Duke Energy plans expanding Oklahoma wind park to 550 MW

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) will this summer start building a 350-MW wind park in Oklahoma as an expansion of its 200-MW Frontier Windpower site, the US utility said on Wednesday.

The proposed project is expected to be completed by December 2020, creating a wind farm of 550 MW that will be able to generate enough electricity foar about 193,000 homes annually. The 200-MW Frontier Windpower plant has been producing power since 2016.

Germany’s Nordex Group (ETR:NDX1) will supply 74 turbines of 4.8 MW each for the Frontier II park in Kay County. A 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Ball Corp (NYSE:BLL) is already in place for the output of 161 MW of the capacity, while a further 160 MW has been contracted under an additional VPPA. The second contract was signed with an unnamed “major corporation” and will be announced later this year, Duke Energy said.

Amshore US Wind provided development support for the project and Wanzek Construction has been hired to build the plant.

The output of the Frontier Windpower II park will be enough to meet the demand of around 123,000 average homes.

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