Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions, a nonregulated commercial brand of its investor-owned utility parent company Duke Energy, has placed into commercial operation a 207 MW wind farm in Iowa.
The Ledyard Windpower project in Kossuth County is the company's first wind farm in Iowa, which accounts for 10% of U.S. wind power. Amshore Renewable Energy co-developed the project along with Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions.
Verizon Communications is supporting the project through a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement for 180 MW of power from the Ledyard project.
The Ledyard project consists of 46 Vestas V150 4.5-MW turbines Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions is responsible for the site’s long-term maintenance and operations.
Ledyard Windpower created about 200 jobs during peak construction. The 12,000-acre agricultural site will continue to be used by farmers.
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Completion of the project in Iowa comes as Duke Energy aims to sell its renewable energy development business. In August, Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good signaled that the company wanted to focus on its regulated utility business.
Duke Energy's commercial renewable energy business includes a portfolio of 5 GW of wind, solar, and battery storage capacity. The business unit includes around $1.6 billion of debt and was valued at around $4 billion.
The business unit represents less than 5% of Duke Energy’s earnings. Projected growth on the regulated side of the business ranges from 5-7%.
Good initially targeted Q2 2023 to close a sale of the renewables business.
The Duke owned and operated, 912 MW Los Vientos Wind Farm in Texas (Courtesy: Duke Energy) Since launching its first wind power project in 2008, Duke Energy Renewables has invested around $4 billion to deploy 2,300 MW of wind power at 21 wind farms across the country. It also owns and operates around 500 MW of photovoltaic (PV) solar power projects at more than 50 solar plants across the country.
