Wind Energy

EDF Energies Nouvelles to proceed with Lakefield Wind Power Project

A French-based energy company says an agreement has been reached with Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) for a wind farm in southwest Minnesota. EDF Energies Nouvelles, which is the parent of enXco, says IPL terminated the contract in March, but now the utility’s concerns have been addressed. IPL and enXco also have a contract for The Hoosier Wind Energy Project in Benton County.

EDF Energies Nouvelles announces that enXco, its US subsidiary and US utility Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL) reached an agreement to proceed with the 201 MW Lakefield Wind turbines project.

The original Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between enXco and IPL for the Lakefield project was signed in June 2009. The PPA received approval by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commision (IURC) in January 2010.

In March, IPL terminated unilaterally the PPA, following which enXco initiated arbitration against IPL. Subsequently IPL and enXco addressed IPL’s concerns and resumed the PPA as originally agreed. This allows the project to continue as initially planned with a revised project schedule anticipating commercial operation in late Q3 2011.

The Lakefield Project, to be built in southwestern Minnesota, is the second PPA between the two companies. The Hoosier Wind Project in Indiana is in operation and provides IPL with approximately 2% of the electricity sold to its retail customers. When Lakefield is operational, IPL anticipates wind energy will provide power for about 7% of its utility sales.

With operations in Europe and North America, EDF Energies Nouvelles is a market leader in green electricity production. With a development focused on wind energy for several years and more recently on solar photovoltaic, the Group is also present in other segments of the renewable energies market: small hydro, marine energy, biomass, biofuel and biogas.

In addition, the Group is expanding in the distributed renewable energies sector. EDF Energies Nouvelles, 50 %-owned by the EDF Group, is listed in Euronext Paris since November 2006 (code "EEN", ISIN code: FR0010400143).

www.edf-energies-nouvelles.com