Operations have begun at Enel Green Power North America’s 320-MW Rattlesnake Creek wind farm located in Dixon County, Nebraska. Enel says that the facility is fully contracted with long-term PPAs that Facebook and Adobe signed early last year.
Rattlesnake Creek is expected to generate around 1,300 GWh annually, according to EGPNA. The wind farm has 101 Acciona AW125-3.15 MW wind turbines, and a total project area encompassing around 32,000 acres, says developer Rattlesnake Creek Wind Project, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tradewind Energy, Inc.
In March 2018, Facebook and Adobe each made deals to purchase output from the wind farm. Adobe is purchasing the energy from a 10-MW portion of the facility through 2028, and Facebook will gradually buy the wind farm’s full output by 2029, EGPNA explained. Facebook’s deal allows a 100% renewable energy supply to the company’s data center in Papillion, Nebraska.
Operations have also started for the Diamond Vista wind farm in Marion and Dickinson Counties, Kansas — a nearly 300-MW project that Enel acquired from Tradewind Energy. Wisconsin-based Kohler signed a 15-year PPA last March with EGPNA for 100 MW of wind power annually from the site.
Combined, the two new wind farms should generate around 2,600 GWh annually, Enel Green Power says. The farms also increase the total renewable capacity that Enel Green Power has connected to grids around the world to approximately 2.6 GW.
“With the completion of Rattlesnake Creek and Diamond Vista, we have now added more than 800 MW of new wind capacity in 2018 in the US, strengthening our growth in the country and confirming our position as partner of choice for commercial and industrial customers,” said Antonio Cammisecra, the head of Enel Green Power.
Enel announced in mid December that the 185-MW HillTopper wind farm in Illinois had begun operations. PPAs with Bloomberg LP, General Motors, and Constellation are supporting that facility.