Iberdrola Renewables Begins Process to Build North Carolina's First Commercial Windfarm

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Iberdrola Renewables Incorporated (Portland, Oregon) has applied to the North Carolina Utilities Commission to build a 300-megawatt (MW) windfarm in northeastern North Carolina. If constructed, it would be the Tar Heel State's first commercial windfarm.

The developer wants to site the Desert Wind Farm on 20,000 acres of flat agricultural land in Pasquotank and Perquimans counties. The project, which has a total investment value (TIV) of $600 million, would create more than 400 jobs during construction, which could start as early as late 2011 if the necessary permits are received. The project has not selected a turbine manufacturer or an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm yet. The project is expected to consist of about 150 2-MW wind turbines.

Jan Johnson, a spokesperson for Iberdrola Renewables, told Industrial Info that the company is in the process of negotiating power purchase agreements for the electricity to be generated by the project. "Market dynamics typically drive where we locate projects," she said. "Generally that means either there is a strong renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in the area, or there are high electric prices, or both." She declined to explain what made this the right time to site the first commercial windfarm in North Carolina.

Iberdrola Renewables chose this particular site in North Carolina because of its steady wind, nearby electric transmission lines and community support, Iberdrola Renewables' spokesperson Paul Copleman told the Charlotte Observer. In an interview with another North Carolina newspaper, the Raleigh News & Observer, Copelman said, "We've been really pleased with the amount of community support we have seen so far."

The developer has been working with nearby communities, landowners, multiple state and federal agencies, and conducting various studies on the potential project since 2009. It said its late-January filing is "the first step of many regulatory reviews that must be completed" before it would make a final decision on the project.

North Carolina's shareholder-owned utilities are required to have renewable energy account for 12.5% of overall electric production by 2021, while cooperative and public power utilities in the state are required to have renewables account for 10% of overall electricity production by 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE).

The state's largest utilities are Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Progress Energy Incorporated (NYSE:PGN) (Raleigh, North Carolina, which are in the process of merging. Johnson declined to name the utility or utilities that Iberdrola is negotiating with to purchase the electricity. But she said that the developer typically doesn't locate windfarms in the service areas of utilities that purchase the power. "We site projects where there is a good wind resource," she said.

"Developing our green economy is a cornerstone of my vision for North Carolina's economic future," Governor Bev Perdue said in a statement. "Projects such as the proposed Iberdrola Renewables' windfarm can help us lay the foundation for North Carolina to lead the nation in clean, homegrown energy."

Iberdrola Renewables is part of Iberdrola Renovables SAU (MCE:IBR) (Madrid, Spain), which has installed more than 12,000 MW of renewable energy around the world. The company has installed more than 4,600 MW of wind power in the U.S.

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