EDF RS wins remote monitoring contract for 439 MW of Allete wind

EDF Renewable Services (EDF RS) said Tuesday it has signed a contract with a subsidiary of US energy company Allete Inc (NYSE:ALE) to provide remote monitoring and turbine resets for five of its wind projects totalling 439 MW.

Under the agreement with Allete Clean Energy (ACE), EDF RS will provide 24/7/365 remote services performed by its operations control centre (OCC). The contract covers the 49.8-MW Condon wind farm in Oregon, the 108-MW Storm Lake I and 76.5-MW Storm Lake II facilities in Iowa, the 104.25-MW Lake Benton I wind farm in Minnesota and the 100.5-MW Armenia Mountain wind farm in Pennsylvania. EDF RS currently provides full service operations and maintenance (O&M) for two projects of Allete Clean Energy -- the 85.5-MW Chanarambie and 9-MW Viking wind farms in Minnesota. The clean energy unit of Allete acquired these two plants from EDF Renewable Energy in April.

The seven projects represent a combined capacity of 534 MW and consists of GE, Mitsubishi and Zond wind turbines.

Dave Leveille of Allete Clean Energy said the relationship with EDF RS gave access to extensive real-time operational experience and expertise, while allowing ACE to focus on its core strengths in O&M.

EDF RS provides O&M services in North America and has more than 10.5 GW of wind, solar and bioenergy under contract. The firm is a unit of US-based EDF Renewable Energy, which is part of French utility EDF SA.

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