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CHICAGO (July 2, 2018) – Invenergy, North America’s largest, privately held renewable energy company, and WPPI Energy on Friday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Invenergy’s 132-megawatt Bishop Hill III Wind Energy Center located in Henry County, Illinois.
Local officials joined Invenergy employees, representatives from WPPI and several other members of the community for the ceremony to officially mark the opening of the facility.
Invenergy’s EVP & Chief Commercial Officer Jim Shield (center right) joins WPPI President & CEO Mike Peters (center left) for ceremonial ribbon cutting, alongside Illinois State Representatives, Dan Swanson and Tony McCombie, and Mayor David Holmes at Bishop Hill III Wind Energy Center
Construction on Bishop Hill III began in August 2017 and the facility started service in May of this year. Last summer WPPI Energy entered into a power purchase agreement with Invenergy to buy electricity from the facility through mid-2040. The agreement will help WPPI serve its 51 member utilities and their customers across Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Iowa. With 53 wind turbines, the wind farm will be able to power as many as 46,200 homes and businesses, and offset an estimated 414,800 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
“Invenergy is proud to celebrate the start of operations of the Bishop Hill III wind farm in Henry County, Illinois,” said Invenergy Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer Jim Shield. “Today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony is an important milestone for the local community, Invenergy’s construction team and operations employees, and our project partners WPPI and WEC Energy Group.”
“Bishop Hill III is as an excellent addition to our power supply because, not only does it more than double the wind energy in our portfolio, but it is also projected to lower our costs to WPPI Energy members,” said WPPI Energy President & CEO Mike Peters. “We are pleased to continue our strong, longstanding relationship with our partners in this project.”
During construction, Bishop Hill III supported 214 jobs and the facility will support a full-time staff of five employees. Over the next ten years, Bishop Hill III is expected to contribute more than $20 million to the local economy in the form of tax payments, staff salaries, and the purchase of local goods and services. Invenergy will continue to operate the project under contract with WEC Energy Group, which signed an agreement to acquire a majority interest in the project.
“It is to be strongly commended that not only did Invenergy create and support hundreds of construction jobs over the past 10 months, but they also invested over $20 million with Illinois contractors for this project,” said Henry County Representative Dan Swanson (R-Alpha). “Our local hotels and restaurants were benefactors for meals and out-of-town workers, bringing in additional sales tax dollars to both the State and Local economy. As the turbines go into production, our local economy will benefit from rental income to landowners as well as tax dollars for public services like schools, libraries, fire and police protection, and local governments.”
This project represents the third phase of Invenergy’s Bishop Hill Wind Energy Center in Henry County, following the 211.4-megawatt Bishop Hill I and 81-megawatt Bishop Hill II wind projects. With the addition of Bishop Hill III, Invenergy now has a clean energy project portfolio totaling more than 1,600 megawatts of installed capacity in the state of Illinois.
About Invenergy Invenergy drives innovation in energy. Invenergy and its affiliated companies develop, own, and operate large-scale renewable and other clean energy generation and storage facilities in the Americas and Europe. Invenergy's home office is located in Chicago and it has regional development offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Europe.
Invenergy and its affiliated companies have developed more than 19,900 megawatts of projects that are in operation, construction or contracted, including wind, solar, natural gas-fueled power generation and energy storage projects. For more information, please visit .
About WPPI Energy WPPI Energy is a regional power company serving 51 locally owned, not-for-profit electric utilities. Through WPPI Energy, these public power utilities share resources and own generation facilities to provide reliable, affordable electricity to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and Iowa. For more information, please visit .
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Contact Invenergy:
Mary Ryan, Senior Manager, Communications
Contact WPPI Energy:
Anne Rodriguez, Director of Communications
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