Dive Brief:
- Southern Power, the unregulated power developer of Southern Company, will add 151 MW of Oklahoma wind energy to its portfolio when its purchase of the Grant Wind project, developed by Apex Clean Energy, closes in March 2016.
- The project, bought at an undisclosed price, will have 66 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines that will generate enough electricity to help meet the energy needs of about 50,000 average U.S. homes.
- This purchase continues Southern’s turn toward renewables. Earlier this year, Southern Power announced its purchase of the Apex Clean Energy-developed 130 turbine, 299 MW Kay Wind facility in Oklahoma. That deal will close in Q4 of this year.
Dive Insight:
The Grant Wind project acquisition brings Southern Power’s renewables capacity and pipeline to over 1,100 MW, including seven solar projects in partnership with Turner Renewable Energy and one solar project in partnership with First Solar. The developer now has more than 20 renewables projects on its books.
Southern Co. subsidiary Alabama Power recently won Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) approval for the procurement of up to 500 MW of renewables from facilities 80 MW or smaller. The utility’s proposal cited both a need for renewables to meet Clean Power Plan emissions reductions requirements and to meet customer demand. Regulators stipulated the renewable energy developments must be cost-competitive with traditional generation options.
Alabama Power is currently getting 404 MW of wind power from two Oklahoma wind projects through PPAs signed and approved by regulators in 2012.
Southern Company subsidiary Gulf Power recently purchased 180 MW from Oklahoma’s Kingfisher Wind project and has proposed 120 MW of solar development in partnership with the Air Force and Navy.
Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power has a 20 year PPA signed in 2013 for 250 MW from Oklahoma’s Blue Canyon II and Blue Canyon VI wind projects, to be delivered beginning in 2016. It recently announced it would enter the rooftop solar business through an unregulated subsidiary.
