Following EGP's growth in North America over the last year, it has put the Cove Fort geothermal plant in Utah into service and begun work on the construction of the Origin wind farm in Oklahoma.
Enel Green Power has put the Cove Fort geothermal plant into service and is beginning work on the construction of the Origin wind farm, showing once again the level of its commitment to the development of renewable energy in North America.
The news comes after the extraordinary growth that has EGP achieved over the past year, with the 235 megawattChisholm View, the 199MWPrairie Rose and the 2.4MW Sheldon Springs plants being put into service, increasing its installed capacity by 35.7 percent and electricity production by 37.3 percent.
Cove Fort is a 25MW middle enthalpy geothermal binary cycle facility, which can generate up to 160 gigawatt-hours per year while avoiding the emission of around 115,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The Cove Fort plant is also supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the energy produced by the facility, which was signed with the Salt River Project company. The construction of Cove Fort, which required an investment of $126 million, will expand EGP’s presence in the geothermal industry in the United States, where the Group already manages the Nevada-based Salt Wells and Stillwater plants.
Wind power is also very important for Enel Green Power North America, which manages 1.3 gigawatts between the United States (1.2GW) and Canada. These figures are set to rise by the end of 2014 thanks to an additional 150MW from the Origin wind farm. This facility will be built in the Murray and Carter counties of Oklahoma, and will receive a total investment of about $250million. It will be able to generate up to 650GWh per year, avoiding the production of some 700,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the process. This project is also supported by 20-year PPA for the energy produced by the facility.
EGP manages more than 90 plants in North America between hydro, wind, geothermal and PV solar power, all of which have a total capacity of more than 1.6 GW.