ACCIONA Completes 123 MW Red Hills Wind Farm

82 ACCIONA Wind Turbines to Generate Enough Clean Energy to Power 40,000 U.S. Homes and Offset Nearly 300K Tons of Carbon Annually

June 22, 2009 -- ACCIONA Energy North America has completed its 123 MW Red Hills Wind Farm, located in Roger Mills and Custer counties, near Elk City. This is the first renewable energy project that ACCIONA has developed and built in the state of Oklahoma.
 
Using 82 ACCIONA Windpower 1.5 MW wind turbines, the Red Hills Wind Farm will generate enough clean energy to power over 40,000 U.S. homes and offset approximately 294,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The Red Hills facility is spread across 5,000 rural acres. With the exception of the small footprint made by the 82 turbines, at about 1 acre each, land use is dominated by cattle grazing which coexist with the wind energy production. 

On Saturday, ACCIONA celebrated the completion of Red Hills Wind Farm with its many partners, landowners, the local community and state officials in a dedication ceremony, luncheon and open house for the community. ACCIONA Energy North America CEO Peter Duprey kicked off the event.

"Oklahoma is known for its oil and natural gas reserves, but it is also becoming known for its vast capacity for renewable energy - it already ranks in the top 10 U.S. states for wind energy potential. Red Hills Wind Farm represents a big step for ACCIONA and the state of Oklahoma in realizing this potential," says Duprey. "It also marks progress in meeting much larger goals for our nation in energy independence and sustainability.  The utilization of ACCIONA's proven wind turbine technology at Red Hills Wind Farm is also an important milestone with most of the turbines having come from ACCIONA's West Branch, Iowa assembly plant which has been in operation for just over a year."

Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley also addressed the attendees: "We are proud to see the continued growth of clean, renewable energy production in Oklahoma, as it is critical to the state's economic development strategy.  I applaud the leaders of ACCIONA for recognizing the opportunity here in Oklahoma, and for developing the Red Hills Wind Farm, a world-class facility that will soon transform the Oklahoma wind into clean energy that people can use to power their homes and their lives."