The Cimarron Bend Wind Farm is a 599

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

(MW)

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

spanning northwest Clark County in the U.S. state of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. It became the second largest wind generating facility in the state upon completion of the first two construction phases in early 2017. The facility allowed the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to obtain more than 45% of its electricity needs from renewable sources.

Details

The project was developed by the Kansas-based firm Tradewind Energy, which previously built a strategic partnership with the Italian-controlled firm Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA) that resulted in the construction of several wind farms throughout the state, including the

Smoky Hills Wind Farm The Smoky Hills Wind Farm (Phase I & Phase II) is a 250 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Lincoln and Ellsworth Counties, 140 miles west of Topeka in Kansas, north of Ellsworth. The farm is operated by Enel Green Power. Highway K-14 and Interstate 70 ...

. The electricity and

tax credits A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "disc ...

from the first 200 MW phase are contracted with

Google Inc. Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. I ...

, and those from the second 200 MW phase are contracted with the Kansas City BPU. A third 200 MW phase was also planned for development. The facility's first two phases span about 60,000 acres of farm and grazing land in the southwest region of the state near the town of Minneola. It includes 200

Vestas Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Uni ...

V110-2.0 MW

wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. Wi ...

for which many components were manufactured in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Construction of the facility started in April 2016 and employed about 350 local workers. Phase I was completed year end 2016 and phase II in late March 2017. The ongoing operation and maintenance activities employ about 15 people. Construction was financed by Enel Green Power North America Renewable Energy Partners, an equally owned

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between EGPNA and

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018. ...

’s Energy Financial Services. EGPNA obtained further investor financing throug
tax equity
agreements with other U.S. financial institutions including

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

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, and MetLife. In early 2019, EGPNA acquired Tradewind Energy and its portfolio of future projects under development. It also purchased GE's interest in their joint venture facilities, including the operating Cimmaron Bend Wind Farm. The facility was expanded to 599 MW in 2020, making it EGPNA's largest US wind farm.

Electricity production

(*) partial year of operation
(NR) not yet reported

References

{{Wind power in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 2017 Wind farms in Kansas Buildings and structures in Clark County, Kansas

Details

Electricity production

See also

References