Akuo, Taaleri Energia, AIP cut ribbon on 336-MW Texas wind farm

Akuo Energy and its partners on Tuesday inaugurated the 336-MW Escalade wind farm in Texas, which saw the installation of the first Vestas V162 wind turbine in North America, the French renewable power producer announced.

Made up of 45 Vestas V162 5.6 MW turbines and 20 Vestas V150 4.2 MW turbines, the wind farm has been in operation since May 2022.

In 2020, the developer of the project, Helsinki-based Taaleri Energia Ltd, sold a 93% stake in the wind farm to Taaleri SolarWind II Fund, Danish investment manager AIP Management and Akuo, while keeping a minority stake. Akuo was the construction manager and is also the technical and commercial manager for the project. Mortenson Construction served as the balance of plant contractor.

Akuo simultaneously announced the inauguration of Tonga’s first large-scale battery energy storage systems totalling 29.2 MWh/16.5 MW. The two batteries, one for grid stabilisation and one of load shifting, are located at two separate locations.

The USD 16.7 million (EUR 16.9m) project is funded by the Asian Development Bank, Green Climate Fund and the government of Australia. It is implemented by Tonga Power, while Akuo was the contractor.

(USD 1 = EUR 1.014)

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