American Electric Power (AEP) has begun operations at the Sundance wind energy centre. The project has a total installed capacity of 199 MW and is located in Woods County of Oklahoma state in the United States. Sundance wind facility is one of the three wind projects that comprise 1,485MW North Central Energy Facilities. These projects are being developed by Invenergy.
The 287 MW Maverick and 999 MW Traverse projects are the other two North Central Energy Facilities. Maverick is expected to begin operations later this year, while Traverse is expected to be operational by early 2022. The total investment across the three projects is estimated at $2 billion.
Recently, GE Renewable Energy was selected as the turbine supplier for Invenergy LLC’s 1,485-MW North Central Wind Energy Facilities project in Oklahoma. GE will equip the plants with 492 of the 2.X-127s turbines and 39 2.X-116 machines with varying nameplates and hub heights.
Once operational, the North Central Energy AEP’s subsidiaries Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) will assume ownership of each of the three wind projects. The North Central facilities will supply power to customers of the subsidiaries in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The wind projects are expected to generate adequate energy to power 440,000 homes. The generated power is expected to help save almost $3 billion in electricity costs over the next three decades.