Western Farmers Electric Cooperative announced this week the purchase of power from NextEra Energy Resources and its wind farm operations in northern Oklahoma.
The purchase involves 200 megawatts of battery-stored energy.
“With the prices of wind and solar energy lower than ever, we are now able to pair those with battery storage to make more affordable, renewable energy available to customers for more hours of the day—even when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining,” said Gary Routlett, CEO of Western Farmers Electric.
The power purchase agreement will result in development of the largest combined wind, solar and energy storage project in the nation. NextEra’s project is called Skeleton Creek and will be located in Garfield, Alfalfa and Major counties with wind towers.
The first phase of Skeleton Creek is expected to be online by the end of 2019. It will also have the ability to generate 250 megawatts of solar energy. The solar phase along with the 200 megawatts of storage will not be operational until 2023.