GE, partners join on Texas wind projects

Subsidiaries of General Electric and European utility E.ON are partnering to own and operate the 211MW Grandview wind farm in Texas, the companies said today.

GE Energy Financial Services, the energy investment arm of GE, along with E.ON Climate and Renewables North America partnered on the project consisting of 118 GE wind turbines of 1.7MW each.

GE also worked with Tokyo-based MUFG Union Bank to close the financing for the Spinning Spur II project, a 161MW wind farm that came on line yesterday.

Both wind farms are located around Amarillo, in Texas' panhandle. They are part of the growing number of projects in the state's competitive renewable energy zones, areas designated for wind power and transmission infrastructure to move electricity to consumers in eastern Texas.

The projects will add to the oversupply of wind renewable energy certificates (RECs) in Texas, which has kept REC prices around $1/MWh for several months. Vintage 2014 Texas compliance RECs closed at $1.03/MWh yesterday, according to Argus assessments.

In compliance year 2013, only 12.6mn RECs out of 38.1mn MWh generated were retired for compliance, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

The Spinning Spur II project has 87 turbines, each of 1.85MW, and is one of three Spinning Spur wind farms built in the panhandle. The 161MW Spinning Spur wind farm, EDF's first wind development project in Texas, started up in 2012. Spinning Spur III, a 194MW project, is expected in operation by 2015.

Texas has the most installed wind capacity of any state, with 12,300MW, followed by California with 5,800MW and Iowa at 5,100MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

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