(1/14/10)
The Tennessee Valley Authority is moving closer to its goal of having more than 50 percent of its power generation from renewable energy with 4 new contracts for the purchase of up to 815 megawatts of renewable wind energy.
TVA entered into 2 contracts with Invenergy Wind to provide a total of up to 350 megawatts from wind projects at the White Oak Energy Center in McLean County, Illinois, and the Bishop Hill Energy Center in Henry County, Ill., both beginning in January 2012.
A contract with CPV Renewable Energy Co. will provide up to 165 megawatts of wind energy from the Cimarron project in Gray County, Kansas, beginning as early as January 2012.
A fourth contract, with Iberdrola Renewables, will deliver up to 300 megawatts from the Streator Cayuga Ridge project in Illinois, starting in mid-2010. This 300MW power purchase agreement (PPA) is the largest PPA to date for Iberdrola, the world leader in wind farm assets with over 10GW of wind power and 54GW of additional RE power in its pipeline.
Construction is scheduled or under way on all of these projects. Power delivery is subject to environmental requirements and firm transmission paths being secured. The contracts are in addition to wind energy contracts with Invenergy Wind and CPV announced in October. This is the first contract between TVA and Iberdrola Renewables.
With the new contracts, TVA has purchased up to 1,265 megawatts toward that goal, enough power to serve more than 300,000 average-size homes in the Tennessee Valley.
TVA’s current renewable energy portfolio now includes 5,095 megawatts from hydro, wind, solar, and methane sources. In addition, TVA’s nuclear plants contribute 6,900 megawatts of electricity.
TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and is completely self-financing. TVA provides power to large industries and 157 power distributors that serve approximately 9 million consumers in seven southeastern states.
