Leeward Renewable Energy has commissioned its 171MW Mountain Breeze wind farm in Weld County, Colorado. The wind farm is comprised of 62 GE Renewable Energy onshore wind turbines. Citi bank provided tax equity financing of $162.9 million for the project. The wind park will provide energy to Colorado-based Xcel Energy under a long-term power purchase agreement. The project created about 300 jobs during construction and also contributed to the Weld County area through property tax payments. Leeward Renewable Energy carried out the design and construction of the project from the ground up and will own and operate the wind farm.
Leeward also supplies wind energy to Xcel Energy – Colorado through its Cedar Creek wind project in Weld County, and to Xcel Energy – Southwest from its Caprock Wind project in Quay County, New Mexico. The company received unanimous approval from Weld County Board of County Commissioners for the Mountain Breeze project. The announcement of its commissioning represents a leap for the company in providing their customers with 80 per cent carbon-free energy by 2030 and 100 per cent carbon-free energy by 2050.
Leeward Renewable Energy owns and operates an expanding portfolio of sustainable utility-scale projects across nine states in the USA with a total installed generating capacity of more than 2 GW. In 2018, the company was acquired by OMERS Infrastructure Management, Inc. of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans. The company aims to develop over 5 GW of wind, solar, and energy storage capacities in the coming years.