CU enters purchase contract for wind energy

Last edited 3:28 p.m., Dec. 4, 2015 

City Utilities of Springfield yesterday entered a contract to purchase wind energy from Duke Energy Renewables as part of its 200-megawatt Frontier Windpower Project in Kay County, Okla.

Through a purchased-power agreement - similar to the CU solar farm at 2915 N. Farm Road 209 - the utility provider will buy all wind energy produced from the Frontier site near the community of Blackwell. CU spokesman Joel Alexander said Duke would soon begin construction on the wind farm and wrap it up around the third quarter next year.

The 22-year agreement brings CU’s renewable energy portfolio to roughly 36 percent of the total energy demand from its 111,000 electric customers. The percentage includes CU’s other renewable energy projects.

Alexander said the agreement calls for CU to buy as much power as possible per month from the Duke farm, which would cap at 200 megawatts. He said the utility company would buy the power at $17 per megawatt hour. CU expects to spend over $1 million a month, or about $12.5 million a year, he said.

“Getting everything that’s going to come out of there is a great opportunity for us,” he said, noting the company issued requests for bids earlier this year. “This was by far the most intriguing and best opportunity we had.”

Duke Energy Renewables, one of Duke Energy Corp.’s commercial businesses, has invested over $3 billion since 2007 to grow its wind and solar portfolio, according to Duke-Energy.com.

The deal comes over a year after CU opened its solar farm.

In August 2014, CU formally dedicated the 40-acre farm, a partnership with Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Strata Solar.

The nearly 22,000-panel, 5-megawatt solar farm on CU-owned land can produce enough energy for approximately 900 homes each year.