Southern Power acquires Wildhorse Mountain Wind Facility

Roaring Fork Wind, a co-development partnership between Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES) and Vestas, developed the project. Once operational, all electric energy, capacity and other attributes generated by the facility will be sold under a 20-year power purchase agreement to Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC).

“We are proud to announce our tenth wind project as we continue to build the future of energy,” said Southern Power President and CEO Mark Lantrip. “Wildhorse Mountain is a great project for Southern Power’s growing footprint and a shining example of our collaborative partnership with RES. Our long-time partner Vestas was also a key player in delivering on this project. We look forward to its completion and operation.”

The project is expected to consist of 29 Vestas wind turbines. RES will provide the balance of plant construction of the facility, and Vestas will provide long-term maintenance of the turbines through a 20-year service agreement.

Wildhorse Mountain is expected to achieve commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2019. AECC intends to sell the renewable energy credits associated with the electricity produced by Wildhorse Mountain. AECC does not claim that the electricity to be sold from this resource to its member cooperatives and others is “green,” “renewable,” “clean” or has any other environmental attribute.

“AECC works on behalf of more than 500,000 electric cooperative members to add resources, like the 100 megawatts of capacity from Wildhorse Mountain Wind Facility, to its generation portfolio,” said Duane Highley, president and CEO of AECC. “This wind facility along with AECC’s diverse, reliable generation portfolio provides energy at the lowest possible cost to our members.”

Wildhorse Mountain is Southern Power’s fourth wind project within the state of Oklahoma. With this addition, Southern Power’s wind portfolio consists of more than 1,600 MW of wind generation. Southern Power’s wind facilities are part of the company’s 3,000-MW renewable fleet, which consists of 39 solar, wind and biomass facilities operating or under construction.

This project aligns with Southern Power’s overall business strategy of strengthening its wholesale business by acquiring and developing generating assets that are covered by long-term contracts with counterparties with strong credit support.