Construction starts on rare new onshore wind farm in Maryland
Construction starts on rare new onshore wind farm in Maryland | Windpower Monthly
Construction has started on a new onshore wind farm in Maryland – a rarity for the US state.
It follows developer Clearway recently closing a $174 million construction financing deal for its 55MW Dan’s Mountain wind farm in the north-west of Maryland.
The project is due to feature GE Vernova turbines and is due online in 2025.
Maryland has not commissioned a new wind farm since 2015, according to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly. The state has 120MW of operational onshore wind power capacity.
Utility Constellation will buy power from Dan’s Mountain through a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).
Clearway financed construction through a banking consortium made up of Societe Generale, Natixis, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), which combined to provide $174 million through construction loans and letters of credit.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: wind
Decades of government support for the development of wind energy has resulted in lower costs and a rapidly growing share of electricity generated by wind turbines. Wind in 2019 accounted for 7.3 percent of electrical generation, surpassing for the first time hydropower at 7.0 percent.