BP and Sempra's wind farm on the south-east ridge of Maui's Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. Image via BP
BP’s wind-energy division and Sempra US Gas & Power, a developer of renewable energy and natural gas solutions, have started the commercial operation of a 141 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Pennsylvania just days after opening a vast 470MW wind farm in Kansas.
The two companies confirmed that the Mehoopany Wind Farm, which is located on 9,000 acres near Scranton, Pennsylvania, has now gone into commercial operation.
The farm includes 88 wind turbines sourced from General Electric, with the combined capacity to produce 141MW of electricity.
BP said that some 400 jobs were created during the peak of the construction of the wind farm. BP and Sempra US Gas & Power are 50:50 joint venture partners in the Mehoopany wind farm.
The wind farm’s power output has been sold under long-term power purchase agreements with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative.
Last week the two companies announced that the Flat Ridge 2 wind farm in Kansas had gone into commercial operation.
BP claims that the 470MW wind farm is the largest single-build wind farm in the history of the US wind industry.
The Kansas win farm spans a 66,000-acre site, with BP and Sempra having invested more than US$800m in the project.
In all, 294 wind farms have been used in the Flat Ridge 2 wind farm, which BP claims will have the capacity to power more than 140,000 homes in the US.
