Austin Energy Inks Deals for $1.4 Billion of New Wind Power

SUGAR LAND--September 5, 2013--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Austin Energy (Austin, Texas) recently approved power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling approximately $1.4 billion to support construction of 570 megawatts (MW) of new wind power in Texas. But unlike most Texas wind projects, these news windfarms will be built close to the Gulf Coast, not in West Texas, because the wind patterns in the Gulf better match the timing of electric use by the city's 420,000 customers.

In late June, the Austin City Council approved PPAs of up to 25 years with Duke Energy Renewables (Charlotte, North Carolina), a unit of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina), and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America LLC (Chicago, Illinois), a unit of E.ON SE (Dusseldorf, Germany).