ENGIE Announces Construction of the East Fork Wind Project in Kansas
October 31, 2019 – Houston, TX – ENGIE North America Inc. today announced the start of construction of the 196-megawatt (MW) East Fork Wind Project in Thomas County, Kansas. Located near the city of Colby in northwest Kansas, the East Fork Wind Project is the second phase of the larger Solomon Forks Wind Project (276MW) currently under construction. The East Fork project, located immediately east of Solomon Forks, will provide clean energy to Brown-Forman under a PPA and has entered into a Proxy Revenue Swap with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s specialist weather risk team, in collaboration with its partners at Nephila Climate.
With a total capital investment of approximately $228 million, the project will generate significant benefits to the local area, with annual payments to landowners under land easements, local job creation during both construction and commercial operation, purchases of local goods and services, donations to local schools, a scholarship fund established by East Fork with Colby Community College, and annual PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes) payments to Thomas County. Both the City of Colby and the larger Thomas County have been very supportive of the East Fork project and have contributed significantly to its success.
“East Fork is our third major project to break ground after ENGIE’s acquisition of the Infinity Renewables wind portfolio in February 2018, bringing our total MW under construction to nearly 700,” said Matt Riley, Senior Vice President and Head of U.S. Wind Development at ENGIE North America and former CEO of Infinity Renewables. “It’s exciting to be part of a company driving renewable energy development at a meaningful scale. These wind projects provide much more than clean energy. They enable new economic, environmental, and educational opportunities that can make a positive difference in the communities where they reside.”
East Fork, which has been under active development for over 10 years, is part of the portfolio recently acquired by a subsidiary of ENGIE North America from Infinity Power Holdings, a joint venture between Infinity Renewables and MAP® Energy. The project will use 72 GE turbines, each having a capacity of 2.72MW. M.A. Mortenson Company has been selected as the Construction General Contractor. The project was originally developed by Airstream Energy, a developer with local roots in the community.
About ENGIE North America Inc.
ENGIE North America manages a range of energy businesses in the United States and Canada, including clean power generation, cogeneration, and energy storage; retail energy sales; and comprehensive services to help customers run their facilities more efficiently and optimize energy and other resource use and expense. Nearly 100 percent of the company’s power generation portfolio is low carbon or renewable. Globally, ENGIE is the largest independent power producer and energy efficiency services provider in the world, with operations in 70 countries employing 150,000 people, including 1,000 researchers in 11 R&D centers. For more information, please visit www.engie-na.com, @ENGIENorthAm, and www.engie.com.
About Brown-Forman
For almost 150 years, Brown-Forman Corporation has enriched the experience of life by responsibly building fine quality beverage alcohol brands, including Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s & Cola, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire, Gentleman Jack, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel, Finlandia, Korbel, el Jimador, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Canadian Mist, Herradura, New Mix, Sonoma-Cutrer, Early Times, Chambord, BenRiach, GlenDronach and Slane. Brown-Forman’s brands are supported by nearly 4,700 employees and sold in more than 165 countries worldwide.
About Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is the Allianz Group’s dedicated carrier for corporate and specialty insurance business. AGCS provides insurance and risk consultancy across the whole spectrum of specialty, alternative risk transfer and corporate business: Marine, Aviation (incl. Space), Energy, Engineering, Entertainment, Financial Lines (incl. D&O), Liability, Mid-Corporate and Property insurance (incl. International Insurance Programs).
Worldwide, AGCS operates with its own teams in 34 countries and through the Allianz Group network and partners in over 210 countries and territories, employing almost 4,700 people of 70 nationalities. AGCS provides insurance solutions to more than three quarters of the Fortune Global 500 companies, writing a total of €7.4 billion gross premium worldwide in 2017. AGCS SE is rated AA by Standard & Poor’s and A+ by A.M. Best. For more information please visit www.agcs.allianz.com or follow us on Twitter @AGCS_Insurance LinkedIn and Google+.
About MAP® Energy
MAP® Energy is a leading investor in the development of renewable energy projects and has funded more than 10,000 megawatts of operating wind and solar generating capacity located across the United States. More information is available at www.mapenergy.com.