.com
